Mikel Arteta convinced his Arsenal squad that he could read their minds in what proved to be a successful strategy ahead of the north London derby four years ago.

Revealed in Daily Telegraph reporter Sam Dean's book Arsenal: The Inside Story of Arsenal's Rebirth Under Mikel Arteta, the Spanish head coach played the trick on his players in the team hotel ahead of the 3-1 win at the Emirates on October 1, 2022.

Arteta, who is notorious for his use of offbeat coaching methods, reportedly asked the players to hide an object in one of their shoes and told them that he would be able to guess whose it was simply by looking into their eyes and reading their body language.

He promised the team that if he failed to guess the player he would take them and their families out for dinner, but if he managed to figure it out, they would be paying for him.

After he and his coaches left the room to let the players hide the object, he returned and studied each of the players, and 'even checked their pulses, supposedly to see which one of them was panicking the most', Dean writes.

When he guessed correctly that it was Brazilian defender Gabriel, the team reportedly 'went mental', a source in the book said.

Later that day, after goals from Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka secured the three points against their north London rivals, Arteta and his staff revealed that they had seen them pick the player through CCTV cameras at the hotel.

This wasn't the first time that Arteta has deployed an unusual tactic with the hope of gaining an edge over his rivals.

Ahead of a game against Liverpool at Anfield during the 2021-22 season, Arteta blasted 'You'll Never Walk Alone' over speakers during training to prepare his players for the boisterous atmosphere.

In the summer of 2024, he hired a pickpocket to steal from the squad during an evening meal.

The pickpocket was disguised as a waiter during the meal and, after the dinner, Arteta held a pre-match team meeting where, at the end of it, he presented his players' stolen items at the front of the room.

That ploy was in preparation for a match against a team who tried every possible tactic to gain an edge, and Arteta wanted to adopt a 'pickpocket mentality', to always be aware of people trying to steal advantages from them.

For another game, Arteta did a pre-match team talk involving a lightbulb, as he wanted his players to shine and emit energy and light to one another.

As Arsenal pushed to end their long wait for a Premier League title, the club also installed the outline of the trophy in the entrance of their main building at the training ground. It was finally lit up in May, when the feat was achieved. 

And during pre-season just past, Arteta revealed that he deliberately made his team late for matches by changing their route or meal times, as well as making the changing room hotter and reducing the number of massage beds in the hope of preparing the squad for difficulties on the road.

After signing new terms last month, Arteta revealed that his quirky practices began on his very first day on the job back in December 2019.

The then 37-year-old claimed he 'destroyed' an education centre at Arsenal's training centre, throwing 'the computers, the laptops, the cables' on the floor. He then requested his staff to reorganise the office in no time at all in order to prove their togetherness.

In an interview with The Athletic, Arteta explained: 'I said, "Listen, this is what I heard. I don’t know if it’s true. But from a lot of different people, the sentiment is that this is how they feel about working in the organisation.

'I’m here to help you enjoy your profession and your life and the passion that we all share. If you want me to help you to do that, you have two minutes to put this in order and at least to be ready to work together’. And I left.

'That could have been my managerial career because if that would have stayed the same way, I had no job anymore!'

Arteta then outlined how he came back moments later and everything was 'immaculate'.

'Everyone was silent and had their eyes open and they were ready to listen. I said, "This is just the start. It’s something that we have to be in daily. Whatever we want to accomplish, we’re going to have to do it together. I cannot do it by myself. The issue that we have is much deeper than that, but the opportunity is infinite".'

Since taking charge in 2019, Arteta has overseen a notable improvement in Arsenal's fortunes, transforming them from a side floundering in mid-table to Premier League champions. He also took them to their first Champions League final in 20 years in May.