Having seen his side beat Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby two days earlier, Mikel Arteta was back in front of the media again on Friday afternoon as he held his pre-Aston Villa press conference.
With the press descending on the Sobha Realty Training Centre once again, the boss chatted about numerous topics ahead of the game, including the final fortnight of the transfer window, the mood after Wednesday's win, the impact of Myles Lewis-Skelly and a host of other things.
Here is everything he had to say:
on Erling Haaland signing a 10-year contract with Manchester City:
That’s the news. If they are willing to commit to a player for that long it’s because they are really happy, so good news for them.
on our injured players:
We have a few decisions to make this afternoon with the medical staff to understand whether they are in the best condition for this game or the next one, so we'll decide that.
on whether any of the long-term injury casualties are close:
Not so far.
on the impact the win over Spurs had on the players:
I loved the attitude the team played with. We had some big performances and it was a beautiful night for us to celebrate in front of our people. We’re moving to the next one now because it’s a big one again against Villa.
on whether we have to be perfect for the rest of the season to win the title:
We're going to try to be as good as we possibly can tomorrow night, that's the objective. They are a really good side, that's why they beat us last season and proved as well when we played at Villa Park that they are very difficult opponents, so we'll prepare in the best way to win.
on whether we can challenge for the title without new signings:
At the moment we don't have them, we are actively trying to find the best possible solution but we will have to wait and see what we can do.
on the profile of player we’re looking for:
That’s not something that I’m going to discuss here. Obviously we have lost two massive players for us in the frontline and we need some support there.
on contracts expiring for a number of our players:
We have certain situations with contracts expiring. We can renew those contracts like we have done in the past. We are always actively evolving the squad and understanding what the players want to do when they finish our contract together, and we have to be prepared.
on getting his players up for every match, not just derbies:
When we play every three days that's the type of performance that we want. The performances have been there, but after it's about the results and a few things didn’t go our way during our first few minutes of the match, especially because the dominance that we showed, going 1-0 was tough mentally. I think the team showed incredible resilience, patience and composure to overcome the situation and win the game.
on if they're thriving on the pressure of chasing down Liverpool:
I think so. If you want to be fighting for the top trophies with the top teams for 11 months like we've been doing the last two-and-a-half years now, you have to enjoy those kind of moments, circumstances or challenges and the pressure that comes with it because it's the beauty of it. We are playing to win and that's exactly where we want to be.
on whether he wants his players to be feeling pressure:
I think the pressure comes from within, nobody can put pressure on you. I think it’s the wrong way and if that’s the case, it’s because you’re probably not doing or preparing the right way. I think you have to thrive to be the best that you possibly can and there’s no more pressure than that in my opinion when you have these daily commitments with yourself to achieve that.
on facing Aston Villa:
We know the difficulty of the team that they are, that’s why they’re performing so well. They have an excellent coach, very good players, really good organisation and we are so used to that in the Premier League. It’s not very different every three days so tomorrow we’re going to have to be really good again to win the game.
on saying we are the best team without winning the title:
In that case, I refer to the statistics. When you look at all the stats that are relevant to do that, that’s what the stats said. The reality is that we weren’t because someone else won the title so that’s something, there’s a margin there that we still need to improve on and be better.
on Renée Slegers being appointed as Arsenal Women’s permanent head coach:
I'm very happy. She’s done a phenomenal job since she joined the role and I’m very happy for her, and for the club as well because promoting someone that was already with us is a very strong signal and a very good decision, I must say. I’m very happy for her.
on the reaction at the training ground from Wednesday’s win:
It’s very good. They were really happy in the dressing room, really happy the next day and then we started with Villa, that’s it. The enjoyment or the bad mood that we can be in when you don’t win, it has to disappear immediately because the focus has to be on the next match and how we prepare in the best possible way.
on how important momentum is now:
We wouldn’t be in the position that we are in if we hadn’t been stable. When you look at the run in the Premier League in the last 11-13 matches, I think it speaks for itself, not only the results but the performances. Doing it again and again every three days in different competitions, that’s what we want to achieve.
