It was often suggested last season that Arsenal would have been Barclays Premier League champions if they possessed the spirit and character to make the most of their technical virtues, but a confidential memo left at the team’s hotel in Manchester last weekend has given a fascinating insight into Arsène Wenger’s attempts to instruct his players on the importance of teamwork and togetherness.

The memo, printed on a single side of A4 paper, covered the themes that the Arsenal manager and his staff discussed at a team meeting in their hotel on Friday evening before their league match away to Bolton Wanderers. To judge from their response in that match — they conceded the first goal but ran out 3-1 winners — Wenger’s lessons have been taken on board.

“A team is as strong as the relationships within it,” the memo begins. “The driving force of a team is its members’ ability to create and maintain excellent relationships within the team that can add an extra dimension and robustness to the team’s dynamic.

“This attitude can be used by our team to focus on the gratitude and vitally important benefits that the team brings to our own lives. It can be used to strengthen and deepen the relationships within it and maximise the opportunities that await a strong and united team.”

The memo continues with a list of bullet points to explain how the team can become stronger. These points include “displaying a positive attitude on and off the pitch”; “everyone making the right decisions for the team”; having “an unshakable belief that we can achieve our target”; staying “grounded and humble as a player and a person”; and “when we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home”.

Arsenal did that at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday, with Wenger remarking that his young team “are more robust than people think we are”. Perhaps they were listening during that meeting after all.