Premier League action returns and before facing Everton, Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the press at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
The boss was quizzed on his former club, coming up against David Moyes, plus much more, before our match at 5.30pm (UK time), on Saturday, March 14.
Read every word below, with a video of the full press conference to follow:
on if there are any fresh injury concerns:
No.
on if Odegaard and Trossard could be available:
We’ll see; we will have to wait and see and speak to the doctors on whether they are involved or not.
on what Havertz’s penalty did for our mood and momentum:
Well every result, every performance shifts momentum, the emotional state of the team and the fact that we managed to draw the game at the end, obviously it was a lift, because in any case we deserved for sure to lose that game. So yeah, I’m moving to the next one, we have no time. The moment we finished that game, we had time to watch one or two games in the Champions League, some good games and then back to business.
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on Fabian Hurzeler’s comments:
No, that’s a personal conversation. Obviously he’s made public now certain comments that he made before and that says, I think, a lot of positive things about him as a person. So I appreciate that and the rest, you know, I think he’s a fantastic coach. The job that he’s doing at Brighton is really, really good and that’s fine.
on if he’s spoken to David Moyes much this season:
No, we’ve spoken a few times, especially we spent more time after we played each other in December, but yeah, not only him as well but a big part of his staff and the people that are involved at the club obviously (we) have huge memories and a massive gratitude because he changed my career basically after my decision to go back to Spain and then he brought me to Everton. He really changed my career and me as a player as well and a lot of incredible things that we shared together.
on if we’ve adopted a siege mentality with all the external noise:
You just have to go in that dressing room and feel the mood, the energy and the way we talk to each other and how much we value the position that we have right now and how much we want to, for sure be in the same position at the end of the season, and that depends on us. So our focus is on what we have to do, what we have to maintain and what we have to improve together.
on if it’s difficult not to think about the quadruple:
Not think about it? Not really. I mean, if you’re in our seat from competition to competition, we’re going to play in seven days in three different competitions. So that drags you from one to another, the urgency to get prepared, to translate the messages that you want, to make the right decisions and to make sure that we arrive into any game in the best possible way, it’s enough, and the rest is a consequence of that process and how well we do it, which is still very far.
on if he hopes Tottenham Hotspur stay up for the north London derby:
I continue to say the same: It’s one of the most beautiful games that we have because when there is such passion and rivalry, when it’s in the right way in sport, I think it elevates the game and the feelings and the emotions after winning to a different level. It’s not for me to say what’s going to happen, but I can certainly describe how it’s been to play against each other.
on Moyes’ longevity in the game:
It’s just incredible. For me, that’s why he’s one of the greatest managers the Premier League has ever had because to maintain that level and that consistency in many different contexts and clubs is just so difficult to do and people have to appreciate it because it’s very rare and I don’t know how many times it’s going to happen. You need to have, first of all, some very, very strong values, an incredible work ethic and so much passion for the game because he’s been through great moments and difficult moments and the way he’s navigated through them, he’s always conducting himself in the same way and that’s a huge credit for him.
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on if style of play matters at this stage of the season:
It’s playing the best football that you possibly can and the game demands to give you the best possibility to win the game and that’s it. I realised what’s happening in the Premier League the other day with a really important factor. I was watching the Champions League game between Newcastle and Barcelona. For me, Barcelona are the most exciting team in Europe in many moments the way they play, and they face one of the Premier League teams, Newcastle, who are exceptional in the intensity and the high pressure, everything, man-to-man, a huge amount of tools, a really good team in transition and we saw a completely different game I’ve never seen Barcelona play and that’s a huge credit to Newcastle, but this is the league that we are playing in. Have you seen the Barcelona 1,000 passes that every week does it in Spain? No. It was a very different kind of game. Can it be beautiful? Yes. But Newcastle made that game so well done as well and a huge credit in the way they did it.
on why only six Premier League games this season have been won by four or more goals:
The same example, Newcastle and Barcelona. This is the reality and if you don’t want to see it, it’s because probably we have to change the glasses of the perspective that we see the game because this is the reality of our league right now.
on the gap between the top and bottom teams getting closer:
Much better. You want to be the best league in the world by far, you need to have that and entertaining is unpredictability. If not, it becomes boring and how difficult it is to beat any opponent and those numbers that you just mentioned, I think it’s the best example of that.
on the evolution of football and if it’s down to individual teams or everybody behaving in certain ways:
Everybody is learning from each other. It’s like putting information in the best laptop every day and gathering what you do so well, I’m going to try to replicate it the same, the same, the same. So this is moving so, so fast. Unlike in any other sport. I mean when you go to the best tennis players and the best tournaments, it’s like saying ‘no, the serve, you cannot ace with the serve, it’s not allowed.’ It is allowed, and it’s a great way to win a championship and in NBA saying ‘no, it’s three (points), you cannot shoot from three’. No, no, everybody’s doing it and everybody’s doing better and better because it’s more effective and it will keep evolving. I know here in every sport, in Formula One, the same thing happens, in marathons the same thing happened and you don’t want to see it.
on if he believes there are ways he thinks about the game that others don’t use:
I don’t know but with every opponent it’s the same in that you try to predict what is going to happen tomorrow and I always do that. I think that’s what they will do, I think that’s the kind of situation, and the amount of situations you’re going to have to defend in this specific way. This is what we have to do in attack to replicate these kinds of scenarios which are favourable for us and try to match those things. That is difficult.
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on if we’ll speak to international managers about how many minutes our players will play in the upcoming break:
We have really good communication with most of them and we have a thorough decision just like they do on how we’re doing because they have communication with the players themselves as well and what they expect, and that was a way to see how everybody is and have those conversations and make the right decisions.
on if he’ll be nervous watching our players throughout the international break:
It’s a period that I don’t enjoy a lot, especially when we have 18, 19 players playing and especially with what happened in our recent history with very important players, but it’s part of the calendar and we have to accept that.
on if inswinging corners make football a game people don’t enjoy watching:
That’s why they add the rules for the long throws. We don’t want to see long throws, it’s very simple, give four seconds for the long throws and it’s finished. But the biggest issue is the man-to-man, believe me. All the managers have to agree, you cannot defend man-to-man and tomorrow you’re going to have a different league, I guarantee you. A different league.
on how to analyse Saka’s output and his underlying metrics:
We fully trust him and love him. What he’s doing for us, for this club, is just incredible at his age and he’s continued to have that massive impact for us. He can have an individual performance that is not probably a reflection of his level, like every human, every player in the world. But overall when you look at his strength and the impulse he has in the team, it’s just incredible.
on if he already has a starting 11 in mind for the Carabao Cup final:
No, because we come from five games in very short periods of time again and you just have to go game by game understanding who can play a certain amount of minutes, who doesn’t. Maybe for the next game you have an idea of what you can do, but two or three games away is quite difficult at the moment.
on having six games left at home in all competitions and how much of an advantage that will be:
Yes, because it was really complicated. I think at some stage we had four away from home in a row, some very difficult games as well. But that’s the calendar, that’s the beauty of it as well. Obviously at home we have been very, very strong and using that in the right way can be the deciding factor.
on how important it is to maintain the gap we have to Manchester City:
Well, I mean, every game that you win now is a massive step towards the objective. And tomorrow, as you said, we have a very difficult one. So, yeah, we’re going to have to earn it. And if we do earn it, we’re going to be closer.
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