'I love these challenges': Mikel Arteta and Arsenal prepared for anything

[p]Leaving ‌nothing to chance is the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/arsenal/hA1Zm19f/"]Arsenal[/a] manager's philosophy and it helped deliver the club's ‌first Premier League title in 22 years last season.[/p][p]So, a ‌flight delay heading to their Champions League win at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/napoli/69Dxbc61/"]Napoli[/a] on Wednesday ‌did not cause him a headache; nor will any unforeseen obstacles ‌ahead of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/arsenal-hA1Zm19f/sunderland-WSzc94ws/?mid=YoNI2r8F"]Saturday's trip[/a] to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sunderland/WSzc94ws/"]Sunderland[/a].[/p][p]"I love these challenges," [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arteta-mikel/lAbHYaQM/"]Arteta[/a] said on Friday. "[b]I try to create them in pre-season and arrive at different times so ‌when they happen we have already experienced it[/b].[/p][p]"[b]You ⁠can miss a flight, the ‌train can be delayed but I don't want the players or staff to ​be panicking when it happens, instead adapt to it. But do not complain and use it as an excuse ​because it's not helpful at all[/b]."[/p][image alt="Win probability" id="4387552e-bd42-4300-953d-7cf5a6ca1b54" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="536b8476-5e87-4a3b-be16-e2c9cb6807fb" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]The episode offered another example of why Arsenal are unlikely to be rattled by a Sunderland side ⁠to whom they surrendered ​points late last season.[/p][p]Arteta has instilled a new culture at Arsenal. He embraces unconventional psychological and focus drills, one in which players pass balls to each other while balancing a pen on their finger. More ‌relevant to Saturday's task, he also engineers disruption.[/p][p]"[b]Sometimes we delay the meals, delay the transport, take a different route, make the dressing room hot, less beds, because we are going to have to adapt so there is not an element of surprise on match day[/b]," he said.[/p][p]He even planted a 150-year-old olive tree at the training ground to emphasise the nurturing of the club's roots and brings a miniature version to team talks.[/p][p]Arsenal will be gunning for ‌a fourth win from four Premier League games on Sunday but ​will be wary of a Sunderland side who snatched a ‌last-gasp 2-2 draw in the fixture last season.[/p][embed guid="d37a2530-8a53-40b8-b192-7b631c525a80" url="https://x.com/Arsenal/status/2098366225403568522" social-type="twitter" /][p]Should Arsenal win, it would be only the sixth time in their history that they have started a league campaign with four victories. The first three times they went on to win the title.[/p][p]"[b]Last year ⁠we dropped points there in ⁠the last minute and we've ‌learned a lot from that game[/b]," Arteta said.[/p]