Here is every word Mikel Arteta said ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Newcastle United
Mikel Arteta faced the media ahead of his Arsenal side’s Premier League clash with Newcastle United. The Spaniard was in a buoyant mood after what was just a second full week off since the middle of December.
The manager was asked for updates on several of the Gunners’ current injury concerns. Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino have all been missing, and Arsenal could truly do with some returning.
After the defeat to Manchester City, naturally, there was also some focus on how Arteta’s team has responded in the week since. Unsurprisingly, he was full of positive words ahead of these must-win games.
FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Here is every word Arteta said in his pre-match press conference:
Can we start with any fresh injury concerns, if any, after the City game?
Yeah.
Have you got any?
So, no, and Bukayo probably is going to be in the squad, so good news.
Fantastic. And what about Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien?
In the squad as well, Jurrien is not in the squad.
Huge boost then for you ahead of this one. OK, so you said last week, can I just go back to last week, that the reaction of the players in the dressing room, they felt even more convinced that they can create something special and win this league. What did you see then and this week that maybe has reinforced that idea within yourself?
The same, the energy raised, the belief raised, I think the clarity of what we have to do, it cannot be better. Five games to go. Tomorrow, game one, all in. Let’s go for it.
The latest Opta supercomputer results are out.
OK.
They say Arsenal have a 65.51% chance of winning the title. What is Mikel Arteta’s supercomputer saying?
Win tomorrow, game one, win, and then we will be much closer.
What’s the belief in your supercomputer saying?
Not in the computer, I have belief in our players, in our people, and the willingness that we have to achieve what we want.
Can I ask you about the… You described this run-in now as effectively a new Premier League season. Do you feel, with this new season, you’ve got to be perfect?
I don’t know. It’s five games to go, four weeks. Two big competitions to play for, and everything to play for. If somebody would have told us at the beginning of the season, we would have taken it, and we are so excited. Tomorrow is game one.
If both teams were to do it, and win all of the remaining five games, it’s going to come down to goal difference, maybe even goals scored. With that in mind, does that change any part of your approach, and maybe team selections as well? Because of the fact that you might need to score more goals than just simply winning a game.
Yeah, we don’t know. We are just talking about our possibilities, the first thing we have to do, and the right to win the game. And then win it. Depending on how the situation is, you can think about something else. But the priority is that you have to be better in the position, and the right to win the game, and win it. That’s the first thing.
There have been so many crazy finishes in Premier League history. There’s also been one in Scotland as well, in particular. Let me take you back to 2003. I’m sure you might remember this, because Rangers and Celtic were fighting for the title, and a certain Mikel Arteta scored a winning penalty. And the celebrations were just incredible. Can you just give us an idea of what your memories are of that particular moment, and if you can bottle it and relay some of that feeling to your players?
Well, we were fighting with Celtic for 10 months. We got to the last kick of the game, minute 96 at home. We needed to score a goal, and I took the penalty. And we won the league by one goal difference. That was it.
Can you elaborate a little bit on the feeling that you had?
It doesn’t get better than that. I mean, yeah, I went the right way. And one of the best feelings I had in my career, because when you have to earn it so much, and everything is on the line, and so I’m decisive. When you win it, it’s even more special.
You say everything is on the line. Is that something that you can relate, and maybe have those emotions with your squad currently? Because everything is on the line again, isn’t it?
Yeah, you have to put everything into it. That’s what I said. It’s all in. When you’re going to play now, those five games start tomorrow. Everything that you have, you have to put it on the table, and you have to make it happen. That’s clear.
I’m sure you saw the news with Chelsea, and the sacking of Liam Rosenior. Could I just get your reaction to that? Were you surprised? And does it make you even more grateful to be working at a club where you’ve shown so much support?
Yeah, well, it’s always sad to see a colleague leave a club, and especially when we are so close to the [end of] season. At the end, the clubs are here, and they are tempted to make decisions. We know the scrutiny and the demands on our jobs, and we know that the only thing that matters at the end is winning a lot of football matches.
You use different inspirational techniques to inspire your players throughout your time at Arsenal. Will you do anything different? Have you done anything different this week to help them in these next five games?
