Mikel Arteta was in a positive mood to deliver the news that Bukayo Saka had indeed returned to the squad. He was also there to give his thoughts on the permanent appointment of Andrea Berta as the club’s new sporting director.
He gave further context on Fulham and the challenge that remains here with the boost of Saka's return while also giving context to Thomas Tuchel's words on the use of players like Declan Rice.
You can read every word from the press conference which football.london was in attendance for here.
Mikel, good to see you, good to be back. How are you excited to be back in action again tomorrow evening?
Yeah, it's great. Obviously, we had a good time to reflect and to reset and put ourselves in a really good position to go for the most exciting part of the season.
And is Bukayo Saka going to be available to help you with that tomorrow evening?
Bukayo is ready to go.
In terms of managing his return to football, because it's been more than three months he's been missing, what sort of role do you think we could see him play tomorrow night? How carefully are you going to have to manage his minutes?
Well, the careful thing is already done. So now it's about putting him in the grass in the right moments. But he's pushing because he really wants it. We have respected the time frame, we have done everything and we have to hold him back even. So he's ready to go.
In that case, could he be in a position where he could start tomorrow?
Yeah.
And how much of an impact do you think he can have now in terms of what you're saying is the most exciting part of the season now? There's much to play for.
It's another massive weapon that we have with him. We know the impact that he's had on the team and how important his role and his contribution is to our success. So great to have him back, obviously.
And elsewhere, how are Ricardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber doing in terms of their availability for tomorrow?
Yeah, well, Ricardo unfortunately picked up an injury again with the national team. Really unfortunate the way it happened. It could have been much worse. So hopefully it's going to be a matter of weeks. But we'll have to see how that injury evolves. And Jurrien, yeah, he was ill for a long period, quite badly. He's felt much better in the last few days.
And we just met Andrea Berta. How excited are you by the appointment that the club have just made?
Yes, I think it's a big addition to the club, a big addition to the team, a team that is already formed with a lot of great people. Rich [Garlick] leading it, obviously, but as well with James [King], with Jason [Ayto], with a lot of people at the club that have been doing such good work. So it's about building out that chemistry. And I believe Josh has been fully involved in the process as well. So we are all very excited to have him.
And how much do you feel like he can help the club, especially in the transfer window? We've seen his reputation for signing some of the best players in world football over the course of the last decade or so.
Well, you just met him and straight away the words that come out are always winning, improving and demanding. And he's a person, very honest, very straightforward. Very clear vision of what he wants to do. He was so willing to join us, which is a very positive thing as well because he has many other possibilities and he's chosen to come to us. And now it's about us giving him the support and the understanding of the situation and context straight away. And for him to start to do what he's already done for many, many years at the highest level, which has been very impressive.
And finally, nine matches left to play in the Premier League. What do you think is possible for Arsenal between now and the end of the season?
It's possible to win tomorrow. And the preparation is to be better than Fulham and beat them tomorrow. And if we do that, we're going to start to generate a good momentum and it's going to help for both competitions.
Just to confirm, is Riccardo's injury a knee injury?
Knee injury, yes.
In terms of him, he's had a number of injuries this season. So how much of a blow is this latest one in terms of his mentality?
Yeah, two injuries. They were picked up with the national team. One was a kick and the other one is a really bad turn twist when he slips with the surface. And the other one was muscular. But I mean, the main two injuries that he had, very little to do, very unfortunate.
Fulham tomorrow at home. Of course, they suffered a disappointment of being knocked out of the FA Cup at the weekend. Do you think the way that they lost that game actually makes them more dangerous opponents? Because you could well expect a big reaction tomorrow night.
Well, I don't know. It's always a really tough opposition. A team that is very well coached. They've been together for many years. They have great organisation, a lot of individual quality and a very clear identity of how they play, how they want to approach the games, especially against us. So we're going to have to be really good tomorrow to beat them.
Marco Silva has today been speaking about Emile Smith-Rowe, the fact that he's had a lot of ups and downs this season, and he's kind of failed to find that consistency in his game. How good of a player do you feel, having worked with him, that he can be?
Exceptional. I mean, he's got all the attributes to become a top, top footballer. And that consistency, especially with us, he was unable, especially in the periods he had injuries. But tremendous quality.
