Every word from Mikel Arteta’s pre-Burnley presser | Press conference | News

Mikel Arteta took questions from the press ahead of Saturday’s trip to Turf Moor to take on Burnley in the Premier League.

We are on an eight-game winning streak across all competitions, and Mikel spoke about our form, taking on Scott Parker’s Burnley, and more.

Read every word from his press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre below:

on any new injury news:
No, I think we have the same ones. Martinelli is still out, and Saliba, we have to wait and see. We have another training session this afternoon and the rest are still getting closer. I think in the right direction, but not available yet. 

on the timeline for Martinelli:
We don’t know yet, but I think this game is going to come too early for him. 

on a timeline for Havertz, Madueke, Odegaard and Jesus:
I would say weeks and some of them pretty soon, hopefully, if they keep evolving the way they are doing. It’s difficult to put a game, you know that we have the international break, which is a two-week break there, and after that I think we’ll have some back. I don’t know if it’s going to be all of them, some of them, but we’ll be quite close by then. 

on keeping the momentum going after eight straight wins:
Yeah, and maintain the level of urgency, the concentration, the focus, the ambition that we are showing every game. Every game brings different challenges, sometimes we have to be very patient, some other times we have to have a different approach. The game against Burnley is going to be really tough. They are extremely well-coached, I know Scott [Parker] really well and what he’s done with the club and with this team, it’s formidable. When you look at all the games that I see, five of the last games that they played, a very, very tough team to beat. 

on how competitive this season is:
More than ever, I think the level is increasing year after year. Better structure, better organisation, better decision-making from clubs, managers, better players, so it tells you the difficulty of that. When I look at the big teams, the way [the promoted clubs] have behaved and how they have earned points or lost points, it’s from very small margins and that’s the reality in this league. 

on if picking his team is the worst part of his job:
No, I cannot say that. It is the worst part in terms of the decision with certain players when you don’t allow them to play, which is the hardest part in our job. But they acknowledge that as well and at the end, when they make decisions, some good, some bad, I’m not judging every decision that they make, we cannot do that. So the other way around, this cannot happen, so at the moment, we are dealing with it in a really positive way, and you can see the consequences of that in the impact that every player that is not playing is having, and when they have to play, the way they are performing, and you only do that with good preparation and good mental state. 

on managing the disappointment of players who aren’t playing: 
It’s an education that you probably get since you are young and you decide to play football. You know that there are 11 players playing and then another 10 or 12 that are not going to start the game, that doesn’t mean they are not going to be important for the team. So hopefully that’s an education that all of us got with the right coaches very early in our careers. If I have to do that right now, obviously it will be difficult, and just try to do it with an open heart, understanding that you care about them and you want the best and they will have their moments and then try to be as fair as possible when you see certain behaviours and that willingness to play, give them the opportunity to play. 

on if he’s calmer on the sidelines: 
Sometimes more than others. I think it’s the years, the trust and confidence that you have in the team as well, in the work that you do. Getting feedback, I think, is the best thing for people who are very close in our job, people who know you really, really well, [asking] what is that coming from, because sometimes it’s a way. I want my team to be very active and at the same time very creative and very disciplined and if you want the manager to be like that, you cannot just be watching the game like this. It’s something that is the way I am, it’s the way I live the game and I want the players to live the game constantly with that body language. From there, you can always improve. 

on who he turns to for feedback: 
A lot of people, some of them you know, and I cannot say it here, but it’s just that – the good and the bad, all the ideas that they can bring to us better. People who have a different perspective, they’re not with us every single day and probably that’s the people who have the more clear picture about looking at things with a different idea or perspective to help us. Not only me, but all the coaches and, for sure, the players as well. 

on if it’s other managers:
Yeah, it can be other sports, but you will know them. 

on if every player is giving him something to think about:
That’s what we want to create. If you want to get the best out of all of them, those standards have to be set in training, and if you don’t have that in training, it’s very difficult to replicate it during matches. So it’s the balance between the competition and cooperation between the players as well to understand their role on the day and what they have to do, but I love that spirit. 

on Scott Parker calling our side a well-oiled machine:
I think we are able to dominate a lot of aspects of the game. We can of course improve in many of them still and that’s a constant evolution as a team, but the more resources and the more things we can dominate throughout a game, especially in the Premier League, the better chance we have to win games. 

on the number of fixtures in a season:
Every decision that we make in terms of a fixture has to be guided by two main things, I think: players’ welfare and then supporters. That’s it, and the rest has to come very, very far away from that, and we should never forget that principle. That’s the only thing I will say. 

on if teams will pull out of competitions in the future: 
I hope we don’t, if we have that big piece of paper with those two principles there in front before we make any decision, all of us in our industry, we won’t get there. If we don’t and we just ignore that, then anything is possible.

