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

We’re back in action for a third consecutive London derby in the Premier League and before we take on Brentford, Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media at his latest press conference.

Mikel has given an update on the fitness of the squad, the difficulty of facing Brentford and much more at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.

Read everything he said below, with a video of the press conference to come:

on the latest injury news:
I’m not going to be able to help you much today because we have another training session later on. Until that happens, we won’t know what’s going to happen with a few of the doubts that we have.

on the latest on William Saliba:
He had a little niggle, so I think it’s going to be a matter of days, so let’s see if he’s able to be there tomorrow.

on the latest on Leandro Trossard:
Matter of days as well.

on the latest on Kai Havertz:
Matter of weeks; let’s see how it evolves in the next few weeks. He’s doing really well, he’s doing stuff on the pitch, but I think he needs some time.

on the latest on Gabriel Magalhaes:
Big Gabi is doing very well as well, but that’s weeks as well.

on facing Brentford:
That’s an opportunity tomorrow at 7.30pm, everybody, 7.30pm kick-off to be at the Emirates, bouncing and putting energy to win the game. That’s the opportunity that we have tomorrow, 7.30pm. Like animals, everybody at the Emirates to go again and beat Brentford; [it’s] vital, massive.

on the motivation for us:
Our motivation comes from preparation and how we prepare for every game to try to be better than the opposition. Where we are in the league and what we are doing, I don’t think we need any more motivation than that.

on resting players:
We try to manage every case, every individual in relation to how they feel in the context of the matches, adjust with the only purpose to have the best options on the best pitch and to be better than the opponent, that’s it.

on whether there will be an opportunity for Ben White:
[There is] an opportunity for everybody, as I said.

on facing the physical challenge:
Well, that physicality comes from different areas in relation to the pitch. But I think every game that we play, when you look at the intensity in the Premier League against any opponent, what is needed is incredible. Brentford bring different threats, different challenges, as we all know, and you need to dominate that if you want to win the game.

on whether we are seeing more time wasting:
The game evolves, the rules evolve and that’s going to be constant, and you look in the Premier League now, how many minutes are we playing, the actual effective time that we are playing, the effective time that we played on Sunday, there are a lot of things to look at and evolve. So [goalkeepers going down] is an example, but there are many others that constantly evolve, the game and the rules have to be evolving because everybody tries to take an edge.

on understanding the frustration:
Yes, especially when you are on the other side.

on whether Declan Rice exceeded expectations after signing:
I think he’s very close to what we believed that he could bring to the club, to the team and the way he could grow, personally as well. I think he fully deserves it, I think he’s been incredibly consistent throughout the last two years, last season again. In big matches, in big moments, he’s stepping up, which is a massive thing. You want to fulfil that role at a big club, and I’m delighted that he got it.

on whether he expected Mikel Merino could become a striker like this:
As a striker, certainly not. But that’s the thing as well, that you learn when you sign a player. I knew that he could offer much more than what he had, and especially after I met him for the first time, because a player that has that amount of curiosity and the amount of questions that he’s asked, how willing he is to learn constantly, the way he loves his profession and football, it’s difficult to put limits to that because when someone wants to grow every single day, is that determined, is that hungry to win and evolve and to be part of something, that’s very powerful and Mikel certainly has that.

on why he signed Christian Norgaard: 
What I saw on the pitch and then everything that I heard about him as a leader, and the role that he can fulfil and the role that he was going to have here. The moment I picked up the phone and spoke to him, he was super excited to join us. He brings something that we don’t have in the squad and I’m very happy to have him.

on David Raya: 
An amazing goalkeeper. It’s a great story as well and how it happened. We tried to sign David much earlier, it was as soon as I arrived almost, and he had to wait another two years. The start that he had and the journey that we had together has been phenomenal for us and I’m very happy to have him.

on whether he has been the best signing he’s made:
It’s a very difficult question to answer but he’s certainly one that is taking us to a different level. He’s certainly a player that has brought something to our way of playing.

on whether we will see goals from open play:
I don’t know a team in the Premier League that doesn’t like to score from set pieces. We just conceded a goal against Chelsea on a set piece. They had seven corners, we had eight. I think we should all be set-piece teams because we all score and concede from set pieces, unfortunately.

