Fabregas labels one Arsenal star as a ‘bluffer’ and reveals training-ground ploy fueling success

Cesc Fabregas has hailed Mikel Arteta for changing “everything” around the club after Arsenal beat Manchester United 3-2 on Sunday.

The victory saw the Gunners regain their five point lead at the top of the Premier League with Arteta’s side having a game in hand on all of their closest rivals.

After achieving 50 points from their first 19 matches, Arsenal are on course to get 100 points if they can mirror those results in the second half of the campaign.

And Fabregas was full of praise for the Gunners and Arsenal boss Arteta after an Eddie Nketiah brace and a brilliant strike from Bukayo Saka secured all three points against Erik ten Hag’s side.

Fabregas said on Sky Sports: “It’s an incredible victory – the way it happened.

“There are games that define seasons. There is still a long way to go but as a player sometimes you just feel that something special is happening.

“You can feel the togetherness. Can they come back in difficult moments? And today they showed they can.”

Saka’s goal against the Red Devils was his seventh of the season in the Premier League and he’s also contributed seven assists for this team-mates.

“He’s a bit of a bluffer as he makes opponents think he’s too nice but when he’s on the pitch he’s a different animal!” Fabregas added on Saka.

“He’s having a fantastic season. I’m so happy for him.”

And Fabregas has revealed what Arteta has been doing at the training ground to shift their mentality over the last couple of seasons.

Fabregas continued: “He’s done a fantastic job. We saw it in the documentary that they did, the way he pushed the players, the way he understands players.

“We were talking before about the project and Arsenal when they hired Mikel, and he hadn’t coached anyone before, he was only an assistant for Pep [Guardiola].

“When I say ‘only’, obviously it’s fantastic to be able to do that but it’s not the same as when you are the main guy and you need to do everything.

“I was lucky enough to be at the training ground recently and it felt like I’d never been there before because everything had changed so much.

“The manager of the training ground told me that it’s 95% Mikel who has changed the whole thing.”

When pressed on what Arteta had changed, Fabregas added: “Everything. The perception of the club in the last few years, a lot of messages, positive messages around the training ground, much bigger facilities, better equipment, pitches, everything you name it.

“I think as well at the entrance they have this symbol of a Premier League where it’s an empty Premier League and he wants to kind of show the message that, ‘Guys, we need to just put it in there’.

“So every day the players they go there, they see the Premier League but only being the symbol, so it’s like a message or inspiration every day to go there and prove that you really want to put the Premier League [trophy] in there.

“So I think he’s changed the mentality of the club since Arsene [Wenger] left and it’s fantastic what he’s done.”

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