Graeme Souness says Mikel Arteta has ‘form for nonsense’ after latest Arsenal move

Graeme Souness has slammed Mikel Arteta’s latest Arsenal move, insisting the manager has “form for nonsense”.

The Gunners sit at the top of the Premier League and lead Manchester City by two points and Arteta have made a number of small changes to boost morale.

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One was allowing players to bring their own favorite items into the guests’ dressing room and an extreme example was a replica clock on the Clock End in the Emirates.

Arsenal’s last Premier League win, a 3-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage, saw the players pose with the clock in the dressing room.

In his Daily Mail column, Souness was taken aback by Arteta’s policies and even called them “nonsense”.

He wrote: “I read the story of Arsenal taking their home comforts to the opposition dressing rooms and had to read it again to make sure it wasn’t a joke.

“Really? Is this what the modern game has become?

“So Arsenal players arrive in Fulham and find their own clock hanging on the wall along with their own pictures and stickers?

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“This is extremely strange and only a successful manager can get away with it.

“Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is doing a good job but he has the form for nonsense like this.”

Arteta has explained his actions after Arsenal beat Fulham.

“It was something I shared a few days earlier about where we stand as a team and club and what we need to stand for,” the Spaniard told ESPN.

“It was something private in the dressing room just before the game and something that went down in the history of our club.

“We have to be really aware of that, and when we have that story and we use it in the right way, that’s a really powerful thing.

“The reality is every game is so important, the margins are so slim and now we have to do something incredible by the end of the season to earn the right to be there.”

Arsenal meet unmanaged Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, just days after falling out of the Europa League on penalties against Sporting.