We host Liverpool under the lights at Emirates Stadium and Mikel Arteta has been previewing the contest in his pre-match press conference.
The boss gave an injury update, as well as previewing our opponents and our recent form while speaking to the press at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
Read every word below, with a video of the full press conference to follow!
on the mood around the training ground:
Obviously excited, it’s a massive game against the champions of the last Premier League and we have a point to prove. We’re going to have our crowd, our supporters, very early, before eight o’clock, everybody there, creating an amazing atmosphere and looking forward to it.
on the supporters and the atmosphere:
They’ve been unbelievable again this season, and it makes such a difference; we become a different team. The level of energy, commitment, confidence, and desire we show in every action is transmitted to them, and we need them tomorrow and in every game.
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on Calafiori and Mosquera:
No, they are out again.
on when they could be back:
I think pretty soon, they have to go to the last stage of the rehab, and if everything goes well, hopefully very soon they will be available for selection.
on Ruben Amorim’s sacking:
I can only talk about what I have experienced and it’s always sad to see a colleague losing his job. We know where we are and I think you need support from honesty, support from your staff, from players. At the end of the day, you need to win a lot of football matches to stay in the job, and that’s the reality and the nature of our job.
on having a point to prove against Liverpool:
We are top of the table, we play at home against a really, really good opponent and we want to maintain our position, and in order to do that, we’re going to have to be excellent throughout the game to win the game and that’s the point we have to prove.
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on if this is the best Arsenal team he’s had:
I don’t know, I don’t really like comparing and I think every week the team is different because the players available, the position is different. So to maintain a lot of the great things the team and individuals are doing, consistency is going to be the key to that. We know the difficulty of every game, and we are approaching that with a lot of excitement, understanding where we are and with a huge desire that we have to achieve what we want to do in May.
on his thoughts on Liverpool:
Well the margins I think for all of us are really small, we always talk about that. They have a great manager, they have a sensational structure, understanding what they have to do in relation to the players that they select tomorrow in the line-up, they can play in different ways because at the end those will make them a little bit different and more specific to what we can expect tomorrow and we have to be conscious of that and focus on what we have to do.
on Havertz:
We are obviously monitoring his load; he has been out for a long time for two different reasons, and he is very close. He trained this morning again, and hopefully, we are going to have him available in the best version of Kai Havertz.
on the chance to show the progress we’ve made:
At the end, we want to win every game and the most important one is obviously tomorrow’s and we know what we have to do to beat them and now we have to prove it on the pitch.
on Trossard being named Player of the Month:
Well, first of all, I think his level of understanding and consistency, he's got ability. But the level of consistency he's showing this season in particular, I think, has been exceptional. I think he's really clicking with the team in every aspect of the game and he's a player that provides something different to what we have.
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on what it feels like to have a huge crowd behind you:
There's nothing like it. You become a different player; your emotional state is better, your energy level is better, your confidence is better. They drive you to take action without a lot of aggression or determination, and that lifts the whole team. So that's what we have to provide tomorrow.
on if he expected Liverpool to be our main title rivals:
That's on paper, but I still think that they are a superb team and what they've done as well and you have to understand as well the context that they have with certain injuries and the difficulty of the league for all of us, but my opinion hasn't changed about that.
on if he thought we’d prove our doubters wrong this season:
I don't know. We always prepare the games to beat them in the best possible way, in the way we believe will give us the best chance to do that.
on what the point is that we want to prove:
We can go again and again, every week we have a point to prove. We had it a few days ago against Bournemouth after a great win against Villa and it's going to continue like that until May and we know that because once we are in the position that we are in we want to maintain and extend the lead that we have and in order to do that our level of determination and desire has to be with that mindset.
on how to keep everyone working towards that goal:
We all want it that much, that's what is driving everybody and that's the superb quality that we have within the club, staff and players especially, because we know what it's going to take to achieve what we want.
on the connections of Zubimendi, Odegaard and Rice, who were all born within a two-month frame of time:
They started to connect since they were born? Let me investigate that and I can come back to you in a few weeks! It's a great point, so maybe it's something that we have to think about. It's very clear and obvious that they click, they understand each other very well, they complement each other exceptionally well and that's something that we believe that we could achieve before we brought them together and now they are doing it.
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on the difference of going from head coach to manager:
It was different at the time when they proposed to change the role and what they thought about in the areas that I could help probably more than they expected at the beginning. But again it's about the relationships and the people because we have formed great teams with very different qualities and some that have been more on certain things and when there is somebody that is much better than me on that, I let them do it. So for me the title doesn't really reflect the daily, probably the way we operate daily. I think it's more important the people and then the morale within those people to really understand that ‘okay, let's give each other the things that they can master and make us much better’ and the rest we just support that idea.
on the boost he had from that extra responsibility:
Yes because I didn't demand it, we didn't ask for it, and they [the owners] believed it was the right thing to do. But again, since then, because we have to work with different people with the changes that we had in recent years, I think when you have a leader, which is ownership, in this case it's Stan and Josh, and Josh is very close with very clear alignment to all of us, what he wants to do, how he wants to achieve it, that creates that space for everybody. I think it's very easy to work like this.
on what he took away from our defeat at Anfield:
No, I mean people are entitled to their opinions, mine was different, but that's the beauty of football.
on what sets Gabriel apart from other defenders with his goalscoring:
Desire to score and then the amount of work that he puts in, attention and detail to get himself in the best possible positions to do that, and to execute what the game, especially certain actions, are going to demand of him.
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on how Hincapie has adapted to the Premier League:
Very impressed because obviously he came in very, very late in the market, without pre-season, after that surgery as well. He’s been immense for everything that we ask him to do; he's fulfilled that in various roles as well. I think it's been a big boost for the team and another step in terms of what he can bring to the team.
on if this group is as good as the Invincibles:
No, because the Invincibles won a lot and they won consistently and they created that history and legacy and we have to do that.
on if the players ever talk about it:
No, obviously there are a lot of stats, but in the last two or three years, as well, we've had stats and more points and more goals in the history of this and that. At the end we have to translate that to major trophies and what we want to do. Probably now what we are doing would have been enough, but now it's not enough, and we have to make the margins even bigger, and that's what we have to aim for.
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