Anders Limpar talks strengths and weaknesses of Arsenal and recalls brilliant time travel prank

In an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, former Arsenal winger Anders Limpar spoke about the Gunners’ struggles during the run-in, his player of the season and where they can strengthen during the summer – and recounted a terrific time travel prank which left him a laughing stock in Sweden.

Arsenal’s mentality key to title run-in failure

Arsenal have won two of their last seven games in the league and at one stage we were eight points clear of Manchester City. Quite simply, since the start of April until now, our biggest stars haven’t produced. We have to ask questions of the mental side of this team right now. They’re a hell of a team, but for some reason, the mental state of our key players just hasn’t been there in the last six or seven weeks.

Aside from that, they’ve been outstanding, but people have to know that to win the Premier League, you have to mentally be at it right up until the very end. Credit to City, though, because they’ve been plodding along and closing the gap all the time. I’m just sad to say that Arsenal’s stars haven’t been there mentally of late.

You’ve got Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta up there at the top of the table with their teams in the toughest division in the world. They’re two of the best managers in the world. Guardiola has more experience when it comes to this stage of the season, and he has the luxury of being able to constantly rotate his squad, much more than Arteta does.

They’ve had to play so many more games than Arsenal, particularly since the start of April, too. Arsenal have no excuses when it comes to losing this title. We could have easily won it if everyone turned up, but they didn’t. It’s sad because halfway through the season I was convinced it was Arsenal’s year, but City have been absolutely outstanding up to this point.

Arsenal have been unfortunate with injuries, but you have to cope with it. Every team has to deal with that, it’s not an excuse. It’s a question of mentality for me. We are equally as good as Manchester City, player for player, when it comes to ability on the pitch… we are level. But when these big games come around, the key players have to step up mentally. They have to be strong, because it’s not a question of their ability. I believe the squad is as strong as City’s.

Arteta is a very clever guy, a great manager, equally as good as Guardiola. I’m just sorry to say that his key players didn’t turn up over the last few weeks. Too many draws in a row and then losing to City, that was the real turning point, of course. That was the key moment. Even winning one of those games would have kept it in Arsenal’s hands, I think. It’s sad.

Gunners and City to fight for title again next season

It’s going to be a two-horse race next again next season – it’s going to be Manchester City and Arsenal. Liverpool will be there or thereabouts in third or fourth place with Man United. But I think next season is a two-horse race. We’re going to bring in a couple of top, young players who are going to be there long term.

This summer, and next season, is about learning from mistakes from this campaign. Last season was similar. We didn’t show up for the last five games and it cost us Champions League football. That’s the main thing which needs to be talked about in the dressing room: what happens mentally when it comes to the last few games of the season? It’s the most important time of the year. You have to be 100% focused all of the time. They have to talk a lot about their mentality this summer.

Arsenal’s player of the season

I like Martin Odegaard a lot, he’s been a great captain. He’s already got 15 goals in the league and so many assists. He’s really been the engine in that midfield. He’s never injured, he plays regularly and leads by example.

If I had to pick my top three performers this season, I’d say Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale and Bukayo Saka. And if I had to pick one of those as a stand-out, I love Saka…it’d have to be him. I can see myself in him.

Freddie Ljungberg had ambitions to manage Arsenal

I’ve actually hardly ever spoken to Freddie [Ljungberg]. I’ve probably met and spoken with him twice in my life. One was at an Arsenal Foundation event where we played a charity match against AC Milan. We travelled from the hotel to the Emirates, and we sat next to each other, speaking for half an hour or so. He’s such a soft, sweet and nice guy.

He told me that his dream in life was to one day manage Arsenal – that was back in 2016. He was the academy manager, looking after the under-15s I think. He told me then that his main goal was to manage the first team.

I truly think he’s a genuine and sweet guy who has been an unreal ambassador for Arsenal, on and off the pitch. We’ve not done too badly between us as a pair of Swedes winning more than a few trophies between us.

Unbelievable to look at, too, of course. He’s beautiful! He’s got the whole set-up, a great player and nice to look at – what a guy. He did some work as an underwear model, I must have been busy at the time modelling socks! There’s different looks between me and Freddie, I must say!

Where the Gunners can strengthen

Arsenal are one of the best sides in Europe right now, especially in England. I can’t see why they have to go and sign that many more players this summer. Of course, you’d like a couple more to cover for injuries. They probably need someone who can step in and cover for William Saliba, and someone up front to account for Gabriel Jesus if he gets injured. Eddie Nketiah did a great job earlier this season but I’d still like to see someone else come in.

Then it’s just about getting the best out of your wingers by rotating them more, so Leandro Trossard could play even more of an important role next season.

But I’m not too concerned, honestly, with bringing in a flurry of players this summer. I’d like a Frank Lampard kind of midfielder; someone who can find 15 or 20 goals a season – a two-way player.

We have good players in Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka, but how many goals do they have between them this season in the league? Eight in 66 games… come on…. they’re such good sitting midfielders and excellent passers of the ball, but they have to produce 15 to 20 goals between them.

