Senderos shares what he’s loved seeing behind the scenes at Arsenal

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has brought the “swag” back to the Gunners.

This is according to Philippe Senderos, who spoke to talkSPORT about how what it’s like behind the scenes at Arsenal.

The Gunners seemed like a shadow of their former selves when Mikel Arteta took the reins at the end of 2019.

At the time, Arsenal looked miles off being Premier League challengers.

The Champions League appeared a distant memory for the Gunners too.

Arteta needed some time to really implement his ideas at Arsenal, as well as clearing some of the deadwood.

Nearly everything subsequently clicked into place last season, with the Gunners mounting a solid title challenge.

Arsenal fell just short in the end, but their team has become much stronger with several high-profile new signings.

In addition, the Gunners’ young stars have penned new long-terms contracts which bode well for the club’s future.

‘The Arsenal culture has come back’

Senderos, who played for Arsenal between 2003 and 2010, believes the Gunners of old are finally back.

“With the way that Mikel Arteta manages, you can see that the players do what he wants them to do,” he told talkSPORT.

“They have found that swag again, that type of Arsenal style that we want to see and we have seen that in the last year.

“There is a real culture that he has brought back to the club.

“When you go around the training ground, I have had a chance to go back, you can see pictures of what happened in the past, you can really see something is going on that creates a bond with the players.

“He is not only signing the best players, he is also creating an environment for them to perform. So, I think the Arsenal culture has come back and this is the foundation.

“Then you bring in the players, they buy into it and then hopefully you get the results.”

Our view

It’s great to see Arteta’s plans finally come to fruition, and while it wasn’t smooth sailing, such long-term overhauls rarely are.

Let’s face it, Arsenal needed a lot of work doing. Arteta did just that, but obviously there were bad results and poor finishes along the way.

Rather than sacking Arteta, which many other boards may well have done, the Arsenal hierarchy stuck with him, going against the grain as far as many fans were concerned.

Now, the Gunners will fancy their chances of going all the way in the coming season. At the very least, Arsenal are a force to be reckoned with once again.