Every word from Arteta’s pre-Forest presser | Press conference | News

Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media ahead of our return to Premier League action as we take on Nottingham Forest at Emirates Stadium.

The boss has been speaking about the fitness of our returning international stars, taking on the Tricky Trees, and much more.

Read our full transcript below, with a video of the full press conference to come.

on if he had some time off over the international break:

Some time off, some work done to review what we’ve done in the first part of the season, and then obviously watching all of the internationals play, and most of them had a very successful time with the national teams.

on if everyone came back from international duty unscathed:

It’s very different to last season, so I’m very pleased with that. They had a lot of minutes, some very important impact as well in their games, and everybody’s good.

on the latest fitness of Saka, Saliba and White:

Bukayo’s out and he’s trying to get back as quickly as possible, but we need to respect that process. Wilo trained today, and the rest, as usual, and Ben White as well, Ben’s OK.

on what games we’re targeting for Saka’s return:

Let’s see, he’s evolving really well, with very specific work at the moment, and the moment that we increase that load, let’s see how he reacts.

on Saliba:

Wilo trained today, so we’ll have a decision to make whether we play him or not, it’s very good news.

on signing Hincapie:

Well, he’s a player that we monitored for years, and he became available. We had the departure of Jakub [Kiwior] as well, and now we needed another player in that position, who could upgrade what we had, play in different positions, play in different formations, a player that obviously has a lot of experience already at his age, so very, very happy to have him.

on if he’s ready to play:

He’s ready to go. He’s trained only two days with us, he had a long travel with the national team, a very successful game at the end against Argentina. But overall, he’s available.

on Ange Postecoglou returning to the Premier League:

Well, I think with Ange, his biggest strength, in my opinion, is the way he’s been. He has put his fingerprints in that team, and he has a very clear way of playing, very clear DNA, extremely good to watch, learned a lot from him, and it will be a very difficult game.

on his adaptability with a new set of players at Forest:

I don’t know and I cannot control that, he’s made the decision to go to Forest now because, for sure, he believes that with the players that he has, he can do what he wants to do and be successful again. He was, for a long time, very clear about what he wanted to do with Ange there and the time that he had, it would be things that were different for sure.

on how it changes our preparations for this game:

You have to focus much more on yourself and improving and taking the game where you want to because at the end now, even if you know the manager, the scenario can change after five minutes, 20 minutes, 60 minutes. The flexibility and understanding, and preparation that goes through now in the Premier League. So what you expect for five minutes is not going to be the same picture for 95 minutes. So that’s what we prepare for every single day.

on Edu Gaspar:

I was very happy with Edu. I think Edu did a tremendous job at this club, especially where the club was at the time when he joined and he was a big part of that transformation of the football club. Then he decided to leave and Andrea’s come in very different circumstances to the club and done an incredible job as well. It’s not necessary to compare when you have two people at that level that are both so good.

on how he feels about our start to the season and our defeat at Liverpool:

I wanted nine points instead of six. I think Arne explained the game really well after the game when he said if we play ten times, probably eight times will be a draw. One will be for us and the one was for Liverpool and a magic moment decided that game. We want more. We want to win more of those games and reviewing what we’ve done and as well in the circumstances that we had, not only in the way that we play, but in other areas, there is still room to improve for sure, and that’s very good because the team is already at a really high level.

on if we wanted to play straight away after that game:

Yes 100%, after a defeat, you want to have a game in the next three days, get it out of the system. It is what it is. But at the same time, I look at the players’ international duties and how they’ve grown. The role that they have in the teams, the impact that they’re having in every single match, and I feel pride because they can lose a game and they can go to the national team, they can click again, perform and most of them win and they’re very important in those wins

on how important it is to make Emirates Stadium a fortress:

That’s what we want and we had a really good game against Leeds. It’s going to be a very different game against Forest for sure. But it was a kick-off in front of our people after 10 days, we’re looking forward to it.

on if Mikel Merino’s four goals for Spain puts him in contention to play up front:

He did it from the midfield! After Liverpool, we played three midfielders, defensive midfielders, I think that was the narrative, no? When Mikel had his hat-trick playing as an attacking midfielder, I don’t know when the last attacking midfielder scored three goals. So, very interesting to learn what the perception is, especially when you lose a football match and how important it is to analyse and understand your players’ quality in order to make decisions that are based on what you understand daily, which is very clear as well.

on if it’s good to have Postecoglou back in the Premier League:

Very good. I think as a character, as a person, what he transmits, what he brings to football is a joy towards the team. I’ve always enjoyed it and learned from it. Very welcome to having him back

on if it’s enough to have one style of play:

What does that mean? Does that mean when they have the ball, when the ball is very close to their goalkeeper, when they’re under high pressure, when they’re in deep, when they have a throw-in? So it depends. People will answer the way of playing, the way of thinking, and they will trick things in relation to that. Try to maintain certain ways and a certain approach to the game that they want to play.

on his own DNA:

We can go for a blood test, and then you can tell us.

on Raya’s record as our goalkeeper:

Pretty good? It’s the best in the history of the football club. It’s unbelievable. Very good to understand the game and especially when a few months or years go by. It’s really good to look back as well and reflect on that. It is not I, it is we. We did it, and with the help, I think, he has a tremendous impact on the team.

on if Madueke’s form provides a selection headache when Sake recovers from injury:

I hope so, yes. When that day comes, that B [Bukayo Saka] is in his best condition and Noni the same, that’s what we want and I’m very happy to have him. I think, looking back at what he’s done with the national team as well, I’ve spoken with Thomas [Tuchel] as well, very pleased with that. So he’s really good. He’s in a really, really good moment

on how Havertz is getting on with his injury:

Yeah, he’s looking really good, he’s walking freely. He’s starting to load the knee and started to do some bits. As I said before, I think we’re taking it from weeks to months. But knowing Kai, I cannot give you any time scale because I know what he’s going to try to do, same with Gabi Jesus. So I think he’s in a good moment.