on whether the supporters could be any more positive towards the team:
You can always be more [positive], especially when you play a different type of game. That’s where you have to lift the standards. The team, the fans and ourselves as well, with the way we’re going to play tomorrow, to lift everybody and make sure that we produce the same energy, atmosphere and positivity around the place.

on injuries being a theme of the season:
Especially how we lost them [the injuries] with Leo as well, because Leo was in a great moment, and Gabi Martinelli was just coming back, and we had to manage his minutes. He wasn’t able to play more than he did on Sunday. So, managing that, the fact that obviously Willy trained the day before, and then he was uncomfortable, players are not training in certain positions, having to play there. But again, the attitude towards it and the way the players are performing and giving absolutely everything they can to fulfil those absences, it’s been the key part of the season because we have to deal with a lot already.

on last season preparing him for this season:
Yes, because this season has been the worst in some areas, especially in the front line, and now what’s happening with the back line. But we learn and we were able to put together a squad that is much more reliable and has more options. We learned from the past as well that we have to use players in different positions and they have to be able to fulfil different roles if we want to compete at this level and the example of Mikel [Merino] that I was expressing before is the best one, probably.

on Kai Havertz suffering a setback:
He was doing everything. He could not go to the next level and now it’s looking like we have unlocked that. We’re all desperate to have him. It’s a player that personally, I love so much for what he brings to the team. His character, his personality, I see him suffer, being outside. His playing record is phenomenal. He’s always been available, and I can’t wait to have him back around the team playing now because I think it’s going to be a massive boost for the team.

on Declan Rice being a lighthouse:
That’s the way I perceived him, that he could potentially be in a lighthouse and now he’s become a lighthouse, which is very difficult to do a big club like Arsenal. But he fully deserves that. He’s done it with every step of the way. First of all, behaving, acting and with performances and an attitude that are at the highest level. He’s one that I’m sure, myself for sure, the club, for sure, we’re going to have him here for many years.

on what he learnt from a big week:
Well, starting from Spurs, I learned a lot as well about the international break again and what happened. For example, what happened with Gabi, and how can we correct that so that it never happens again, and we played a team game in a way that, again, we have to learn, and watching them, you always learn from it. Bayern Munich brought different qualities, players that you don’t see weekly. But we needed the potential of it and obviously what they were doing and we took a lot from them. Then last weekend, the same amount of games that you have to play within a game and what happened at Stamford Bridge in that sense, it’s enormous because I think it’s the perception of what happened and actually what happened and why it happened. So it was a huge learning.

on whether teams will copy Chelsea and Sunderland’s aggression against Arsenal:
I think every team in the Premier League, the first thing that they do is be aggressive. I don’t think that’s going to be something that teams are going to change at all. You take it to certain extremes; hopefully, that will be looked after. It should have been in the first action of the game on the kick-off with Mosquera. But we have to learn from it and use it in a better way because we should have explored what we had for a period of time. It wasn’t 60 minutes, because from 33-39, we didn’t play, and then there was another player on the floor, and the next four minutes we didn’t play.

on how he prepares during this busy period:
There is a balance to it, obviously and depending, sometimes we play three days after, sometimes four days after. Obviously, the schedule brings a scenario that is three and three. So we are used to it. We alter the preparation, probably in the physical part, a little bit more. But rely much more on principles and what we have to do and then tweak what we have to do in relation to the opponent’s strength and weakness. 

on whether he sees fixtures as blocks of games:
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes you play against back four or teams that are very direct and rely, or want to take the game to a restart or a set piece. Or against other teams that are completely different. We faced, for a period of time, a lot of back fives and low blocks. Then this block of three games has been different. So sometimes you are lucky, so you say, ‘OK, now for this period, this is going to help us for the next few games.’ Sometimes you just have to alter it. 

on William Saliba’s injuries being random:
Well, the ankle one, it was a really random and a very unlucky action that kept him out for a few weeks. He tried at Anfield, he wasn’t comfortable, and he had to stay away and this one as well, very bizarre. But hopefully it will be a matter of days.

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