Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on having Gabby out and Saka back ahead of their clash with Everton
04/04/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
04/04/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00Hello, Mikel. How's your luck? I don't know if you've broken a mirror or walked under a ladder
00:04recently, but another hamstring, another serious injury to a key player.
00:10Well, yeah, it was a tough one to digest because we just got Bukayo back and then
00:15we lost Gabi. So it was tough. The team reacted like it has reacted all season,
00:21so really proud of that. And we know that he's going to be out for a while, so we need to find
00:26different solutions and keep competing the way we have been all season.
00:39Well, it has to be because we've come so far and now we have the most
00:43important and beautiful part of the season and we have to react to those things. That
00:48means that other players are going to have opportunities to play and the team has to find
00:53other ways and it is a big miss, undoubtedly, but we have the resources to cope with that.
01:07Yeah, Ricky's not fit as well because in the last week or so we lost four players
01:13and that's obviously a big task, but let's see how Ben and Jurgen are tomorrow as well.
01:18And that's it. Keep playing and keep competing the way we have been.
01:37Yeah, the problem is that we have a few of those, so we're going to have to decide
01:41this evening or tomorrow very early in the morning which players we can play and for how long.
01:58There are a few on the table. How far we have to go down that route, hopefully
02:06not that deep, but there are options always.
02:11Social media after Ben's comeback, he thanked the fans. He said that the energy and the love,
02:18he really felt it. He's never felt anything like it and he'll never forget it. It shows
02:24how much it means to him to be playing here. Yeah, well, it's like always. Through a difficult
02:29situation a really nice one can appear and I think all the hard work and all the difficult
02:34moments I had in the last four months, I think they were paid off just by receiving that love
02:41and that support and that admiration from all our people.
02:55The only focus now is what we have to do. We know how tough that place is and we have
03:00experienced it and every team that goes there struggles and tomorrow we're going to have to
03:06be really strong. The best way to prepare Real Madrid is to win and play really well tomorrow.
03:22Yeah, it will be very special. It's a lot of history as well between the clubs. I have my
03:26own personal story which was a beautiful one as well with a manager that has just come back now
03:32and he's doing extremely well. I'm so happy for the club, for David as well because
03:38it's never easy to come back there for the second time. In my opinion it was the manager,
03:43the person who lifted that club to a different level and now he's on the journey to do it again
03:47once they move to a new stadium. So I think it's a really nice story.
03:56I think when it comes to competing they will defend their part,
04:00I will defend my part, but for me it's always very special to go back there.
04:04I've got no supercomputer question today, but I've got a question about AI.
04:11Betting company has used AI to discover the top 20 best looking managers in the Premier League,
04:17so 20 through to one. Not only have you made the top five, not only have you made
04:22the top three, you've made the top one. You are officially the best looking in the Premier League.
04:28So my mum and dad should be very proud for the job that they did.
04:43Odegaard loves to play against Everton, he's been involved in five goals in his last seven
04:47Premier League appearances against them. He's also got three assists in his last game for
04:54club and country. How well do you think he can actually benefit from a player like Sakharov
04:58being back? Of course Sakharov provides you goals when he plays, but he actually impacts
05:02and elevates all the players around him as well. Yeah, for sure. That chemistry, that bond,
05:06that relationship is something very special. Obviously we missed it, they played so many
05:10minutes and games together. That flows, flows naturally, flows in the right way. I think the
05:16qualities complement each other really, really well. And yeah, Martin has been exceptional again.
05:23The other day we had to play Ethan, he made the assists, he contributed in his own way. So
05:28we have options and now hopefully we're going to have more and more from here to the end of the
05:32season. Riot said if you're enjoying what you're doing, the results will naturally come. I wanted
05:37to ask you how proud you've been of the environment and the camaraderie you've built, not just on the
05:41pitch, off the pitch and with all the staff. Everyone consistently says, especially in the
05:45tough times, the defeats and with the long-term injuries, that's really what's bonded this club
05:50and made it even more special when they put on the kit to play. Yeah, I can't talk about what
05:56I've seen there and the feeling I have, me personally, every time I wake up in the morning,
06:00that I'm desperate to go through those doors and start to share our day with everybody,
06:05staff, players and everybody around the club. And that's a privilege that's been built between
06:11all of us and hopefully will be sustained for many years.
06:14When someone asked you about tactics and formation before, you said it's not
06:18always just about the obvious tactics, it's about the implementation, the energy. You can
06:22be aggressive in a back five, play in a low block, you can be aggressive high up the pitch.