Well, every game we do something different to inspire them, to guide them, to talk about a specific topic, maybe, on the day. This week we didn’t have to do much. The energy has been so good, the weather has helped as well, so much, it’s been beautiful. We know, it’s so clear what is at stake, how much we fought for this with our people, and now we have to do it on the pitch.
I wanted to ask about Martin Zubimendi, because if he plays tomorrow, he’ll make his 50th appearance for Arsenal in the competition. I was at the Bournemouth game, and there was a moment that went viral afterwards, of him being consoled by his teammates, and then again, after the Sporting game, when he got the player of the match, where all the players ran to him, and were hugging him, congratulating him. I just wanted to get a sense of what his relationship with the players within the squad is like. Has he gone through highs and lows recently? Because he plays a lot of minutes, and we see these moments separately within games. Fans are left wondering, what is going on with Martin Zubimendi? How is he?
He’s very good. I mean, to play 50 games for Arsenal in the first season, at the level that he’s done, and the amount of games that we’ve won, you have to do things in an exceptional way. He’s very much liked by everybody; you can sense that. If you go back to clips in September, October, November, I can show you when he scored goals or assists, or whatever, the reaction and how he feels with his teammates is so good, and we are blessed to have him.
In terms of your opponents tomorrow, Newcastle, obviously they’ve been a really rough run, eight losses in 11 Premier League games. Have you been surprised to see their form?
Well, we know the difficulty of the league, and I’m very clear that the ability and the quality of Newcastle, what Eddie’s done with that team, and continues to do, we know how tough the opponent is going to be tomorrow. We have to be at our best, and if we do that, we’re going to have a big chance of winning it.
You said earlier, it’s time to go all in, it’s time to really go for it. Does that mean in the next five games, your team may be playing with a little bit more freedom than they would have done up to this point in the season, because goals could be so important?
I don’t know. It’s four goals against, I think it’s going to be a balance of that. It’s been all season, that’s why the goal difference between the two teams is so small. So, yeah. First of all, as I said, it’s very clear what we have to do to win the game, to earn the right to win the game, to compete and be better than the opponent. The rest will come.
You know, like with City won 1-0, there kind of was a feeling that, yeah, they won 1-0, to get three points, but actually, that wasn’t a good result. 3-4-5 to nil would have been a much better result. Is that how a manager sees things?
It’s always better to win 3-4-5 [to-nil], when you play in the Premier League and every opponent is very difficult.
And, very much going to the next five games, the end of the season, is it now, in your mind, everything to win, or an everything to lose situation?
Everything to win. We are in the position that we are, playing the two biggest competitions that we had this season, the position that we are in. I think it’s a simple answer.
What are you personally going to do differently this year, this time around, to what you’ve done in the last two or three years, yourself?
Every game will be different. Focus on the priorities and the things that we can do to help the players arrive in the best state possible with the team. Make sure that we have all the players available, which is one of the most important things and a big lesson that we’ll learn from it. And give them confidence and trust and belief that we’re going to do it. That’s it.
There was some criticism of Declan Rice’s performance last week at Manchester City, which I, personally, thought was quite amazing because I think he’s one of the best players in his position, not only in the league but in the world. How do you feel when you see some of your main players, and sometimes they’re not as appreciated, let’s say, as they maybe should be?
Well, I do. We do. We know the players that we have. How blessed we are to have him. The season that he’s having again has been absolutely outstanding and that’s it. It’s about the next performance and now it’s Newcastle. It’s tomorrow. And I’m sure he will step up again and make a difference for the team.
When you mentioned the new league phrase after the City game, did you see that almost as a mental thing? Did you see it as more mental than anything tactical or anything like that because of how long the season has been and obviously this week you’ve had a full week to kind of prepare?
Well, it’s a reality as well and the context of the two teams and where we are in the table and the amount of games that are left, I think was the right way for me to express it, and that’s the way I feel. And tomorrow is game one. That’s it.
And with Bukayo, you mentioned, I think a couple of weeks ago, how he deals with injuries. He feels frustrated, but he wants to solve those problems really quickly. How have you found him this week when he’s getting closer to fitness and getting back on the pitch?
