Mikel Arteta confirms why Arsenal no longer say the word ‘replacement’ and reveals the new name

The move comes as Arteta was in a WhatsApp group with former England rugby boss Eddie Jones and coaches from the NFL and NBA.

The group regularly exchanges ideas and Jones was particularly an advocate of renaming substitutes during his time with England.

Jones dubbed them ‘finishers’ and even changed the name on the official team sheet, and now Arteta has taken to calling Arsenal’s substitutes ‘impacters’.

“It’s something we wanted to change and I discussed it with a couple of people and we wanted to find something special for us,” Arteta said.

“I think it was the best way to express how we feel about them and how they must feel about the team, especially on matchday.

“I think it’s very difficult [to measure the difference it makes]. I think it’s about replacing someone and improving the team or doing things differently that are related to winning football games and in the end your mentality should just be about influencing the game to win it. That’s it, nothing else.

“I can’t measure that [difference]. I need to penetrate their brains, so far we haven’t had anything like that.

“I think the way we describe it is more like how we want it to be. If you keep repeating it and discussing it more and more, it will get closer to that and just be a sub.”