Online Reporter
MIKEL ARTETA vowed Arsenal will not panic as they bid to keep their trophy hunt on track.
The Prem leaders’ season is threatening to unravel after back-to-back defeats in the Carabao Cup final and FA Cup quarters ahead of last night’s Champions League clash at Sporting.
And boss Arteta prepared his players for the quarter-final first leg with another set of bizarre training drills.
They worked in groups to avoid dropping PENS on the floor while dribbling a ball.
Boss Arteta said: “Instead of panic, understand if that happens why it happened and bring clarity.
“There’s always going to be a question mark and that’s it. You have to live the present, you have to deliver it every day.
“That’s the standard we set and that’s part of our identity and it’s part of this football club.”
Arteta appeared to be thinking outside the box yesterday following last month’s 2-0 Wembley defeat to Manchester City and Saturday’s late 2-1 Cup loss at Championship side Southampton.
The Spaniard, 44, is famed for his inventive ways of motivating players.
He once used a light bulb as part of a team talk and had pickpockets steal players’ belongings in a meeting.
The Arsenal boss also had speakers blaring You’ll Never Walk Alone by the side of the training pitch ahead of a trip to Liverpool.
His latest training drills involved players balancing the ball between their heads and holding pens between their fingertips while moving the ball together.
Arteta explained: “A training session has to have different elements.
“And it has to be related to the messages we send and the compromises and commitments we’ve done between us.”
Asked how that related to him using pens, Arteta replied: “That stays in the dressing room.”
Meanwhile, Gary Lineker has revealed Arsenal’s “signal of panic” after a nightmare fortnight threatened to derail their season.
The Gunners have suffered back-to-back defeats after losing the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and a shock defeat to Southampton in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
While the quadruple is off the cards, they are still nine points clear in the league with six games to go.
AND they are the only unbeaten side in the Champions League this season.
On The Rest is Football podcast, Lineker said: “Southampton played exceptionally well and Arsenal were off it.
“I thought there was a slight signal of panic when they withdrew so many players or the players themselves withdrew from international duty.
“I just wonder if it showed a bit of panic when you need a bit of calm and confidence.
“It’s easier to say that now but I just wonder if it showed us something because you wouldn’t ordinarily do that.”
“It’s been a tough two weeks for Arsenal.
“People are asking if they’re panicking or if it’s a crisis, it’s definitely a little wobble.
It’s been 22 years since their last league win and they’ve NEVER won the Champions League.
So it will be a season to remember either way but whether those memories are cherished or painful remains to be seen.
The former England star said: “The Champions League would obviously be an enormous bonus because it’s a competition they’ve never won.
“I’m pretty confident they will win the league. It’s not a bad situation to be in, nine points clear at the top of the Premier League and in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.”
But it all feels far too familiar for fans who are still carrying the scars of three straight second-place finishes and a six-year wait for silverware.
And while this marks Arsenal’s first back-to-back defeats of the season, the numbers suggest the pressure is beginning to weigh on Mikel Arteta’s side.
Across their first 28 games from August to December, the Gunners made just one error that led to a goal – Sun.
