The legendary Gunners midfielder speaks exclusively to Goal about what went on behind the scenes during his time in north London

Gilberto Silva didn’t make too many mistakes in his long and illustrious career, but turning up to an Arsenal training session without any shin pads was one of them.

“I tried it once,” he said. “But then after seeing the way everyone was training, I was not prepared to be without them. It was not safe.”

Gilberto arrived at Arsenal in 2002, just a month after winning the World Cup with Brazil in Japan. By the time he left in 2007, he had won the Premier League title, two FA Cups, two Community Shields and written his name into club folklore alongside the rest of Arsene Wenger’s 'Invincibles'.

It was one of the most successful periods in the club's history and the legendary midfielder points to those training sessions at London Colney as the reason why.

“An Arsenal training session was so intense,” he said. “I believe this is what made us invincible. It was because of this type of mentality. The way we trained was no different to the games. In fact, many times, some training sessions were harder than the games we played.

“It was more difficult because we never pulled back from any of the challenges, none of the players. Sometimes, it was quite scary. Every session was a big battle.

"You had to be at your top level because it was there that everything started for us. It’s where we got prepared for all the games and where Arsene learned which type of player he could count on.”

Stories of training-ground fights were commonplace during the 'Invincibles' era and they are backed up by Gilberto, who witnessed it all first-hand.

“The tension in the training sessions was always there, every day,” he said. “Martin [Keown] was always talking and Jens [Lehman] was screaming from the back. I remember once he told Thierry to come and mark somebody and Thierry said, ‘Jens, stop! It’s too early.'

“We all ended up laughing because this was the type of mentality everyone had and Jens was always focused from the beginning. Training sessions were just the same as a match for him.

“If someone was around him at a corner, he would push them because it was the same in the games. If someone tried to make him angry, he would always push somebody back.”