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

Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the press ahead of our Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea at Emirates Stadium.

We take a one-goal lead into our clash in N5 thanks to goals from Ben White, Viktory Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi.

At the Sobha Realty Training Centre, Mikel has been speaking about the occasion, giving an injury update and much more.

Read every word below, with a video of the pull presser to follow!

on if there are any new injury concerns:
No, I think you’re aware of all of them.

on Saka’s issue before kick-off on Saturday:
We have to wait. Today, he was better, but we have to wait and see how he responds, and then make the decision.

on if it’s serious:
It doesn’t look like something too serious. Whether he’s going to be available for tomorrow or the weekend, we’ll see.

on if Merino will be back training before the end of the season:
We hope so. I don’t know, he needs to go through a procedure, which is not always positive. He’s a big player for us, a player who has such versatility and capacity to compete in various positions, and that’s a big blow.

on if it’s a fracture:
Yes

on if the World Cup is still a target for him:
Let’s see. It’s a very rare injury, so we have to wait and see once we have the surgery. How it reacts daily, monitor it throughout the week. I know Mikel is going to do absolutely everything that he possibly can to come back as quick as possible. But as well, you have to respect the healing process and the fact that obviously it’s an injury that is quite rare.

on if it’s a pain for him:
For the team as well obviously because he’s a big player for us, a very important player for us and we’re not going to have him until probably the end of the season.

on if it changes our thinking before the transfer window closes:
Of course, when you lose a big player like this in the squad with four months to go and all the competitions to play for, you need to look and we need to do everything that we possibly can to see if we have a player that is available. If we don’t, we keep what we have.

on if we have to replace him with someone special:
At this level, especially for four months, you have to be a player who has the capacity to adapt immediately and impact the team, and that’s not easy. But if it was easy, we wouldn’t be here. So we need to find solutions and try.

on the depth of the squad we have now:
We have more depth now, but for seven months we haven’t had the depth because we have players out like a lot of teams. So we know the demands and the standards we need, and we need players because we play every two or three days.

on how pivotal the results were on the weekend:
We can only control what we can control. Last weekend we lost, now everything looks different. We are very happy with how we competed and won our game, and that’s the only thing in our hands. By the way, big congratulations to our women’s team for winning the trophy at the weekend as well, which was really nice news.

on Paul Merson saying this was the weekend where we won the title:
We need another 13 or 14 of those and that will make it happen. We know how much there is still to do. We are very conscious of that. I think every club is very conscious of that and we just keep going.

on if we target doing a treble this season:
Well I think we go day by day, competition by competition and tomorrow we have a really tough game against a very good Chelsea side. We have the home advantage, we have a good result but we have still a lot, a lot to do tomorrow to end the right to win the final.

on if the players should believe a treble is possible:
There’s no point talking about it. All we can talk and control is what we do daily to sustain the level that we have or to improve it I think.

on if it’s simple to handle the Merino news in the market today:
No it’s not. We had the news a few days ago and obviously we are always active in every window that we have just in case something happens. We have the departure of Ethan [Nwaneri] as well to Marseille for the right reasons, I believe, for the club, player and the team. Then the news of Mikel [Merino] was very unexpected, obviously, especially for such a long time. So we are actively looking at options and we will continue to do that. My day will be the same as usual, I will be busier and if we have a final solution, I will try to do it, and if we don’t, we will continue in the manner that we are now.

on if there’s a temptation not to disrupt the harmony among the squad with a new player:
If we do something, it’s just to improve what we have and to be better, certainly not with that purpose. So we will consider the opportunity we have, whether we do it or not.

on Chelsea conceding goals under Liam Rosenior:
Every team has its own things, I think Liam is doing an incredible job so far in different competitions as well, and tomorrow the tie has a context which is very specific when you talk about a tie. The fact that we play at home and we have the advantage but that we need to now make it very concrete in the manner that we approach the game certainly tomorrow to win it.