Yeah, we have given him some time because there was a moment that he was struggling to sustain the performances because he wasn’t comfortable at all and we’ve done that so he had the right treatment, the right space. He has some time as well for himself and it’s the most important part of the season and it’s part of us.
Is that time for himself something you think is quite important, because I think maybe this time last year, when he had the hamstring injury, he went on holiday, and he said he had to go on.
Well, because it was a long-term injury. Now time for himself that I mean you are not connected with the team every day so I think it was a good moment for him as well to reflect on that to have some peace, because we’ve been constantly asking and demanding him, and it was a moment to say, okay, now when you feel ready let us know and we’ll go for it.
Is there any psychological impact of being second?
For me, no.
Everyone talks about how long you’ve been at the top of the table. Is it, when you talk about this being game one is that the idea to just reset and almost ignore the table?
No, because before the psychological effect was that we were getting chased for many months so what is better what is worse. At the end what is the best thing? Win the next game. So if you need a psychological effect, it’s tough regardless of where you are because you’ve won the game.
You’ve talked a lot about availability being really important at this stage of the season. Do you find if you get into that point now, Bukayo is coming back and you’ve still got a couple out but you’ve got the vast majority?
I hope now we need to get the best version out of them. So being available is not enough. Being available with your best version is what we need in this stage of the season, but at least they are with us they make us certainly stronger we miss them and now all the players as well so that they just come back as well. They’re going to have more games per minute, and hopefully we will see a better performance as well.
Does Mikel Merino have a chance of being fit this season?
It’s a bit premature to say that he’s evolving really well he’s really pushing every boundary that he possibly can but it’s a bit early to answer that question.
After the game on Sunday the cameras caught Declan Rice saying to Martin Odegaard ‘It’s not done it’s not done.’ I was wanting to know what your message has been to the players this week considering all the outliers that’s obviously coming on Sunday?
Everything to play for go and grab it that’s it it’s there to grab it and now we need to do it.
Results-wise, is it now a case of we need to win every single game now, and then we can’t have any more slip-ups?
It is game one we need to win in this game that’s the most important thing that’s the only thing we can control our performance our mindset our attitude towards the game tomorrow against Newcastle and that’s the only thing that matters.
On Sunday you started with Ebz and Martin and Kai we’ve not seen that kind of triumvirate together I’m just curious on how you saw those three working together and if it’s something that you see as kind of a future trio?
There are so many combinations that we haven’t seen all season, unfortunately, because we have so many situations, but the more we see certain connections, I think the better we’re going to be.
About those three in particular…
There were a lot of things that I liked and there are certain things obviously we have to improve but there are a lot of things that I really liked in the game.
We saw Kai Havertz play up front and put in a really good performance the team felt really connected. Obviously Viktor Gyokeres has had a wonderful season as well with 18 goals can you just speak on what you think the difference is between the two in terms of how they bring the team together and what they offer you as a forward?
Well very different profile but as well very different games the Man City game demanded something very different to the Bournemouth game as well it’s not about comparing these two very different profiles that make the team really really strong and we have to use them in the right way to win games that’s it.
Can I ask about Riccardo he’s obviously had a lot of injury problems in his career even before he joined Arsenal is that a situation where he’s so unique and offers so much to the team that you’ve accepted is almost worth the frustration of knowing he’ll miss games?
You accept certain situations because it is what it is but we are trying to implement a lot of things to give ourselves a better chance it’s been much better this season than it was in the previous season and he was really unlucky in the previous season that he had last year as well so yeah he’s putting so much into it as well and hopefully we can maintain him [being] fit.
I was just going to ask about those Rice comments again, just how encouraging was it to see that he was sort of saying it’s not done, that the mindset has shifted after that defeat?
Well, because we know, I mean, we’ve been there, and it’s very clear that it’s still everything to play for five games, he’s there to take it, and we need to go and grab it. I think it’s very simple.
One about Bukayo, him coming back is going to be a crucial period…
He was in great spirits today, you can see the sun is shining and now he’s back with the team, because he had a different energy. He’s had a tough period we certainly missed him and he’s back with us now.
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.
