After advancing to the FA Cup fourth round by beating Portsmouth 4-1, Mikel Arteta spoke to the media in attendance at Fratton Park.<\/p>\n
He spoke about Gabriel Martinelli’s hat-trick, squad rotation, giving opportunities to others and provided an injury update.<\/p>\n
Here is everything he had to say:<\/p>\n
on making 10 changes and still dominating:
When we make that many changes there is an element of cohesion that is not going to be as perfect as we want. We started the game exactly how we didn’t want to, giving them momentum and an early goal and hope, and then we had to fight it back, and credit to them because they made it difficult for us especially in the early stages of the game. The more we started to do the simple thing right, and be a little more dominant, then the quality took over.<\/p>\n
on Gabriel Martinelli\u2019s performance after a tough week:
It’s part of football, and then it’s how you take it, but he knew inside the reason why he did what he did. I think Arne Slot spoke brilliantly after the game; he explained the situation and the fact that Gabi had no intention whatsoever to harm any player. That\u2019s his personality and commitment. We talk on the pitch and that\u2019s the best part of football.<\/p>\n
on him being able to bounce back:
Gabi has that, and that’s why you play for a big club, and have a big personality, because it can be that way. It can be an action that you miss, it can be something that costs you a game \u2013 you need to build yourself up and make it count.\u00a0<\/p>\n