If we can find a two-way player with 15 to 20 goals in their locker, we’ll be up there next season. I think Declan Rice can be that man. OK, his numbers right now aren’t at that level, but he’s playing for West Ham, who are having a terrible season. If you put him in that Arsenal team, he’s probably going to score 12 to 15 goals a season. He’s the best in England in his position, so if you add him to that Arsenal team, he’s going to produce goals, for sure.

There are always question marks around transfer fees, and in my opinion, the figures being spoken about nowadays are absolutely crazy. But if Arsenal can get him in the summer, he’d be a great addition.

I believed I’d time-travelled from 1997 to 1999

Oh, man. First of all, I think this is easily one of the best pranks ever. I actually thought I’d flown two years into the future; that’s the long and short of it. For years afterwards, I was a laughing stock here in Sweden; no one could understand how I believed it all. But it was unreal, the production levels were so, so good.

There were something like 20 guys involved, all to fool me, and I just bit. I was perfect for them, I suppose, maybe because they thought I’d believe anything. So, yeah, I believed I was flying in some sort of time machine, because we were flying – at the time – in an actual plane from Gothenburg. I had a bar at the time, The Limp Bar, in Stockholm, and we were going down to Gothenburg to launch our new beer. So we went out there – my friend with me. I think he wanted to buy a dog with his girlfriend. And when we went back to Stockholm, we took this little plane.

There were these two ‘scientists’ on the flight who were talking about being able to time travel, and the plane was diving up and down and all over the place. I can laugh at it all now, but at the time, my God, it was scary. It was really, really scary. They actually involved these jet fighters to guide us into Stockholm…actual jet fighters. We could hear everything that was going on over the radio:

“Where have you been? Where have you been?! This is the tower speaking, you’ve just shown up on the radar!”

The whole production was so cleverly done. I felt it was all real. It was absolutely crazy. We had two doctors on board in case I flipped. There was someone who could essentially press a button and the plane would just start diving up and down and all over the place. Food and drink was flying everywhere in the plane, and then we started to level out. I’m just thinking ‘what the f*** is going on?!’

This science guy just goes: “I’ve done it.”

“Done what? What the f*** have you done?!”

“I’ve flown two years in time.”

We didn’t have a clue what was going on. The plane is jumping all over the place and we’re being told we’ve travelled into the future…I went to the pilot and started shouting at him, demanding to speak to the tower. He ordered me to go back and put my seatbelt on.

“I’m not going anywhere! I want to speak to the f****** tower in Stockholm because this is unreal!”

We were fighting with them in the plane because we wanted to know what was going on.

The story is just so funny. Everyone was so professional, it was incredibly realistic. Apparently they’d done something similar with a Canadian guy two years before me, and he actually had to have psychological help afterwards because he was in such a bad state.

It was such a horrible feeling. We thought we were dead. When we landed, we were told they’d had funerals for us and everything, because apparently the assumption was that we’d died.

This prank went on for two days, by the way. It wasn’t just a quick joke. We landed the plane and they took us straight into a hanger, where there were science guys asking all of us questions. They showed us newspapers – which obviously weren’t real – where crazy things had apparently happened. They told us Norway had won the World Cup in 1998… ‘what the f*** is going on here!’ I saw that headline and told my friend: “Look, look! Norway won the World Cup while we were away!”

That’s when they told us they’d had funerals for us, and they wanted to know what happened to us, where we’d been, had we been in space? All of these things. It was all absolutely mind-blowing.

From the two days we spent in this prank, they cut the whole thing down to just one hour for TV. There was so much more to the whole story.

Of course I was so glad when the guy, Lennart Swahn, finally showed up to tell us it was all a prank. I felt like I’d had a rucksack full of stones just fall off my back, I was so relieved. He suddenly popped up from behind a load of smoke by the door. He just shouts: “Anders! I’ve been back to medieval times!”

Again, I’m just like ‘what the f*** is going on!?’

“Anders, it’s a prank!”

No, come on… I couldn’t believe it. I was happy, of course, but I just felt ridiculous for something like half an hour afterwards, to even think that I was flying two years into the future.

But, for years afterwards, I was angry with it all, because it made me a laughing stock in Sweden. I wasn’t happy with that at all. That’s why, when they asked me if they could sell the whole thing as a DVD, I said no. Look, it was an incredible prank, so funny when I look back now, and I felt so many emotions at the time. I was happy when it all ended, but when everyone in the country laughed at me for years afterwards… that was hard to deal with. It affected my personality, my profile, whatever you want to call it, because I was just seen as this laughing stock.

It wasn’t a cheap prank at all, in fact I don’t think you’ll find many more expensive. I was later told that – back in the day – their normal production budget per stunt was £10,000; this one was £200,000. They had to pay for jet fighters, take over the airport and everything. It was just the biggest production ever made in Sweden, when it came to prank shows.

I never found out why they chose to do it on me… I’m probably too trustworthy a guy, easy to fool, naive, whatever you want to call it! For me, it’s one of the cleverest pranks ever done.