It was a very tough decision for him to go and have that procedure done. But I think it was necessary and it was the right decision from the medical team to persuade him to do that.

on the competition for places in the squad now the transfer window is closed and international break is over:

Well, happy because at the end, through the summer, through pre-season, there are a lot of unknowns and players that don’t really understand their role, their future, and at the end, we have managed to accomplish what we wanted.

We’ve taken the opportunity as well to say thank you to some of the players that left us after a few years and a great contribution to the club and the team, we wish them all the very best and now we have clarity.

This is the squad that we have here listed until January and very pleased with it.

on discussions arounds contracts of Saka and Saliba:

That never stops, but I think the collaboration between the club, what Andrea [Berta] is doing, and the agents, is very good. I think the good thing is that the players want to remain here and they want to be a big part of the history of this club in the next few years and that is always positive and Andrea will drive that and see where we go.

on if Saliba trained today:

Yes he trained today.

on if there’s room for a ‘joker’ in an Arteta team:

I don’t know if there’s room for a joker in this society, in this industry, in football right now. I don’t know if that will be respected and viewed as something positive to that.

I think the credit as well went to Phil Jackson how he managed that personality, you can name it as you want it, but when he had to compete he helped him to win major trophies and he was instrumental on that. Phil managed to deal with his character in a really smart way to get the best out of him, and on that, you can call it as you want, we have 19 different nationalities, 26 different players we have to live with them to get the best out of them and that’s it.

on if there’s space for someone who does things a bit differently on the pitch:

Especially when he’s effective and then what he had to do in the team he was the best in the league so you have somebody that does something different to help you to win football matches, more than welcome.

on why there’s a negative perception of us from the Liverpool game:

I don’t know because I don’t read that but after reviewing the match and analysing it, it’s a very different perspective to the one that I have in relation to that, but you have to respect every opinion, in the end the opinion is going to be different whether you win or lose, that’s it. You have to accept it.

on how to keep all the players happy with two top players in every position:

That’s the same as any other top team, nothing different, so that’s what we have to do.

on if we’re in a better position than we were last season after the first international break:

Yes, for sure. I think that’s why we’ve done it, because last year we were much shorter, especially in certain positions, and now I think we have better depth, better quality, better options as well, because some players can play in two or three different positions, which is great to have and is going to give us very different options.

on if it’s hard to anticipate what we’ll face from Postecoglou’s Forest:

Before the game, yes, but the moment the game starts, after five minutes, we will see very clear behaviours, what they want to do, and that’s what we have prepared.

on if Liverpool signing Isak changes the title race:

Well, they are the strongest for sure. They have recruited probably the two most decisive players that were in Europe in the market, and they’ve done really well to recruit them. They were very strong. I think we need to look at ourselves and what we have to do in terms of our abilities to be better than them.

on how to tackle players going through rises and peaks before their output goes down:

Well, that normally happens as well, especially with attacking players in relation to what they have provided.

But that’s a very volatile thing, and you have to recognise that. First of all, look at yourself. So if you are doing something that is not helping enough, their qualities or to get in a position that they can express better or have a better chance to exploit their qualities there.

Then communicate with them as well. It’s something quite normal in football, especially for an attacking player that have to create those moments.

on if there’s a fear of overcoaching a player:

It can be, or coaching them badly. It’s like communication on the pitch. You can say, ‘no, I want you guys to coach.’

Coach, but coach well because coaching badly is a terrible thing to do. It’s better not to coach and be on mute than coach badly. That’s always a line that is very important.

on how impressive Madueke has been for Arsenal and England

I can talk about what I’ve seen and what I have experienced and I think the welcoming that our supporters gave to Noni from day one, it was incredible. So, I don’t know all the ways that people communicated the disagreement with that.

But our supporters, they’ve been exceptional and rightly so, because he’s an unbelievable player.

on how difficult it will be to stop Liverpool this year:

It’s not about Liverpool. It’s about the league in general, how difficult it’s going to be with the level that it is, to be so consistent and winning the amount of matches that you need to earn the right to win the Premier League and that’s going to be a really long run for all of us.

on Gabriel Jesus being left out of the Champions League squad:

He had a major surgery that it was going to take him many, many months. So, after discussing that with the medical staff and understanding the schedule that we had and when we thought that he could be available, that it would be between December and January, we decided to make that call. Like we’ve done it in the past with other players.

Hopefully, we did it wrong and he comes back earlier. But at the moment, the provision was very clear.

on If he’ll be back around December:

To start training with the team, it was around that time, the schedule that we had.