06:26How important are those behavioural elements when it comes to playing against a team like
06:30Hermitage, when we know how they play, we know what the atmosphere is going to be like at the stadium,
06:34but that imposing yourself on the game?
06:36Exactly. I think that's the word, exactly, because they want to play a very different game to ours
06:40and at the end, that's the challenge every time in the Premier League, how you take the game where
06:45you want and how you make that happen as often as you possibly can. And then that will be decided
06:50in the boxes, where you have to be really strong.
06:56Can I first of all start by asking about Kevin De Bruyne, who has announced this will be his
07:00last season in the Premier League, he's leaving Manchester City in the summer. You've obviously
07:04worked with him, you've seen him from afar, you've had to put a team up against him. First of all,
07:10what has he brought to the Premier League? And secondly, in terms of Greg Smithfield,
07:14as we've seen in the Premier League, where would you rank him?
07:16Up there. I don't know if he's the one, the two or the three, but for me he's one of the best
07:21players in the history of the Premier League, without a question of a doubt. I've never seen,
07:26I've never played with a player that can execute that precisely at high speed. He can be running
07:32at 33, 34 kilometres an hour and play the ball 30 metres through two people to the perfect spot.
07:39I haven't seen anybody else do that at that pace.
07:42He also has the perfect temperament as well, doesn't he? I mean,
07:45in that respect you've played with some great players during your playing career,
07:48would you like to have played with him?
07:50Yes, I would have loved, but I was lucky that I was part of a team that he was very much involved.
07:58What I think makes him special, apart from obviously that technical ability,
08:02is how strong he is here. Because Kevin, he always wants to take the risk, he's willing to
08:08make things happen, and when the things don't go for him he still continues to try that way.
08:14I think that's what separates him from the rest.
08:17You once said to me a few months ago that you would never give up on the title,
08:21that your examples were over your dead body, that you would give up on the title.
08:25But this week, this specific week, the biggest game surely is Real Madrid and not Everton.
08:31Is that right or wrong?
08:33No, that's wrong. The biggest game for us is Everton, and the best way to prepare for Real
08:38Madrid is to do what we have to do to beat Everton.
08:41Why is that?
08:42Because this is football, it's an emotional game, and you have to continuously do what you have to
08:47do, and you cannot be thinking ahead. The competition, the level, how the teams are
08:52prepared is too big to think that way. You cannot allow yourself to think that way.
08:56You solved your striking problem by moving Ricardo Moreno up front, and that proved to work.
09:02I've seen Declan Rice since the beginning of his career, when he started at West Ham
09:06as a centre-half. I actually thought that's where he might end up playing. Would you consider...
09:11So you were wrong.
09:14For once.
09:14That's why you're there. Believe me, I've been wrong with him more than once.
09:18OK, good.
09:19But if he needed to play as a centre-half, either Everton or more likely Real Madrid,
09:25would you do it?
09:25We would, yeah, for sure. We tried against PSV away last season, and he's played in that position,
09:30and hopefully it won't be needed. But if it is, he's a player that is capable of doing that.
09:36Can I just go back to these hamstring injuries? I know Arsenal have had four this season,
09:42but it seems there's been 120 in the Premier League. So it seems like this is just a big,
09:47almost Premier League problem now, rather than specific to Arsenal. Is that how you see it?
09:52No, I don't think it's specific to Arsenal, and it's a very difficult one to put a finger into,
09:58just the one motive that has caused that injury. Because we have four,
10:02and the four of them are completely different. One is after two days off and a real-life session
10:07stopping a shot. The other one is after three consecutive matches in December. The other one
10:12is after playing for Brazil and having a few days off, bringing down two good sessions and then play
10:18the first game. So we don't really know. We are doing all the research and trying to understand
10:25how we can bring that probability down as much as possible, but it's still a bit early.
10:31Can you make any changes within Arsenal to try and reduce the load? Are you looking at maybe
10:36reducing training? Can you reduce it any more, just because the players have played so many games?
10:40We can do. The sample, I think, is very, very small, because last year we were the best team
10:44in that aspect. Continue with the same methodology and altering things. It's true that this season,
10:49the way we started, with a really short squad, with some already injured players,
10:54some injured players in the first two international weeks that really narrowed the team so much,
10:59put more load on players, but that's the context that we've been in.
11:03It does seem, though, with the handshaking injuries, that they are getting worse. Saka's
11:07out for three months, Havard is out at the end of the season. Is that something you'll notice?
11:14Because before it was, okay, two or three weeks, you could handle it like this. When
11:18you're talking about months and surgery, that's obviously something very different.
