Gareth Southgate is reportedly set to replicate Mikel Arteta 's tactics in a bid to inspire his England side for their clash with Wales on Tuesday.
The Three Lions take on the Dragons in their final group game of the World Cup, knowing a win will confirm their place as Group B winners. Wales have nothing to lose in the match-up, with a defeat against Iran meaning they must beat England to qualify from the group.
Southgate's men hammered Iran in their first game of the tournament, but a bore draw with the United States means they still have work to do to reach the last 16. Tuesday's match with Wales is set to be a fiery one, with this being their first competitive clash since Euro 2016.
Wales reached the semi-finals of that tournament, while England were humiliatingly dumped out by Iceland in the last 16. The Dragons squad watched the Three Lions lose that game in a room at their hotel and celebrated wildly at full-time.
And according to The Sun, Southgate will use the video of those celebrations to fire up his troops for Tuesday's match. Seven members of Southgate's squad played at Euro 2016, with some having spoken behind the scenes about that video.
When asked if he will use Wales' celebrations six years ago as added motivation, the England boss replied: “I couldn’t say! We are aware of some of that.
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“We know they have additional motivation to play against us, from what they are saying, so we have got to be prepared. Like any two countries who border each other, there is a competitive rivalry.
“For me, it’s a great sporting rivalry, no more than that — that feeling might not be mutual but I can understand that. I live in Yorkshire — they feel the same about the rest of England!”
If he does show the clip, Southgate will be using the same tactical technique as Arsenal boss Arteta. Back at the start of the 2021/2022 season, Brentford defeated the Gunners, with Bees striker Ivan Toney tweeting afterwards: "Nice kickabout with the boys."
That message ruffled some feathers at the Emirates though, with Arteta using the tweet as motivation for his players in the reverse fixture. His speech to his squad was captured in the All or Nothing documentary.
"Before I go, because it's still in my stomach, and I have managed to keep it in my stomach for six months. This is Toney [show's tweet] after the game when we played them at Brentford," he is shown as saying.
"You know what he did, you know his tweet? 'Nice kickabout with the boys this afternoon'. So, today they play in our house guys, and there is only one team in that f****** pithead. Only team, they don't play, we take the f****** ball, we take the game and we go for it. Let's win this f****** game let's go."
Arteta's motivational tactics worked perfectly, with Arsenal defeating Brentford 2-1 thanks to goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka. Southgate will be hoping he can achieve a similar result against Wales.
