The north Londoners restored their five-point advantage at the top of the table thanks to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Manchester United on Sunday, taking their points haul to 50 in the process after just 19 games.
Fabregas feels the changes Arteta has made around the training ground have been integral, even revealing that there is an empty Premier League trophy slot at the entrance to London Colney waiting to be filled – one of a number of ploys used to motivate the players.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the win over United, the former Arsenal skipper said: ‘He’s done a fantastic job. We saw it in the documentary that they did, the way he pushed the players, the way he understands players.
‘We were talking before about the project and Arsenal when they hired Mikel, and he hadn’t coached anyone before, he was only an assistant for Pep [Guardiola].
‘When I say “only”, obviously it’s fantastic to be able to do that but it’s not the same as when you are the main guy and you need to do everything.
‘I was lucky enough to be at the training ground recently and it felt like I’d never been there before because everything had changed so much.
‘The manager of the training ground told me that it’s 95% Mikel who has changed the whole thing.’
Asked what he has changed, Fabregas continued: ‘Everything. The perception of the club in the last few years, a lot of messages, positive messages around the training ground, much bigger facilities, better equipment, pitches, everything you name it.
‘I think as well at the entrance they have this symbol of a Premier League where it’s an empty Premier League and he wants to kind of show the message that, “Guys, we need to just put it in there”.
‘So every day the players they go there, they see the Premier League but only being the symbol, so it’s like a message or inspiration every day to go there and prove that you really want to put the Premier League [trophy] in there.
‘So I think he’s changed the mentality of the club since Arsene [Wenger] left and it’s fantastic what he’s done.’
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