on how important this week was in the title race:
It’s always important when we are able to win and capitalise on other teams dropping points. It’s always a great week, firstly because we win, and secondly because for the rest it's not what they wanted. We need many more of those at the moment because of where we are. We need to stay very focused to understand that what we want to do will be a challenge.
on whether longer-term contracts is where football is heading:
I don’t know. It looks like there have been a few examples of that. I don’t know if every club is going to take that route. The reasons for it will be for particular cases. Maybe we start with managers with 10-year contracts, then with physios, with journalists!
on whether he would like a 10-year contract:
At the moment I have enough!
on how important working on set-pieces is:
We conceded a goal from a set-piece the other day. It’s a balance - if you score and you concede, at the end the balance is zero, so that’s how it is. We have a coach who is responsible for that, and many other things that he does. It’s a small part of his job that he does really well and the players follow. We have some good momentum, now it’s about maintaining it, attacking and the defensive part of it as well.
on how they come up with ideas for set-pieces:
Everything that we do is shared. Ideas for today started many years ago, and it’s constantly in development, because what we are doing now I’m sure in three, six or nine months is not going to work, so you constantly have to evolve.
on what challenges he sets to long-term injured players:
Firstly the main part is the psychological part of how they feel emotionally. A long time without doing what you love is not easy. You change routines completely, you are more isolated because you are not in a group and that takes a while to handle and to settle. So first of all, give your support to the players, then the physical condition that they can maintain or improve in relation to the injury they have, that’s really important. Then use that time as well for other things, for example, Bukayo hasn’t had any time off for the past two seasons, so it’s a moment where maybe he can have a break as well, in other parts of his life, be closer to his family - great. To learn about the game and certain aspects he can still improve and develop, we are doing that, so that’s what we try.
on managing Jurrien Timber’s minutes:
It's unbelievable what he’s done, especially because he’s done it on the right, he’s done it as a left full-back as well and we’re putting huge demands on him. That’s the thing, when the squad is short and you have quite a lot of injuries like we had, you start to load more on the players which is not ideal.
on whether Mikel was involved in changing Myles Lewis-Skelly to a left-back:
When I saw him, to give him a chance and with the project that we had in the academy the moment that I saw him, the only way I could think was to change his position. I spoke to him and said I think this is where you’re going to have it, because I think it fits a lot of his qualities, the way that we play and it fits because we had necessities in the position, so we started to work on that. He got into it straight away with the personality that he has. I think it’s very obvious and now he’s doing it.
on his progress since pre-season:
Adapting to the role is not just on the defensive part. I think physically, they’re very different demands. You’re facing wingers a lot of times in that position. You have to be part of that defensive line. You have to know when to release, when to not, when it’s on your side how you have to defend the box - something that he wasn’t used to. Then all the attacking processes on top of that, so it’s quite a lot. He’s dealing with that in a great way. Physically as well he’s matured a lot in the last year or so and it was another great performance.
on whether it’s changed from ‘want’ to ‘need’ in the transfer market:
The word you mean? Well obviously we have more necessity now because of what happened in the last few weeks. That’s obvious.
on how difficult it is to work in the market when everyone knows we need a forward:
I think it’s more a question for Jason [Ayto]. I don’t know but I think we have to do what we think is right and what we can do as well. That’s it and it’s clear that we’d like to improve the squad especially with what happened. Can we do it or not? It depends on a lot of factors.
on whether Myles could get an England call-up:
Let him settle where he is first and talk about the reality he’s got in front of him. Stick with that and I think that’s more than enough for now.
on whether the title race is a two-horse race:
I don’t think so. I think when you look at every game in the Premier League and the margins and how teams are winning football matches, it can go either way, so there are two or three ways you can be talking about something very differently. We’re still in January and it’s going to be a long, long run.
on the atmosphere against Tottenham:
Brilliant. I loved it. I said it before, that’s in our hands. We can look and feel sorry about what’s happening with injuries or the referees, but what is in our hands, let’s make sure that we do it and I saw a different bite to our crowd, a different body language. We were on top of every ball, we created atmosphere with and without the ball and we had real purpose. We were screaming and going into every ball in a very different way and I must say that I loved it.
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