The WAGs behind Arsenal's success: Partners of Saka, Ben White and Odegaard...

Being the partner of a footballer can spring up certain assumptions. Salacious gossip, a hunger for the public eye and extravagant opulence are some.

Yet, when a video of Martin Odegaard’s girlfriend Helene Spilling celebrating Arsenal’s 5-0 thumping of Chelsea to Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’ in the Emirates stands last week went viral on social media, it was a microcosm of a culture created by Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.

A culture that has brought the families of his players on board his team’s ambitions.

A core of the group meet at matches together and also socialise away from the Emirates. They include Spilling, Tolami Benson, Milly White, Sophie Weber and Laura Trossard Hilven.

These are the significant others of Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Ben White, Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard respectively.

Four of the women stayed together at one of their homes to watch Arsenal thrash Sheffield United 6-0 in March. And on matchdays, many of the group can be spotted in the stands cheering on their men, away from seeking the limelight themselves.

This was the case for the Chelsea match, with Spilling taking a picture with Odegaard from pitchside afterwards, and the group were also together for the trip to Bayern Munich for Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final second leg.

It’s a far cry from the stereotypical WAG image of the noughties, through the likes of Cheryl Cole and Coleen Rooney, in which the activities of the England football team’s partners during the 2006 World Cup often drew as much attention as the football itself.

When Mail Sport asked about this growing group of families socialising together, Arteta said: ‘That’s great to see obviously because it’s needed. We have a lot of foreign players that obviously they have their families, wives, girlfriends around and they need support.

‘They need to build those friendships and those close circles around them. We have created that, big credit to them and how much they have put into that because it’s really helpful for the team so if they are happy, much better because the players are gonna be happy and more settled.

‘It gives you a much bigger sense of belonging somewhere when you really feel that you are part of something.’

Since taking the reins at Arsenal in December 2019, Arteta has long seen family a crucial piece of the jigsaw to his players performing at their best. As the old adage goes, ‘A happy wife, a happy life’.

A key event which bonded the group of five together was the two-week squad winter trip to Dubai in January. The Gunners headed into the break having been beaten twice in a row in the league, to West Ham and Fulham. Morale was at a low.

For their journey to the Middle East, Arteta invited along the players’ families. The club put on some bonding sessions to integrate them in the belief that doing so would have a wider positive effect.

The Arsenal manager's decision to invite family members on the trip was initially met by scepticism. Arteta, though, spotted an opportunity.

It was a move that has enhanced the sense of togetherness he has been so keen to nurture.

Since the Dubai trip, and prior to it, the club have gone out their way to ensure none of the families feel isolated by encouraging them to get to know each other.

It’s particularly important for the partners of players who have joined the club within the past year, such as Havertz, or have come from abroad.

He added: ‘We do certain things, we try to bring everybody together to try to at least have the capacity to connect and then obviously a relationship. Whether you like somebody or want to spend time with somebody, that’s something super personal and something completely down to them.’

It is not just about the partners. Children have been accommodated, too, as they can often feel the isolation of having a father in the public eye.

Arteta himself has not been shy about having family around. On Arsenal’s USA pre-season last summer, he involved his teenage son Gabriel in the opening training session in Washington DC.

Arsenal and Arteta will hope this togetherness continues so on the pitch the Gunners continue winning — while the same happens off it, too.