MIKEL ARTETA is dreaming of a title touchdown after taking inspiration from the NFL.
Premier League leaders Arsenal face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday as Arteta bids to push the Gunners all the way to the end zone this season.
And hostilities will be renewed on Sunday — in the boardroom at least — when the London clubs’ owners see their NFL sides clash at Wembley.
Stan Kroenke’s Los Angeles Rams take on the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are owned by Fulham chairman Shahid Khan.
Gunners boss Arteta is a big fan of Rams coach Sean McVay and said: “He is someone I admire a lot. Not only for what he’s achieved.
“Also the way he is as a coach, as a person, the way he presents himself — I learn a lot of things from him. It’s great to have Stan and Josh (Kroenke) here as well with us.
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“It’s a good opportunity to connect everybody.”
McVay, 39, became the youngest NFL coach in the modern era aged 30.
At 36, he was the youngest to lead a team to a Super Bowl victory when the Rams saw off the Cincinnati Bengals in February 2022.
Arteta said: “I have seen Sean with his team and how a day looks. The amount of meetings he has!
“He has 74 players in the squad and he has ten meetings before he even starts.
“Players take notes for two hours, they are in meetings. It’s about education and culture.
“A 15-minute meeting, 45 minutes or 2½ hours? The capacity they have as well to create different scenarios.
“It is a very set-piece orientated sport. There are things you can implement — with the limits they have, how they maximise certain areas is unbelievable.
“In football, we are not there yet. There is a lot to take in.”
Arteta, whose team top the Prem by a point, also claimed he learns from a variety of sports.
He said: “From handball, from rugby, tennis, ice hockey. And not only from the sport but the sport played in different countries.
“It’s not the same rugby here as in Australia and it fascinates me. It’s not only about the sport, it’s about the culture.
“Whether managers have been in the job for one season or 13. It’s a completely different job.”
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