Mikel Arteta has addressed the media ahead of Arsenal's Champions League home clash against Lille and there was plenty of team news including injury updates on Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi and William Saliba
Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta has spoken on Arsenal's bizarrely bad injury luck ahead of facing Lille
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Mikel Arteta has issued an update after Arsenal sustained not one but two injuries in their post-match warm-down after beating Leeds on Saturday.
Both Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi are undergoing tests on ankle issues that will see them sit out of Tuesday night's Champions League match against Lille.
Footage that surfaced online actually showed Hincapie being carried off on the back of goalkeeper Illan Meslier, something that Arteta didn't seem particularly pleased with.
Here is the full transcript from the Spaniard's press conference.
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Team news, Hincapie injury?
"Well, it happened, we had a training session planned after the game for the players, they didn't have enough minutes to get everybody in the corner on Sunday and to get everybody in the right rhythm. And in two very unfortunate actions, we lost two players."
Any timeframe on his and Martin Zubimendi's return?
"We need to assess them today, have a further scan to see where they are and they will have that confirmed. And then just looking back at the weekend, you may have had a couple of days to assess."
Thoughts on facing Lille, turning the game around against Leeds?
"Well, again, many positives from the game, obviously the way we reacted, the way we managed to turn around the game in a very difficult context. Really impressive, the way we started the game really well as well, and the amount of actions we finished in the final third, something really to improve, the way we defended the box, certainly as well. So, yeah, overall, especially after the break, I'm really happy with the results."
How do you feel the flow of the attack is going?
"I think it's going pretty well. I think the way we have finished the actions is probably something else, but in terms of what we produced before the international break, I think it was better than any other year. Then we had the Brighton game, and then the other game was a different context as well, but I think we're certainly getting in some great, great positions, we need to be more clinical now to finish more actions."
On Eberechi Eze, only started twice, are you looking for more from him? How's his season gone so far?
"Like everybody else, I think they need to earn the rights to play, and that's it, through training sessions, and when you are on that pitch to make the impact that the game and the team needs in order to achieve that.
"We're going to have many opportunities to do that, the attitude has been always phenomenal, and we have to adapt as well to his qualities."
Eberechi Eze
Eberechi Eze is waiting for a chance to spark his season into life
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With Hincapie and Zubimendi, when small things can make such a big difference, it's not ideal to have two players injured in the warm down.
"It's far from ideal."
What can be done to stop it happening again?
"It's very easy, you don't train. Never train, and they don't get injured, the consequence of that is when they have to play, they have no rhythm, and when you ask them to play, they're going to have no impact in the game. That [incident] could happen at the Emirates, it never happened in seven years that I was here, it could happen the next day in the training session, and that has happened before, and hopefully it happens now and doesn't happen again. What can you do? If I knew I had a crystal ball clear, I'd say, guys, 'go in the jacuzzi, everybody, I'll see you tomorrow'."
Image of Hincapie being carried off by sub goalkeeper with coaches and medical staff around, concerned?
"That's something else not to discuss here."
Your team isn't panicking when you need to score, talk about that, it's a specific skill?
"I think because we have to be emotionally dominant, regardless of what the context is, it's easy to say, but it's difficult actually to do. We did it in the majority of the matches, which is great, we didn't do it in Brighton, we paid the price for that, so, yeah, there are always lessons and evolutions to make for the team, and that's something extremely important, because at the level that we played every three days, things will happen and you're going to have to be able to adapt and resolve those ones."
Piero Hincapie
Piero Hincapie picked up an injury in Arsenal's cool down against Leeds(Image: Francesco Scaccianoce - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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On Olivier Giroud
"Great, well, we were teammates, first of all, a great character, a great person to have around with him, and then the players, I remember when he came in, he won the big one with Montpellier, he came here and he really impacted the team in a very different way, a completely different profile than we were used to, and what a career he had, and definitely an amazing one."
Similar to Kai Havertz, both underrated? Olivier was?
"Not for his teammates, for sure, or the same in this case, I don't know the rest, but he was extremely intelligent first, and he was really, really handful. Every time we had him on the pitch we had a massive strength inside the box. He was very smart, he was so good at connecting the other players as well, and his hold-up was phenomenal, so certainly not by us."
William Saliba, how long has he been on the pitch and how is his recovery going?
"Now it's over a week, I think, and he'll be managing that load, and how many repetitions and sessions in a row he can do, but he's building now his capacity to good standards, and let's see in the next few weeks we can start to introduce him with the team, and to see where we are to actually make his available."
Back after November international break?
"I don't know, we're still talking about weeks, and when that happens it's very different whether he would play just before, or after that, because it's a very specific injury that he processes."
Is Hincapie injury ankle and the same for Zubimendi?
"Both ankles."
What do you mean by emotional dominance?
"It's owning the moment, and living that moment, and making sure that we are in an emotional state that the game requires, and not something else. If the game requires a reaction, energy and spirit, a boldness, a courage to deliver something else or change it, that's the way we have to act. If the game demands everybody to bring the temperature down, we have to be able to do that. In order to do that, we need to really understand what's happening."
Mikel Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi will not feature against Lille(Image: Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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You said if any of your attackers were unhappy with minutes, knock on the door, has Eze done that?
"He hasn't done it. I think I've been very proactive as well to try to speak to everybody, to be really engaged and to make them understand what we need from each of them, what the standards are, and be very specific if I can, when they're going to play, when they're not going to play. So far it's been good, but we need to maintain that. Because we're going to need the players that start or finish the games to be very ready, like they've been, to change games or to impact games. Because at the end, it's what we need to win, who matches."
Just on Max Dowman, can he play on the left?
"We haven't seen much of Max on the left. I think, especially with the way we have evolved him and training him in those two positions, probably at the moment it's easier. But with the talent he has, we need to throw him in a new position. At some point I think he will have the capacity to adapt."
You spoke about paying your tummy ahead of him this weekend's game. Do you still have pain in your tummy from the Champions League final?
"We're going to have to earn the right to get in that position again. We know how tough it is and how many times we've done it in the history of our club. So first of all, realise that. And tomorrow we're going to have a really tough opponent in front of us. They are very, very well coached, but Davide [Ancelotti], it's remarkable. You can just see the way that they are competing and playing. And the problems that they have caused to big teams. Tomorrow is not going to be different, and we are ready for it."
On Bruno G scoring the winner, what weighs more on your mind, picking players from training performances or to wins games?
"Sometimes I'm going to pick a team or players in position to what I expect, especially at the beginning, I can't finish the game, because that's where most of the games are decided at this level as well. And we have the bench and the players that are capable of doing that. And we're going to use that resource."
Bruno Guimaraes
Bruno Guimaraes was on target for Arsenal vs Leeds(Image: (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))
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Do you have a timeframe for how long Zubimendi and Hincapie will be out for?
"No, they're both going to miss tomorrow's match, that's for sure. Today they're going to have a further scan and probably tomorrow we'll know more and then we'll see how they're going to go. Piero's one looks a little bit more serious, I think, but we'll have to wait and see."
You mentioned it wasn't ideal that they picked up the injuries, is it something you'd reconsider going forward not to do those warm-downs after the game?
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"Well, the temptation is now, oh, we don't want to take that risk and we'll do something else. But we were going to do that anyway the next day. When you play this kind of small-sided games, there is contact, and these things have happened. They didn't happen once last season and we did it 37 times I think. So the fact that it's there, that people are watching, and then the team raises all their doubts, but now it's very difficult to do.
"My question was, if we had to do this again, the way we planned the seven days that we had in that period, with players that didn't have enough load, would it be the case? The answer is yes, and it's a sport of contact, and this can happen."
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