11:24In the Everton-Liverpool game in midweek, it was a quite harsh challenge from James
11:30Tarkovski, who became quite a big talking point. When you see a challenge like that,
11:34and you know you're playing that team next with such a big game after,
11:37does that ever factor in your mind when you have to make a selection decision?
11:41No, because I think it's part of the Premier League as well. When you see a certain angle,
11:46a certain speed, a tackle, you can have very different opinions. I think David explained it
11:51really well in his post-match interview. It's part of the game, the referee is there to referee
11:57it, and probably as well the way we are looking at tackles compared to what we used to see before
12:03is a bit different as well. On the hamstring stuff, I remember you were asked before,
12:07I think James Oli asked you about training, and you said that there is really no time to train.
12:12It's about training the muscle, and the muscle is what needs that exposure, and they're suffering
12:16so much because of that. Will we get to a stage where players need to start making changes,
12:22making stances, saying there's too much going on, too many games? Where do you see it going?
12:30Let's see, because as I said, I think the sample is still very small.
12:35The worry is that we're going to be playing more and more games, by the way it looks,
12:39especially in the next two seasons. We're going to have to address a lot. I think players as well,
12:45they have changed their lifestyles a lot, so they are much more professional.
12:48The demands are there, but the thing is, the thing is not going to change. The Premier League
12:51intensity is going to go higher. It's been much higher in the last two seasons in terms of spring,
12:56the peak is incredible, and it's going to continue to go that way. We're probably catching up a
13:02little bit because we didn't expect that to grow that fast, but we have to adapt to it.
13:07Do you think Gabriel gets the credit he deserves for the job he's done?
13:23Certainly with us, I don't know externally, but I think the best person to ask
13:28about Gabi is Willy, because that's a partnership. When you ask Willy who does he want to play next
13:34to him, I think the answer is clear, because he brings qualities and especially
13:42I think he makes his qualities much better.
13:45We hear how vocal Gabriel is as well, we can sometimes hear him in the stand as well.
13:49Maybe it saves you a job, but how much will that when you need other people to step up and be
13:54the leader on the pitch?
13:55Yeah, that's what we need to do. When we lose a voice, a leader, a presence like him,
14:00we need to step up. One player is not going to be able to do exactly that,
14:04and you cannot demand that, so between all of us, we have to do it.
14:08I don't know whether you've seen Sandoval's comments after the game
14:12during the week, but he was complimenting your team's defensive structure, saying it's almost
14:17like someone's controlling the team from the sky, there's just no space to break through you.
14:22Is that the best compliment you've been told to receive from your team,
14:25and what does that say about them that they're still so solid?
14:28Well, yes, because obviously at the end, the opposition and the players are the best ones to
14:32judge how they feel on the pitch, so it's a really nice compliment for the team. It talks about as
14:38well the effort that the boys put in in that organisation and how much they feel it, because
14:44without feeling it, you cannot do it at a level that we are able to do it, so it's always good
14:49to hear those comments.
14:51Do you feel he needs to start tomorrow because he has those minutes under his belt?
15:00Yeah, that's a possibility. We're going to decide tomorrow what's the best option
15:05for that, because it's not only him involved, we have a lot of pieces to move and some players
15:10that they know are going to be able to finish the game, so it's a lot to decide.
15:15Following up on what Tom asked earlier, on the flipside, is there ever a need to wrap him in
15:21Kostyma or not play him, or is that just off the table? It's a feeling that you don't want to play
15:27him, just wrap him up in Kostyma or head him into a trip, or is that just off the table?
15:31He needs exposure, and he's going to have exposure. He played 30 minutes
15:35today, he felt really well, he scored a goal and he wants more. It's clear in the last two days,
15:42he's demanding more and he wants more, so that's a good sign.
15:52First time you used Miquel Mourinho as a striker, he scored twice against Leicester,
15:58but he said that he didn't expect to play again as a number nine,
16:02since that he scored five goals as a number nine. How did you convince him to keep playing as a
16:09number nine? How are you going to convince him to come back, maybe to play in the midfield,
16:13as he said?
16:14I've already done that, because I played him as a number eight the other day when we brought
16:18Leo in, so we discussed that. He's a joy to work with and that's one of the reasons why we wanted
16:24to bring him to the club, because he's so versatile, he's very intelligent and he loves the
16:29game and he loves to understand the game and the reason why we ask certain players to do
16:34what we want them to do. Miquel understood immediately, explaining his qualities,
16:40what the team needs in that moment and how we can benefit from being in those positions.
16:45Demanding that the role he can do as a number nine with his qualities, not comparing to anybody else,
16:50and judge his performances on that basis. Since then I think he's been really good.