‘I’ve heard…’: Troy Deeney shares what Arsenal players have told him about Arteta in training, amid touchline row

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Troy Deeney has defended Mikel Arteta for his touchline behaviour and believes Arsenal’s players will love him for it.

Arteta has once again come under the spotlight after he went bezerk against Newcastle. Denied what he thought were two clear penalties, Arteta left nothing out there and had a big run in with Eddie Howe.

Since then, Richard Keys has criticised the Gunners boss. Further, the club have also been punished by the FA under the failure to control players laws.

But writing for The Sun, former Watford striker Deeney believes Arteta is doing what many have done before him. And he revealed he’s heard from the Gunners players that it’s just the same in training as well.

“I’ve heard from his players that he has the same sort of intensity during every training session. I think this is one of the reasons why Arteta is really getting a tune out of his players this season,” Deeney wrote.

“Most of the very best managers are the same — Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola. Even Arsene Wenger, supposedly one of the nicest gentlemen in the game, was sent off several times.”

Arsenal currently sit five points clear at the top of the PL table. They face Oxford in a tricky FA Cup fixture on Monday.

TBR’s View: Arteta driving Arsenal’s young squad on

The beauty of Arteta at Arsenal right now is he knows full well the majority of his squad are backing him. And that is with whatever he does.

He’s got their buy in to all he is asking at the club and with that, his debatable touchline behaviour will be going down just fine in the dressing room.

Ultimately, he’s sticking up for his players and Arsenal’s stars will see this. Don’t expect this sort of behaviour to go away any time quickly, especially in the heat of a title battle.