And in terms of Fulham generally, their record against Arsenal recently has been good. They, of course, drew with you 1-1, I think it was in December. What can you take away from that game in particular, that 1-1 draw coming into tomorrow's match?
Well, especially that we have a lot of dominance and quite a lot of chances, both open and set-pieces-wise, but they were very clinical in what they do. And the first chance, especially when we were very on top of the game, they managed to score the goal. And then, obviously, they sit back and reduce the spaces. And it's a team that is well-organised.
Can I just take you back to the international break where Myles Lewis-Skelly scores that goal? Where were you and how has he been this week? Because he was buzzing after. So what's he been like on the front of the squad since he's come back?
Great moment. We are all so happy for him. So unusual to see something like this on your debut, especially a full-back scoring the goal in the man-at-the-heel for his country. So a very special week for him.
Bukayo, I know you mentioned he could start, but will he start tomorrow?
Yeah, we'll see that tomorrow.
And we just met Andrea Berta. Can you just talk about what direction the club's going in now? You talked about ambition. He said about wanting to win stuff. So is he almost a new signing that's going to unlock the potential about what Arsenal need to do going forward?
Well, we certainly believe that if someone is going to impact the club and he's got that experience, he's got this personality as well, this charisma and this drive to win, that is going to be very contagious. It's very much instilled in the football club, especially from the top, because this is what we want to achieve. But to have people as well with different expertise, experiences, and they've already done it. It's very, very helpful.
What do you like about him the most? And what's his best attribute? And were you involved in the decision-making to give him the job?
Yeah, we were all involved. And what I like the most immediately is how much he wanted to come to the club. He was really attracted and really excited about that possibility. And then the way he believes that he can help us to achieve what we want.
Just on Andrea again, he's come in at a time kind of in this midway point between the start of the year and the summer. You talk about planning ahead and having a lot of ideas about what you want. And I'm sure a lot of that's already been done. So what's that dynamic going to be like with somebody coming in with already established plans in mind, but also someone who wants to bring their own ideas?
That's why I mentioned that the good thing is the strong team that we already have in place. And all the work that the recruitment that Jason, James, and all the boys have been doing, and everything is prepared. And then that planning has to be tweaked because what you plan and you execute most of the time ends up being a bit different from the direction of the vision. And what we want to do is clear. He would jump on board of that and hopefully he would twist it and make it better. That's why he's here.
We heard from Thomas Tuchel over the international break, first chance to really hear him speak after the start of his game. So one of the things he talked about was he made reference to the fact that Declan Rice played in the 7-1 win over PSV. And this idea of rotation and picking players of importance, even when perhaps there's ideas about giving players rest from their club teams as well. Is it important that that is kind of got on top of that players are given important rest at certain times of the season in perhaps friendly games? And how is that relationship with Thomas going to evolve?
Yeah, well, the more communication there is and understanding obviously when a player plays, it means that do you want to play him or do you have to play him? It's very different. You have other alternatives, you still have to play him? It's one decision. You have to play because there are other alternatives because the situation you have in the squad, that's one thing. The best thing is always to communicate ahead what the intentions are, what the processes are and what the thought process was behind a certain decision because to compare two similar actions with different contexts, it doesn't make any sense.
Can you give us an insight into Bukayo's mindset because he must be absolutely buzzing to play given it's been such a long time since he played?
Well, it's more the energy that he transmits, that he's missed the thing that he loves the most in his life, which is to be around the team, to play, to train and to compete at the highest level. And the fact that he's able to come in the most important part of the season obviously is a massive boost for him and to the team as well.
Just because he hasn't played since December, are you confident that he'll be able to hit the ground running? Because obviously you've got Madrid next week.
Yeah, especially to get that out of your head. You haven't played for three months but you've played for the last 48 months, so three in 48 is a very small percentage. I haven't done maybe the housekeeping duties for a week but I've done it for 10 years so I know what to do, I know how to sustain it and I'm clever enough to maintain that. The habit is certainly there, so don't think about that.
Can you explain to us what does Martin Odegaard bring to your team and what are its qualities?
I need a lot of time to do that. The captain is one of the most important players, his consistency levels are incredible and he’s a player that defines our way of playing. That’s what I would call it.
And why did you choose him to be the captain now for two years?
Because we believe he's the right role model for the club and for the team.
