Arsenal legend Dixon reveals ‘insiders’ have leaked how Emery totally overhauled training… and stats show the impact
Former Gunners defender, 55, revealed how the intensity of training sessions has improved this season
ARSENAL veteran Lee Dixon claimed "insiders" have leaked how Unai Emery has totally transformed training sessions.
Statistics show how the Spaniard's new approach has improved the endurance of his players during matches this season.
Meanwhile, Gunners midfielder Denis Suarez has said how physically demanding Emery's training sessions have been this season.
Dixon, who spent 14 years playing for Arsenal, has now revealed what an insider at the club has told him about the boss.
The 55-year-old said: "The training intensity and the accountability in training with what is expected of them has gone up.
"I know that for a fact because I've still got a few people knocking around the training ground that I can ask how things are going.
"The little insider has kind of said training has completely changed in that respect, which I think is a good thing."
STATS TO PROVE IT
Emery focuses largely on the fitness of his players and statistics show the positive impact it has had on them this season.
The average distance covered by the Arsenal team in a Premier League game this season is 115.1 km.
In comparison, last season they managed an average of just 112.3 km per game in the top-flight.
Arsenal's average number of tackles has increased from 16 to 16.8, but they now tend to shoot a lot less and face more efforts on their own goal.
But the Gunners are on track for a top four finish in the league and have reached the quarter-final of the Europa League.
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Dixon added: "We've seen this season some of the results have been fantastic, some of the performances have been brilliant.
"Tottenham at home they were sensational, they played well away from home as well, the game against United recently. But then they'll throw in a Rennes [performance] away from home.
"Some of the results they had in that [unbeaten] run they went on at the start of the season, they should have been 3-0 down against West Ham at home and they won the game easily."
Jose Mourinho's methods were also exposed this week by after a Chelsea scouting report on Barcelona was leaked.
