The final episodes of Amazon Prime Video’s fly-on-the-wall documentary of Arsenal’s 2021/22 season, ‘All or Nothing: Arsenal’, air this week and offer an unprecedented insight into the Gunners’ eventful end to the campaign.
The final two episodes, out on Thursday and seen by Standard Sport, cover the club’s painful end to last season as they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League.
The last few months of the season are particularly turbulent, including a training-ground bust-up, injury setbacks and a resounding north London derby defeat.
Here are five things we learned from the final three episodes of ‘All or Nothing: Arsenal’...
Tierney aggravated his knee problem getting out of the shower
Arsenal suffered a hammer blow at the start of April when it was confirmed left-back Kieran Tierney would miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. The Scotland international first picked up the problem against Wolves in February but had managed to keep playing.
Footage from episode seven, however, reveals that the injury was then made worse as Tierney’s knee collapsed when he turned getting out of the shower.
“The big issue obviously is Kieran Tierney,” says doctor Gary O’Driscoll, the day after Arsenal lost to Crystal Palace at the start of April. “The Wolves game, he had a hyper-extension injury, finished the game, didn’t mention it and then played the next five games with no problems whatsoever.
“But he then walked out of the shower on Thursday after training, turned the corner and bent his knee, and felt the knee collapse. I am afraid we will not see him again for Arsenal this season and we’ll be very careful how we manage this now.”
Arteta’s out-of-the-box team talks continue
A key theme of the opening episodes of the documentary have been Mikel Arteta’s unique team talks. The Spaniard has used alternative ideas, involving players rubbing their hands together to create positive energy.
His out-of-the-box methods continue in the final episodes as Arteta tries to get his team up for a game against Brighton, having lost to Crystal Palace earlier that week. Arteta calls the team together in the dressing room and holds up a lightbulb, saying: “Edison invented the lightbulb.
“Today I want to see a team that is connected, because a bulb by itself is nothing. I want to see a team that is connected with each other and that shines. And you want to transmit to him light and energy, passion and how you play football, and you too the same.”
Cedric and Lacazette come to blows in training
Tempers were clearly running high at Arsenal as the end of the season neared. Footage from episode eight shows how a fight broke out in training, between Alexandre Lacazette and Cedric Soares.
The flare-up occurs as Lacazette hacks down academy player Jack Henry-Francis when he wins the ball off him in a training game. Cedric appears to intervene and the cameras then show him and Lacazette being pulled apart by Arteta and team-mates.
“This is normal in football,” says Lacazette afterwards. “If your players want to win, it’s normal. If you have players that don’t care, it would never happen. When we came back in the dressing room, I came back to say sorry because sometimes you just become crazy. I am just passionate to win.”
Arteta was behind the push to play Louis Dunford’s song at Emirates Stadium
Arsenal have now seemingly adopted Louis Dunford’s song, The Angel (North London Forever), as their pre-match anthem. The song was played before a game with Leeds towards the end of last season and kept its top billing for matches at the Emirates Stadium.
Fans of the club became aware of the song on social media and urged the club to play it, with Arsenal agreeing to do so in May, and footage from episode eight reveals that it was in fact Arteta who was behind its introduction.
The Spaniard is shown playing the song to the squad in a meeting and telling them about its meaning, and who performs it. He then asks the squad if they would be happy with it being played against Leeds that weekend.
Holding’s devastation after Tottenham red card
The cameras being in the Arsenal dressing room has provided insight into Arteta’s team talks, both before and after matches. They were rolling throughout games, too, and that is valuable for the crunch north London derby.
After Rob Holding was sent off during the first half, the defender returns to the dressing room and is visibly crestfallen. He slumps in a seat, with a member of the Arsenal staff coming over to console him.
“It’s just sh*te… I should have never been one v one in the first place,” says Holding, referring to his altercations with Son Heung-min. “All the time, one v one.”
