Emmanuel Petit says Arsenal players used to do something before every game that was so bad, ‘you have no idea’

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Arsenal have been at the forefront of sports science and technology for a long time now.

Indeed, from Mikel Arteta to Arsene Wenger, standards have been incredibly high at Arsenal for a long time as players are micro-managed to enhance performance.

Declan Rice had to change his diet after signing for Arsenal, while Arsene Wenger changed the game with his methods back in the 1990s.

Speaking on the Football Prime Podcast, Emmanuel Petit has been discussing what life at Arsenal was like back in the day, and he says it was hard to believe some of the things the players used to do before the standards at the club changed.

Arsenal players used to eat terribly before every game

Petit shared what Arsenal players used to do before every match.

According to the Frenchman, Arsenal’s players used to eat full English breakfasts before every game, while they would even have chocolate bars on the bus to matches.

“You have no idea,” Petit said.

“What was it like?” The host asked.

“Well, a typical English breakfast when you play, for example, at 1 o’clock, sausages. I mean, can you believe that? This was it, this is kind of tradition that Arsene had to fight against,” Petit said.

“And chocolate bars as well on the bus before you arrive at the stadium. I remember, you know, I have a few examples, you know, and how bad it all was, you know, seeing some players eating English breakfast or eating chocolate bars before a game. He was, I can’t remember everything, but he had to fight against that.”

Arsene Wenger changed everything at Arsenal

As you can imagine, this sort of culture didn’t last long after Arsene Wenger took charge at Highbury.

Indeed, Wenger was quick to fix his players’ diets, and he even went as far as to ban tea, as detailed by Ian Wright.

“All we could do is drink water and eat food like the chicken was literally just boiled and it just looks wrong,” Wright said.

“Everything was just for fuel… We couldn’t have tea, we couldn’t have anything.

“I remember there was a time I used to share a room with Dennis Bergkamp and Dennis is the greatest player I’ve ever played with and we shared a room and we were total opposites, chalk and cheese in personalities.

“Once we started doing it, Dennis was doing it [the diet] right to the max. If the boss said you drink a quarter-pint of water, that’s what he would do, I’d drink a pint of water.

“I remember I snuck in some tea bags and I remember Dennis, he was just on the bed cause we were sitting there watching the telly and he said ‘Is that tea bags?’

“I said yeah, he said ‘Well the boss doesn’t want us to drink tea,’ I said yeah but he doesn’t know.

“Ok, so he said ‘Ok but the whole team is doing it but you’re not going to do it so when we need you most, you’re probably going to let us down because you’re letting us down’.

“So in the end I didn’t have the tea.”

Wenger’s methods may not have been popular at the time, but they led to success on the pitch, and that’s all that matters.

These days, almost every manager has adopted Wenger’s tactics, and the former Arsenal boss certainly helped revolutionise the game with his methods.