on if the Carabao Cup is the most important competition we’re in at the moment:
Yes, I mean the next one is always the most important one, and it is the closest to reaching a final. Tomorrow we are going to have people who really need to create the atmosphere, the energy, the belief that we are going to do it, and all together, I am sure we are very capable of doing that.

on if magic moments are enough for Eze or if he has to impact the game more consistently:
Yes, you have to impact the game consistently throughout 96 minutes at this level. Any phase, any action is the most important action and on top of that you have to be able to add other values. In his case he is very, very good and unique at creating those magic moments. So that is the demand of each player.

on if a central position suits him better:
For different reasons to be fair because we had certain injuries on the front line and we utilised them on the left and we have injuries as well on the right. So he has been able to adapt to different positions. I think in the last few weeks he had more consistency in one position, and just trying to understand as well those relationships where he is more comfortable, where he can impact more the game in relation to the opponent and that is where we are. 

on where he has seen signs of improvement with Gyokeres:
Yes, well it is his all-round play and performances I would say. He has been much more consistent in actions and consecutive actions especially. His defending input has been terrific from the beginning. But attacking-wise, understanding his movement, the timings of his runs, the presence and movement of the ball has been much better. He has been more prolific certainly in front of goal to help us to win more games. 

on scoring goals that aren’t aesthetically pleasing:
Yes, I mean he has the ability to do that and goals are goals. I know that we prefer the beautiful ones on YouTube but they are all very important and the ones we scored recently are very much the same.

on if Lewis-Skelly could play more in midfield with Merino out:
Yes, Myles has the qualities to play in different positions. He has played as a full-back, as a six or as an attacking midfielder even. So yes, that is an option that we have in his squad.

on why he’s not been used in midfield more so far:
Because I believed that he had the best chance to break into the first team playing in that position [left back] because I think he has unique qualities that we didn’t have in the squad to accommodate that and to give him the chance to play for us.

on Nwaneri hitting the ground running at Marseille:
Yes, but we made the decision. Now what I would love to see from Ethan is that he scores that goal every three days. When he plays a lot of minutes, he gets the exposure that he needs, he continues to grow mentally, physically, in all the technical and tactical aspects that are necessary at this level, and that’s the reason we’ve done it, because we believe that was the right context and the right coach for him to do that [under] and hopefully that’s going to happen.

on not including a clause in the loan to bring him back:

Well, to be fair, that’s more something that Andrea [Berta] and Sam [Hayball], in this case, are more in charge of deciding and negotiating because it’s not only what we want, as well it’s what the other clubs expect from the player that is joining them and the way he commits to that club.

on how he works with Andrea Berta to recruit players on deadline day:
We start to look but obviously Andrea is in full charge of that and I fully trust him with the experience that he has, with the relationship we’ve built and because we understand each other so well. But we believe that that can help us, the environment that you’re going to find, that player as well, the expectations and obviously the financial options that we have to bring a player in now.

on if he’s relaxed about the situation:
I wouldn’t say relaxed. I think we are on it and it’s our responsibility when we are playing for what we are playing to give ourselves the best opportunity and chance to look at the market, every option, evaluate them and then make a decision whether we do something, if it’s possible. 

on if he thinks about what happened at the end of last January:
Yes, I think it’s a very different one as well and I know what happened very, very well. I know the details of that, so that was totally different to this one.

on how he stops the players feel that they are owed the league title:
Yes, the reality that we face every single day. They are the ones who experience the difficulty and the challenge and the level of this league and what we want to accomplish, so it’s obviously not even a thought.

on how he has become so connected with our supporters:
I don’t know. I think it’s something, trust, I think a relationship, a cohesion that you have to build every single day, the way you behave when you win, when you don’t win, in the manner that you make decisions, in the manner that you are perceived inside the club. I don’t know, I think these are all factors. I’m very, very grateful for the way I get treated, the way I get respected, for the response that all our supporters have with the team and with myself constantly, and tomorrow we have a beautiful night together again to make something special and we’re all together, we’re going to do it.

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