on if this is a good opportunity to win trophies:
It’s a big opportunity that we have ahead of us but we have to continue with that level of consistency and we know how difficult that is. Tomorrow is going to be an extremely tough match for us and we’re going to have to hit those performance levels to win the game. 

on managing the expectations of our academy players:
When you’re delivering good news, it’s so easy and it’s so wonderful, and you get an incredible reaction, but we have to be prepared in our job to give other kinds of news and messages sometimes. It is for the best for the team and maybe not for the best for the individual, but you never know because some decisions that, at the time, you think are not good for you, they become the best decisions for your career, and I’ve experienced that myself. So, take them, make the most out of them and we’ll see what happens the next day.

on players calling Emirates Stadium ‘our house’:
That’s the way I feel it, hopefully the way they feel it as well, but to use that language, you really have to feel it. You have to feel that when you get there, your energy level, your desire to defend your house, to threaten anybody that comes very close to that, it has to be your mindset, and if the players feel that and our supporters feel that, I think we’re going to be stronger.

on going away from home:
We go to a different territory, obviously we use a different language for that, but at the end, the purpose and what we want to achieve in the game is very similar, but the context changes because we’re in a different situation.

on if players could go on strike because of the fixture schedule:
Hopefully not. If we look after the players’ welfare and our supporters, I think we’re never going to get to that point and that’s it. We have to close the window there, we cannot open that window, it has to be closed. It’s our most precious value; we have the best league in the world and we cannot just open any window for anything just to lose that because we don’t respect that and we forget what we are made of and what makes this game and this league so special. If we respect that, I’m sure we’re going to be totally fine.

on hoping Noni, Kai and Martin back for the north London derby:
I’m excited because they are tremendous players. I see them work every single day, how desperate they are to be part of the team, the huge boost that is going to be for the squad to have those players available again after such a long time. I’m really happy that I think it’s going to be very soon.

on the impact of academy players performing well has on the dressing room:
Absolutely and especially when we talk about players that are starting their careers because we’ve all been there. That’s something that I discuss with the players and make sure that when Andre [Harriman-Annous] thinks about this day, he knows the exact date, the team, the hour, who he played next to and what actually happened that day, because that’s with you for the rest of your life and we are all responsible to make that day, that night very, very special for him.

The other fact is that because you’re playing in a cup, you are in or you are out. If we want to win every trophy and want to be there, we have to be ruthless in every competition. In order to achieve that, we are going to need every player and in order to do that, you have to be at your best. We have a lot of players that play very few minutes, but on minute three, Kepa made that save because every day, he trains like a beast and it’s not a coincidence.

on sustaining the size of his squad:
I’ve been part of that. When I was here at Arsenal, we had an incredible squad. When I was at Manchester City, you could pick two or three players per position. If you want to go to Chelsea or Liverpool, when they’re winning, they all have it. We don’t do anything special, and thank God we have it because we have five or six players out, big players out, and we are having to use other kinds of solutions as well, and the team remains competitive. So, it’s very necessary. I don’t think you get away at that level with anything else other than that.

on if there’s a solution to the fixture congestion:
No, probably it’s not easy. But it has to be doable because if we put something that is not feasible, then what are we doing? So, it’s doable for sure. So, let’s do it in the best possible manner, respecting players and supporters.

on the confidence means the squad feels unstoppable:
No, because you always have that sense of urgency and you see the complications and the challenges that the next opponent is going to bring you. We know that every three days we have very little time to train and prepare. We always have to be like this, and I see everybody on their toes, ready for the next game and accepting that challenge and understanding that the opportunity is there as well, and if we do what we have to do, we have a big opportunity to win again.

on when he thinks the title race starts:
For me, it’s the first day of pre-season. Trying to prepare the team and individuals in the best possible way and go game by game because it’s going to be so long.

on if he encourages players to talk about winning the Premier League:
We have to focus on the journey and what we have to do every single day. Fixing the outcome, of course, we want to win it and the preparation is towards that, great, and we have set all the protocols, processes, ambitions, everything. Now you have to focus on what you have to do. If not, you get distracted with the rest and I don’t want any of that around the team.

on trying to go one step further in the Premier League:
At the end, you learn that the margins to achieve it or not are many. It can be that an opposition player is one-on-one against the keeper, and he scores that goal – you are the champion. The other keeper saves it – you are not the champion. It can be injuries, it can be decisions, it can be a mistake. There can be so many factors that we cannot control. What we can control is what we can do the best. 

There are many factors that have to go your way. You can do a lot of great things, and still a lot of things have to go your way; the injuries and the players that you have to play and they have to be there, and their personal lives have to be perfect because if not, it can unbalance. It’s so many things, and it’s still so, so long. We’ve already seen the turnaround in the league, and going to the Champions League is the same, other leagues are the same. We are in a very specific context right now, so let’s focus day by day.

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