Mikel Arteta’s pre-Chelsea vs Arsenal press conference

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta gave his press conference ahead of the Carabao Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Wednesday night.

Read on for our full Arteta press conference transcript, featuring the Gunners boss’ updates on injuries, the pressure to win trophies, and the departure of Per Mertesacker as the head of the club’s academy.

Every word of Mikel Arteta’s press conference

On injury updates

Those two [Hincapie and Calafiori] are not available yet and the others that we have are Willie [Saliba] and Leo [Trossard].

On Piero Hincapie’s scan

We don’t know yet.

On Riccardo Calafiori

He’s progressing, but we don’t know. I think it will be a matter of a few weeks, probably, but we don’t know exactly when.

On Saliba and Trossard

Those two are a doubt.

On Max Dowman and Mosquera

[Max] is very similar to [Cristhian] Mosquera as well. Very similar injuries, very similar timeframes and both evolving really well. But they’re not training yet so they’re still a few weeks away.

On Kai Havertz’s return

Obviously we missed him a lot. A year is a long time in football but as you said, the way he’s come back, he looks really fit, really confident. He’s such an intelligent player that straight away he is someone who connects with the players really naturally, and you can tell how much they love him as well, because every time he was in and around the box, everyone was jumping on their seats on the bench. So yeah, we are so happy to have him, he’s going to help us so much, and now we have to keep him fit.

On Havertz starting vs Chelsea

We have to manage his minutes now, but he had a good block of 20-25 minutes the other day. He trained really well again today, it’s now a case of building his robustness and make sure that he’s available for every game.

On playing against Liam Rosenior in the 2014 FA Cup Final

I’ve seen a few pictures of that, that’s the beauty of football, you know. Two very different careers but at the end, facing each other tomorrow at Stamford Bridge in the semi-final.

On if he knows Liam Rosenior well

No, I know people that have worked with him, I know people that have been close to him in his journey, especially as a coach and they talk really highly of him. So yeah, wish him all the best apart from tomorrow obviously.

On Rosenior using his journey as motivation

Well personally my motivation was to help the club and transform the football club, that was it, not to prove people wrong. That, in my case, wasn’t a motivation. Obviously they know him really well because they have worked together with him for a few years now so they made that decision based, for sure, because of his capacity and because they believe that he deserves and is the best person to lead that project.

On learning from last year’s semi-final

Football gives you another chance, we’ve been really consistent again in the competition and now we have to knock another big team out of the competition to be in the final and that’s the mission. Hopefully we’ll learn from last year because it was painful, especially in the manner that the games went and the amount of chances that we missed not to go through, but hopefully this year we are better and hopefully more efficient.

On if the Carabao Cup helps with other competitions

Well, the more you are involved in these kind of games, the better, because it gives you a nudge, it brings the team a different kind of energy. It gives you the sense that the objective is very, very close and that’s a massive motivation for everybody. So we know that we are two games away from playing a final. We have to go game-by-game and the first one is Stamford Bridge.

On Noni Madueke’s performance vs Portsmouth

He was very influential in some aspects, very, very positive and some others things that we need to improve in terms of consistency, but the level of threat he provides to the team I think is remarkable.

On going far in this competition

I know that to do that you have to be better than the opposition tomorrow and that’s what we have to do. The rest is not in our control, so we have prepared the game really well. The boys are really motivated and at it because we can sense that that’s where we want to be and we have to make another step in order to achieve what we want and that’s the objective tomorrow.

On team selection

Well I think in our case, in my case, we cannot do that, because obviously players have to be available to be able to pick them there, and I don’t believe in players for competitions, I believe that we have competition and we want to compete in all competitions with the best moment of the players that we have at our resource, and that’s what we try to do.

On Rosenior saying Arsenal are good at everything

That’s what we try to do, and in some things we’re very good, in some ones good and in some ones excellent, but certainly that’s the objective. The better we are in every phase, the bigger the chances to win.

On Per Mertesacker’s departure

Well it’s been 15 years at the club. We were teammates, we were friends, we were captains together and we shared an incredible project together in a different role, him as an academy director and me as a manager, so I enjoy every minute of it. I think he’s someone that I think transits the values of this football club, its ambition and everything that is related to it in the best manner. So very thankful, we had a great time together and for sure, as well, he’s made that decision and I wish him the best of luck, for the next one, next chapter, because I’m sure he’s going to be a success.

On his memories of winning the Carabao Cup with Manchester City

Yeah, as I said before when you get to this stage in the competition, you get to the final and you get over the line and win it, it brings energy, it brings belief and the sense that everybody is very important and playing part of that, so yeah, I think it’s something, when you get there and win it, everybody remembers and if not, nobody does. So, once you get there, get the job done.

On the squad depth

At the end, we have to try to manage the squad and individuals in the best way. I think we are sharing the minutes while we remain very, very competitive and that’s what we have to try to do and tomorrow we have another opportunity with players that will start and finish the game, and it will continue like this until May because there’s going to be a game every three days.

On what he needed to help transform the club

From the position that we are in and the perception that we have as well internally and socially about where the club was, in every sense and bring it back to the very, very top in every level and win a lot of big trophies.

On Xabi Alonso leaving Real Madrid

Well I don’t have too many details about the situation, I don’t know whether it was Xabi’s decision to leave or if it was the club’s decision, so very difficult to give an opinion there, obviously. Whatever the decision is, just wish Xabi all the very best because he’s a top person and an incredible coach and I’m sure whatever he decides to do in the future, again, will be top.

On what Calafiori’s issue is

It was a muscle injury.

On helping Bukayo Saka become more robust

Well every position brings challenges and the opposition learns from you as well and they try to obviously stop you in the most efficient way and you need to have solutions against each opponent to be efficient and to beat them.

On Saka’s performances this season

I think the impact that he has consistently is remarkable. I mean, it’s very difficult to see a player playing this position constantly doing what he’s doing. It’s great for the team as well, and the players around him to support that. But I think, again, this season has been really, really good.

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On not having goalkeepers for certain competitions

Well it’s because at the end our job and my job is to prepare the team the best possible way to win the competition, every competition that we are in. Every game is different, every game requires different qualities and players, and players have moments when they are really high, when they don’t have much confidence and minutes and every case is different, and the keepers on top of that is a very particular case as well, because obviously they have less opportunities than other players to play throughout every week. But we try to treat them in that sense.

On the style of his centre forwards

Depending on the opposition. If we play against a very low block and you have a line that drops, you have no presence in the box, so I think every opposition requires a different analysis and qualities but Gabi’s is not only to drop as well, he has many others like Viktor and Kai.

On what it would mean to win the Carabao Cup

I will tell you when that happens. So at the end it’s about how I feel towards putting everything that we have to win it and I feel, again, really motivated. We’re looking forward to a big game tomorrow and how we’re going to behave in these scenarios to achieve what we want.

On if we have to win the Carabao Cup

I understand that, but there’s a lot of clubs that have to, have to, have to; I think it’s going to be one in each and the rest won’t do it. So we’ll try and do our best.