Mikel Arteta spoke to the media ahead of Arsenal’s match at Chelsea, and football.london have every word that was spoken
Arsenal take on Chelsea, and Mikel Arteta faced the press to answer questions on the clash and the latest team news. The Spaniard was in a jubilant mood after back-to-back wins against Spurs and Bayern Munich, but there was a seriousness to the look ahead to the weekend.
Leandro Trossard came off against Bayern Munich with an injury, and Arteta provided the latest team news. That also included updates from a behind-closed-doors match, which featured Gabriel Jesus.
German international Joshua Kimmich also had some interesting comments after Wednesday’s game. Arteta was asked for his thoughts on the midfielder’s thoughts on the Gunners’ supposed reliance on set plays.
Here is every word from the press conference:
Can we just get the latest team news that you’ve got, in particular Leandro Trossard?
Yeah, with Leo, there is another test today, we’ll have to see how he’s feeling, and it doesn’t look like much, so we still have a few hours, and we’ll have to wait and see.
So there’s a potential chance he could be available?
There is a potential chance, yeah.
You welcomed back Martinelli, Odegaard and Madueke during the week. You did mention earlier on this week that you were hoping to get a behind-closed-doors game for Gabriel Jesus and some of the others. We understand this happened yesterday, can you confirm that that happened? Who was involved and if they’re in contention for Sunday?
Yeah, it did happen, so Gabi participated, Ethan as well, because he wanted some minutes, so we took that opportunity. It was for the players that needed a bit of exposure and competition to provide that to them and it was very positive.
With regard to Viktor and Kai and there’s one more, Big Gabi. Are any of those available or how are they progressing?
Yeah, we have another day tomorrow, so let’s see how everybody is tomorrow.
You described your players after the Bayern Munich game as immense. Have they surprised you in any way with how they performed and their mentality and their character, particularly in light of the injuries that you’ve had so far?
Not that they surprised me, but actually you have to be able to perform in the manner that they did individually throughout long periods of the game against that opponent and that’s very, very difficult to do and I just said that that’s the way I felt about the players, how I feel about the players and now it’s about finding again the same consistency on Sunday to go and win again.
I wonder if you’d heard Joshua Kimmich’s comments after the game. He said Arsenal rely on set pieces, they love to play long balls, today was not so much about football. What do you think when you hear stuff like that? Do you care, do you use it as fuel or motivation or just ignore it?
No, but I think the way both teams play, I think the game they played against PSG was very similar when everything becomes man-to-man and the way they are with the full-backs, the way we do what we did in terms of rotation, they create a game that are very low sequences of passes, so I know what he’s saying, so that’s fine. It’s part of the game. I think the game is provoked in the manner that both player’s games, so it’s very understandable.
Arsenal seem to like this fixture in recent years. The last seven games, Arsenal have won five and drawn two against Chelsea. What is it about this fixture that seems to bring the best out of you and your players?
I don’t know, obviously it’s a big game, it’s a big London derby. We’re going to play a really, really good opponent; they are in really good form, and we know the challenge, we know the opportunity that we have as well on Sunday, so we are fully ready for it.
If you speak to Chelsea, they seem to play down their chances of potentially challenging for the title. How do you view them? Are they title challenges? Are they your main threat?
Well, I think we are all there, and they are there because they fully deserve what they have done in the last few years. I think the squad that they assembled, the numbers that they have, the quality that they have the number of coaches they have it makes sense that what is happening there is very, very positive and they deserve to be there.
This time last week, you were looking ahead to the North London derby, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea. You’ve successfully negotiated the first two of those tests. How big a statement would it be, and how big a statement of a week would it be if you were to go to Stamford Bridge and win?
Those are statements we are talking about every three days, so after beating Spurs at home, then we had to make the statement again Bayern Munich. We’ve done that and now we have to go to the next one.
That’s where we are, we know the importance of the week. Not only that, what is coming after three days is going to be exactly the same. Nothing is going to change, but we are super motivated for the game.
If you do win on Sunday, how will you keep a lid on expectations?
We don’t talk about it; it’s not a lid or not a lid. I think we need to understand basically what we have to do to be better than the opponent, to have the chance to win. If we are able to accomplish that, we will be able to do the same in the next game. Nothing is going to change.
On Sunday, Piero Hincapie obviously played against Tottenham, then you had Mosquera playing in midweek. Did Hincapie do enough to keep his place in the Premier League team?
They both have obviously a really good possibility. Piero has played as a left-back as well, which is another option that we have. In relation to the opponent, the game, the state that the players are in, Myles as well, is obviously a very good option that we have there. Keep using everybody and making them feel that they are connected with the team.
Just lastly, I know you said Chelsea deserve to be where they are. They always like to play down their potential role in being in the title fight. Does that surprise you?
I don’t know. That’s a question for them, I think.
The Premier League leaders and team that are going really well in Europe, yourself against the world champions in Chelsea. Is this the biggest game of the season so far?
We always have the same question. I understand. For us it is because it’s the next game. We’re just living in the present and making the best possible preparation to try to be better than them and win the game.
I know you don’t like discussing opposing players. You’ve obviously had lots of very good young players coming through here at Arsenal. You’ve seen lots of very good young players come through with you when you were at Barcelona. Can you give me an idea of how exciting Estevao looks for Chelsea compared to all the players you would have known at 17, 18?
I don’t want to talk individually. When you look at the players that they have, the squad that they have, the quality that they have in those forward positions, it’s immense. They’ve done that really well. They have recruited over the years top talent, and it’s not a coincidence where they are.
