Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta has added a dog to the club’s training ground in a bid to lift morale.
The chocolate Labrador, called Win, has been a regular at London Colney since last month and is popular with the players.
Her owner is a member of staff, who she lives with. The dog spends most days at the club’s training ground. It complements the club’s resident training ground cat, Bob, who was adopted when his owner died.
The Times reported that the Spaniard was inspired to bring in a dog in the hope to ‘exploit research that has shown petting a dog can be calming, improve a mood and reduce stress levels’. Labradors are also known to be intelligent and well-natured pets.
He also feels the dog’s presence can add to the spirit of togetherness that has been created over the course of the season and it is the sort of marginal gain and quirky idea he is always looking out for.
Win has a walking schedule and is even treated to some of the chef’s fine dining, with her favourite being grilled chicken.
The Gunners’ Premier League title hopes took a significant dent last weekend when they were beaten 3-0 at home to Brighton, leaving them four points adrift of Manchester City having played a game more.
Arsenal can close the gap back to one point if they beat Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening, though City can wrap up a third straight title by beating Chelsea on Sunday.
The Spanish coach is well known for his little quirks and gimmicks, which were well documented in the Amazon Prime documentary All or Nothing which followed the team last season.
During the documentary, viewers got full access to Arteta’s dressing room style, including using a mocking Tweet from Brentford’s Ivan Toney to rile his players.
Arteta was also seen drawing pictures, rigging up speakers to play You’ll Never Walk Alone before a trip to Anfield and even holding up a lightbulb in the dressing room.
He brought a lightbulb into the dressing room before a team talk to emphasize how important it is to transmit energy.
Arteta rigged up the speakers by the side of a training pitch to play ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ before Arsenal’s trip to Anfield, where they lost 4-0 to Liverpool.
