'Arsenal boss fined me two weeks' wages after my drink got spiked on night out'

Nicklas Bendtner was once docked two weeks' wages by Arsene Wenger after a night out during which he claimed his drink had been spiked. The 'Lord' broke through the Arsenal youth system in 2005 and sparked controversy four years later while leaving a London nightclub.

It was already a cagey state of affairs in north London after Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League semi-finals to Manchester United. But when Bendtner was spotted leaving a club at 4am with his trousers around his ankles, Wenger was particularly unimpressed.

In his book, Both Sides, the Dane alleged that he was the target of women who would try to sleep with him, and afterwards, blackmail him with evidence of their encounters. The now 37-year-old also alleged that he was spiked on one particular night.

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He wrote: "After hanging out in the bar area, one of the totally aggressive gold-diggers came over. I began chatting at random, and from then it didn't take many seconds before we disappeared off towards the toilets.

"Here we must apparently have done the deed. Or at least we tried to. Then I passed out, and no one, not my mate or my Danish girl, can get hold of me. When Boujis closes, an hour passes while they try to get through to me.

"I stagger as I'm escorted out to my taxi. Someone had put something in my glass. They call it 'spiking'. That has to be the explanation. Wenger isn't happy, and for the second season, he fines me two weeks' wages."

Wenger's reaction to the incident shows the no-nonsense approach he took with Arsenal during his 22-year reign in north London. The club's 'Invincibles' Premier League-winning campaign was also largely down to Wenger's approach and the values he instilled in his players.

Despite racking up 47 goals in 171 appearances for the Gunners, Bendtner spent a large portion of his Arsenal tenure on loan with the likes of Birmingham City, Sunderland and Juventus, before he moved on to VfL Wolfsburg in 2014. After a two-year stint in the Bundesliga, the centre-forward returned to English soil with Nottingham Forest, scoring two goals in 17 games before he was on the move once more, this time to Rosenborg.

Just two years later, Bendtner secured a transfer to Copenhagen in his native Denmark, before being released less than a year later. He announced his retirement from football in June 2021.

Despite no longer playing, Bendtner will have a close eye on Arsenal's clash with Nottingham Forest come 12.30pm on Saturday, given he represented both clubs in the past. Mikel Arteta will hope that 2025/26 will be the Gunners' time to shine in the Premier League after back-to-back second-place finishes in the past two seasons.

Having kick-started their campaign with a 1-0 win over Manchester United and a 5-0 thrashing of a newly-promoted Leeds, Arsenal will look to bounce back from their recent 1-0 loss to defending champions Liverpool ahead of the international break. Meanwhile, under the tutelage of new boss, Ange Postecoglou, Forest will hope for more consistency going forward.

The Tricky Trees thrilled with a 3-1 win over Brentford on opening day, before holding Community Shield winners Crystal Palace to a 1-1 stalemate at Selhurst Park. However, a 3-0 battering at the hands of an otherwise struggling West Ham United will leave much to be desired when Forest meet Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

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