We progressed to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion and following the victory, Mikel Arteta faced the press at Emirates Stadium.
Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka both found the net in the victory in N5 and after the match, Mikel gave his verdict on the victory.
Read every word from his post-match press conference now.
on progressing to the quarter-final:
A very special evening, to be fair, very happy for various reasons. Obviously, we are in the quarter-finals, we won the game against a really tough opponent. We made 10 changes, we played players that never played together, yet we had two huge debuts for Max [Dowman and Andre [Harriman-Annous]. That feeling of giving the opportunity to somebody and fulfilling a dream is unique. I'm very happy that things turned out to be very positive and we managed to win the game.
on Harriman-Annous’s performance:
Well, since pre-season when he was with us, I was very impressed with him. First of all, his mentality, how much he wants it. That's the first ingredient. He's desperate to achieve his dream. I think he's been very consistent, training with us and constantly giving us the option to pick him. I believe today was the right day for him, for the context, for the way he's playing as well. He certainly proved that he's got a chance.
on if academy players coming through at the same time is deliberate:
No, it's not. That's what it is and I'm very happy with both of them today. Myles as well, Ethan scoring a goal, Bukayo scoring a goal, so two academy graduates taking us to the quarter-finals. Again, it was a special, emotional evening and until the next one on Saturday.
on Max finding out he was starting:
A tiny smile. That's what you get with him. For him, everything is natural. For him, everything is ok. It's the way he plays. I think that's the secret, that he doesn't make a big fuss of it. He just does what he does best, which is to play football, to play football with a lot of courage and determination. Today, again, he's shown some incredible skill, some capacity to run past players at that level in the Premier League at 15. It's something definitely special.
on Dowman’s hunger to start more games:
For sure, if you ask him, for sure. That's what we have to manage. Not only that, there are a lot of new things in his life, we discussed that a few days ago, make sure that he does the right steps, that he behaves and accepts because he's going to go with this one, then he's going to play in a different team, and he needs to cope with all that because it's happening very, very fast and we all need to be aware of that. Let's encourage him to keep going that way, but let's protect him as well.
on having the right role models around the young players:
Yeah, it does, and the more senior ones as well. They believe that they're going to have a pathway. If they earn it, it doesn't matter how you're called up, you're going to get a chance. They know that, they believe in that and they really want it, which is the most important thing.
on why there were no changes after a difficult first-half:
Because it had nothing to do with them. It's some very sloppy giveaways that we did give, in very dangerous areas. We didn't apply two or three rules that we always have in second phases, for example, and we could have been punished. Kepa made a brilliant save, they made another big chance. It was more the feeling that we were struggling a bit. But to be fair, I expected that, when you make 10 changes and you put players that have never played before, some of them, they haven't played much as well this season, you have to gamble. But I was ready to take that risk and in the second half I thought, ok, we have to start the next 10-15 minutes in a different way. We certainly did that and the game shifted momentum.
on Mosquera and Hincapie’s partnership tonight:
Very good. I think those two are going to complement each other really, really well. I'm very happy with what I've seen. Again, they’ve never played together, I think they've trained two or three times together and that will keep improving. But I'm very happy.
on having the depth to play in multiple competitions:
It's going to make us stronger because, again, the easy thing maybe is to make some changes in that moment. I really believe in them. We could adjust a few things and be better, improve certain individuals with certain positions as well that I think it was important, and after that, now they have a good feeling that they can compete and beat a really good Premier League team. Overall, we have a lot to learn.
on Kepa’s performance:
He was really good today and I'm not surprised, I said it a few days ago, the way he behaves, trains, the way he's connected to the team at all times, he's going to prepare him for those moments and today, certainly he was ready.
on Nwaneri getting on the scoresheet:
Really good. He came on the other day as well and he's going to have those chances and when he has, he needs to make the most out of it. I think he took the goal really, really well. He had some actions, some of them, they weren't that effective. But what I liked is that he kept trying and making risks and he didn't change that behaviour and determination to make things happen and at the end, he got rewarded with a brilliant goal.
on what the full squad bring to the team:
When we need them, they are there and they are ready. Again, we have a lot of injured players in the front line, so we could see we have the depth. But today we were struggling with some positions already and it's October. We're going to need them. It was a great test for them and I take a lot of learning from it.
on trusting the starting eleven:
100 per cent. Especially because it was nothing to do with them. It was something to do more with all the stuff that we could have done better and I think in the second half they continue. It's a shame that Andre didn't take the chance he had, 1v1, because it would have been an incredible moment for him. But overall, very positive.
on whether there was any specific instructions for Nwaneri:
No, to all of them, that we have to be very aggressive when we have the chance. They were going man to man as well. They were very aggressive in our first phase. Once we unlocked that, we had a lot of spaces and we certainly exploit that much better in the second half. Thank you.
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.