Last season, Mikel Arteta piped in audio of Liverpool fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" during Arsenal training to prepare players for the atmosphere at Anfield. His methods, revealed in an Amazon video on Tuesday, appear to have had mixed success.
The Gunners fell to a 4-0 defeat in their trip to Merseyside in the Premier League, but they did hold on for a goalless draw in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, despite going down to 10 men early on.
Footage of Arteta's interesting training session is included in the upcoming "All or Nothing" documentary, with Amazon posting a teaser on social media.
What did Arteta say about the Anfield atmosphere?
"There is a word we use in Spain in cycling when a cyclist is going and looks amazing and, in one kilometre, he goes [gestures downward]. He looks stuck, and it’s a word called ‘bajara’," Arteta said.
“I had it once at Anfield. The game was going well and suddenly I could only see red shirts flying around, the game was passing all over me and I cannot react.
“People were saying ‘what is he doing?’ and I’m like ‘I cannot do it’ – I cannot emotionally, physically, I cannot cope. Everything was too fast. I only had that feeling in my career once and it was at Anfield.”
To help his players avoid a repeat of 'bajara', Arteta proposed a "crazy idea". Specifically, speakers played crowd noise from Anfield while they trained.
When is All or Nothing out on Amazon Prime?
Arsenal fans do not have to wait much longer to watch the much-hyped documentary, which will be narrated by lifelong Gunners fan Daniel Kaluuya.
The series drops on August 5, 2022, the same day that Arteta's side kick off their Premier League season with a trip to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace.