Forget Newcastle. Forget Wembley – Mikel Arteta hopes that a trip to Dubai will again do the trick for Arsenal.
Still licking their wounds from a St James' park that hit the carabao cup the night before, the Gunners went on a plane for more winter sun in the middle season on Thursday morning.
It has become a tradition of recent years for Arteta to bring his team to the middle -east – helped by early outputs in the FA Cup – to charge the batteries after a debilitating festive period and to prepare for the latter Push.
Last season after a series of one victory in seven in all competitions from December 9, 2023 to January 7, 2024, Arsenal to Dubai for some much needed soul searching and vitamin D.
They ended that campaign with 16 wins from their last 18 Premier League matches, by Manchester City on the last day to the title by Manchester City.
This term also fits in with the story, Arsenal at the beginning of 2025 with one win in five in all competitions and was beaten from two cups before February really started.
The team left eleven games in 36 days.
When the group gets back to London on Tuesday, a movie must be switched if they want to go better in the Prem and Liverpool's Zeunt Punts lead with a competition more than the Reds.
Perfection will also be necessary to go beyond the last 16 in the Champions League next month, a heavy question from a paper-thin team after the failure of Arsenal to recruit an attacker in January.
Arteta likes consistency and fame in these Dubai trips, so Arsenal will be in the same training center as last year – NAD Al Sheba (NAS) sports complex.
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It is a permanent place for prem players during the low season and for intense rehabilitation sessions, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba and Tyrone Mings.
The Arsenal sessions will entail intensity outbursts and individual muscular conditioning programs in average temperatures ranging from 22 to 27 degrees.
It also gives a chance for injured players to increase their rehabilitation – Crocked Duo Bukayo Saka (Hamstring) and Ben White (knee) will be traveling with the return that is expected within the following month.
Arsenal usually stays in hotels near the famous Dubai Palm, with club officials who are previously enthusiastic about everything at the door of training, including shopping centers and restaurants.
Arteta recently explained: “Of course we will have to change [the trip]. There are many things that will look very similar. Location where we stay, where we train.
“But at a different time of the season, different figures, the team probably needs a different incentive, so we prepare a few things.
“Hopefully it works the way it has the last few times.”
Families and good friends can mix with the group in the camp.
Last year Arteta organized a BBQ for the group and the staff as a bonding session.
Arteta also likes to integrate academic players into the training team.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, 18, used the trip from 2024 well and is now a regular player of the first team.
This time his highly rated 15-year-old Max Dowman and the 16-year-old keeper Jack Porter-Die made his senior debut in the third round of Carabao Cup against Bolton.
The most important thing is that Arteta has to keep his players suitable, especially Kai Havertz – the German international is the only fit center of the club in the club with Gabriel Jesus for the rest of the season with an ACL fracture.
However, there are now worries about Gabriel Martinelli.
The Brazilian wing player had an MRI scan on his judge Hamstring after he had bumped into the first half of their 2-0 tone defeat.
In November, Arteta admitted that he had no idea why Dubai has such a positive impact on his team, and joked as Las Vegas produced the same results, he would send his players there.
The roulette wheel in the middle east is again spun. Where will it land this time?
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