It seems that the youngsters these days, because you’ve had Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan, Max Downing coming on for appearances this year, they’ve got Estevao. It seems youngsters these days, they’re not fazed by anything. Years ago you wouldn’t be throwing in 17, 18-year-olds into this kind of high-profile game. Now it seems that they relish it more.
I think that relies on the individual and his personality, his character and his ability to cope with that context and the pressure that comes with it. I think it’s a really positive thing. I know you don’t like to talk about opposition players or indeed highlighting just one of your own team, but I would like to, if I can, in Declan Rice, are we looking at a, if not this year, maybe next year, a Ballon d’Or winner?
I hope so. That would mean that we have won a lot. Normally it goes very much related to [that] Again, I think he was immense the other day. I think he’s been immense since the start of the season. He’s an incredible and crucial player for us.
I know Big Gabi was going to have a scan on Wednesday to try and get a timeline on that. Have you got any more details on it? Because the fear was he might not play again until January.
Not yet. I think he’s evolving really, really well. We have to wait for that scan a little bit longer to be more precise in terms of the timings. But I’m quite confident that, especially the way Gabi takes every injury and the way he’s going to push everybody, that it’s not going to be that long.
So you might get him back before the end of the year?
I don’t know. We have to wait and see.
Just on Gabriel Jesus, now that he’s had that behind-closed-doors game, is he ready to return to the first-team squad or do you want to arrange another friendly for maybe to get some more minutes away from that?
We have to see. Obviously, he’s been out 11 months, and you need that progression. You need to see how his body reacts and what else does he need. The players that we have available as well. It has to make sense to have the right balance in the squad. It’s a good thing he’s very, very close at the moment.
You’ve played Mikel Merino a lot at centre-forward this season and you’ve admitted he’s not naturally a centre-forward and he’s had to play that role. Have you learned anything from him playing that role that’s perhaps changed the way you think about the position when the likes of Kai and Viktor come back into that position?
Yes, we did learn that last season because that’s why we have to play long periods without a nine. He brings other things to the table. I think his intelligence, the way he competes, the way he masters a lot of the things that are crucial for us in any player, he’s got them. Then he’s a real threat tonight again. He could have scored two goals, he was involved in many positive actions, and his work was unbelievable again.
Gabriel Martinelli, who came on and scored, naturally has a very good record against Chelsea and has enjoyed some really good nights there. In your thinking when you pick a team, how much does a player’s specific record against a certain club come into your mind when picking an 11?
Not necessarily. I think we look more about the state of that player in the moment. What happened six months ago, a year ago, is not that relevant. There are experiences, there are connections within the team that in my opinion are more important than that. I’m very happy with what Gabi did again tonight, he was superb.
Mikel, you said the other day that Gyokeres and Havertz would have repeated scans, did they come back clear?
Clear, not yet, but they are getting closer and closer. We are very positive with both of them and that’s it.
Just on Viktor, obviously there was so much focus about signing a striker of the summer and a lot of fanfare when he came in. Is he so important to you that when he is fit he comes straight back into the line-up or is the way the team is playing at the moment making it more complicated?
Well, the good thing is that now we find another option because we lack three different options. The first three probably that we had in mind at the start of the season. But that’s a really good learning for all of us, especially for me to understand that with other players, with other connections, with other ways of doing things, we can still be very, very efficient.
Does it help him then that the team has done so well without him or does it leave him with a bit of a point to prove?
No, I think it’s very positive. I think everybody wants, we lost a player, two or three, we lost at some point six players in the front line and the team continued to win and be very, very efficient. So I think that’s very positive and now what we have to prove is once we have everybody back we are going to be still as good or hopefully better.
In March, when you played Chelsea afterwards, you said they were the best attacking team in the league. Are they still?
Yes, they were. Well, the sample now this season is early in the season so it’s difficult to say but he’s one of the teams that I enjoy the most watching and they have a lot of fluidity, they have a lot of threat, they have a lot of individual talent, they are very clear what they want to do and that’s why they are very tough.
Just on Gabriel Jesus, you mentioned he’s very close at the minute. Would you need to see him play multiple of those internal games before you want to throw him in for the first team, or does this festive period, where there are so many games mid-week, kind of help, I guess, bridge that gap?
Yes, well we see every single day how he’s reacting to the change as well that he had in load and then he needs to get into the chemistry of the team, understanding the things on match time which are very different to anything that he tried to replicate in training obviously and those gaps try to make them as short as possible.
When he first joined I think he really connected the team really well and the team now from when he got injured is even very different in the past 11 months. So has he been able to build those connections well on the training pitch?
Yes, well it’s been always one of Gabi’s qualities, the capacity to relate and connect and make other players around him better and he still has that and now he needs to find a way to do it with, as you mentioned as well, some very new players.
And over the last 2-3 years I think there’s been moments where I think you can see the team going to another level within a game. So one of the first ones that sticks in my mind was the Liverpool game where Martinelli scored after a minute, and that seemed like a real mental shift in the team, and the Bayern game in mid-week felt similar. I was just wondering if you felt that and what you took from that game in terms of a mental state?
Well, obviously, it brings certainty, security and really positive energy every time you beat top opponents. When we did it in the derby, it helped to generate that momentum and that belief for the next game. We did it against Bayern, and now we have to carry that against Chelsea, but it’s just for the moment for the next day, and we have to use it in the right way.
