After advancing to the FA Cup fourth round by beating Portsmouth 4-1, Mikel Arteta spoke to the media in attendance at Fratton Park.
He spoke about Gabriel Martinelli's hat-trick, squad rotation, giving opportunities to others and provided an injury update.
Here is everything he had to say:
on making 10 changes and still dominating:When we make that many changes there is an element of cohesion that is not going to be as perfect as we want. We started the game exactly how we didn't want to, giving them momentum and an early goal and hope, and then we had to fight it back, and credit to them because they made it difficult for us especially in the early stages of the game. The more we started to do the simple thing right, and be a little more dominant, then the quality took over.on Gabriel Martinelli’s performance after a tough week:It's part of football, and then it's how you take it, but he knew inside the reason why he did what he did. I think Arne Slot spoke brilliantly after the game; he explained the situation and the fact that Gabi had no intention whatsoever to harm any player. That’s his personality and commitment. We talk on the pitch and that’s the best part of football.on him being able to bounce back:Gabi has that, and that's why you play for a big club, and have a big personality, because it can be that way. It can be an action that you miss, it can be something that costs you a game – you need to build yourself up and make it count.
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on Gabi’s attitude:I love it, because of every context that you throw him in. Sometimes he doesn’t play, sometimes he performs well or not well the next one. Today he scored three goals, tomorrow he’s going to train a hundred miles an hour. He’s not going to change that – and that’s Gabi. on if he thought Gabi could score headers from two set-pieces:I do, because he is very good. His timing in the box is really good, especially when in certain spaces, and yesterday he was talking about it. on Kai Havertz’s return:We had some really positive things today, obviously winning the match and being in the next round - Kai after so many months and all the effort that he's put in to be back fit and looking like he's done, Marli as well making his debut in the FA Cup, and a lot of players making minutes that they need as well.
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on Piero Hincapie’s fitness:Probably tomorrow we'll know a little bit more where he's at. Obviously he had to come off [against Liverpool] which is never a good sign, but hopefully it's not too much [time out]. on Ethan Nwaneri’s chance:He deserved that. Because of the strength of the squad and the players that are in the positions, he hasn't been able to play. Today he's done it, and I think he had some very good minutes.
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