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Now, it's that time of the week again.
We're here for Mikel Arteta's pre -Crystal Palace
press conference. Mikel Arteta has been speaking
to the press ahead of our clash against Crystal
Palace in the Premier League this Sunday. We
go into the fixture having won our last six in
all competitions. And our manager spoke about
our form, this weekend's opponents and much more.
On the latest team news following our win over
Atletico Madrid. Not much. Big Gabi had to leave
the pitch with an issue and he hasn't been able
to train yet. So let's see how he evolves in
the next 24 hours to see whether he's available
or not for the weekend. Mind games. Mikel does
this thing a lot. I always talk about at press
conferences where the fact that we've got another
training session or two between the press conference
and the match means that obviously... he won't
be able to feed back the information as to whether
he'll be fit or not. So now that's got Oliver
Glasner scratching his head whether to think
Gabriel will be playing or not. I mean, I'm even
bamboozled by it. But if you were to ask me,
I think he will probably play and I think it's
just a ploy by Arteta to keep his opposition
manager guessing. However, even if he's not fit,
Christian Mosquera is waiting in the wings and
he's a more than able deputy if necessary. On
longer -term injuries to Madueke, Odegaard, Havertz
and Jesus. They are progressing really well.
They are starting to do certain activities. They
are all super willing to be available as quickly
as possible. But at the moment, none of them
are in contention in the next week or so. Well,
I've seen Jesus looking really fit and ready
to go. Probably you're looking at next month
for a return. to the squad, to a matchday squad
perhaps. Brighton probably come a bit too soon
for him. However, if we get past Brighton, which
will be a tough game, I won't be surprised if
he does feature in the next round, if we get
there. As for Noni Madweke, a fit and raring
to go Noni Madweke is an unbelievable player,
whether it be from the bench or starting. So
that's a great proposition to have waiting in
the wings. In terms of Martin Odegaard, Like
I said in the previous podcasts, he needs to
take time out and get himself fit because there's
no point coming back, cutting short your injury
layoff and breaking down again. Whether it be
you need to take another two weeks, three weeks,
a month off more to make sure your fitness is
on point because to get back in this squad now
is going to take you at your best. So my recommendation
is hold tight. Get yourself fit, fit, fit, fit.
And when you are, tell the boss, I'm ready. On
conceding just three goals in our first 12 games,
and if there's a motivation to beat Chelsea's
record. We want these kind of records. We have
been getting a lot of them. At the end, we want
it to bring the silverware and the trophies.
But obviously, the more we can produce, I think
the closer we are going to be to achieving what
we want to do. And that defensive record is very
good, but we need to be consistent. It's only
just the start of the season. The aim is to continue
improving things, which we can still do a lot
of to do even better. I'll put it this way. If
we beat Chelsea's defensive record, we win the
league. Simple as that. There's no way you concede
14 or 15 goals and not win the league, especially
if you're a good team. However, previously we've
scored 89 goals, 91 goals or so, which was our
best season two seasons ago under Arteta, and
we didn't win the league. Therefore, it tells
you there's a certain standard. So if you can,
I think it's... Equally correlated, the fact
that you're a good team and if you can have that
type of defensive record, you're going to consequently
score goals at the other end. Therefore, you're
going to win the title. You're going to amass
enough points that will be more than your direct
opponent in second and third, which is likely
to be Liverpool, Man City or Chelsea. Therefore,
to summarise that, if Arsenal concede 14, 15
goals in the Premier League, they will be lifting
the trophy. Guaranteed. On Eze coming up against
his former side this weekend. It's a big game
for us. Especially last season we dropped some
points. And it's the fourth game in a row that
we're going to play against opponents that we
dropped points against. And this season we've
been able to beat them. So our focus is on that.
We know that for Eze it's going to be a very
special match. With the history and what he did
for Palace. But the focus is on the team. Yeah,
it's going to be an important game for Eze. Hopefully
he starts him. I mean, I don't want no weird
mind games where you put him on the bench. I
think it's essential that Eze starts because
he's the type of character that would love to
start that game and to kind of prove to his previous
employers that he still is the guy. He has obviously
had quite a few games, but I believe in him to
play this game and play it right and probably
score or get an assist. On if our previous games
against Palace forms part of our messaging for
this one. If we want a very different outcome,
we better do very different things than we did
last year, especially in these fixtures. We know
what Palace are doing, what Oliver Glasner is
doing for the football club, and the way they
are getting results. So it's going to be a really
tough match, but we're going to play again in
front of our crowd, and we are confident that
if we hit our level, we have a big chance to
win it. So it's essentially saying if we play
well, we'll win. Which is right, because if we
play well... We beat 99 % of teams in world football
because we're in the top three teams in world
football right now, if not first or second. But
that's for another day. Palace, they're not in
the greatest form right now. They lost yesterday
to AEK Lanarka at home. They did put out a strong
side. The likes of Maxence Lacroix, Marc Gueye
played, Ismail Assar, Jeremy Pino, Jean -Philippe
Mateta played as well. So, you know... They played
five or six of their first team and there's only
a three -day turnaround. So essentially, we've
had five days to prepare for this game. We're
in a rich vein of form. We're at home in front
of our fans. We are conceding zilch. We're hardly
conceding shots on goal. Everything's pointing
towards a home win. However, however, football
doesn't always work out like that. On the challenge
of leaving players out of the team, given the
strength of the squad, there are two sides to
it. One, the emotional part. and my attachment
with the individual, with the person, and I would
love to play all of them. But the second one,
obviously, without a question of doubt, I'd rather
have this situation than the situation we had
in the last few years when, at some point, we
were very short in numbers. So we have created
a very strong environment. a really competitive
and supportive environment that hopefully can
challenge to be a very competitive team in every
game. That's the aim. And that's what we want
to achieve. And we just all go towards that direction.
Yeah, so Arteta's essentially comparing the dynamics
of this season and this squad compared to squads
in recent seasons, like last season, especially
where we were short in numbers. We had left -back
upon left -back on the bench. We had youth academy
prospects on the bench. in Champions League semi
-finals, which is absurd. However, this season,
we've got a strong roster of about 25, 26 players,
and that's not even including people like Gabriel
Jesus and Max Dahlman, who are probably the joker
in the packs because people are acting like Jesus
doesn't exist anymore. When they mention Arsenal's
second string XI, they put Havertz in there and
not Jesus. But Jesus looks like he's fit and
almost back in contention. With Max Dahlman,
he's 15 years old, so every time he gets in a
matchday squad, it's an absolute achievement
for me. So, yeah, the squad is very strong, to
summarise that. But, yeah, like Arteta said,
you'd rather have a strong squad with people
in the stands than have a weak squad with youth
players on the bench. On Arteta's form and how
to stop him... First of all, it's what they do
as a team, their level of organization. They
have very clear intentions of how they want to
attack and which moment they use to attack and
hurt opponents. So stopping the source is probably
the best way. When you get into certain situations
with them or with him, 1v1, you know that he's
very prolific and he's been very, very successful,
especially recently. So trying to avoid that.
Well, two things. I think his main source to
goal or main sources to goal are through Adam
Wharton and Daniel Munoz on the right wing. So
we need to stop Palace getting the ball, essentially.
So if we dominate the game and kind of have a
good shape to kind of, you know, neutralise the
possible transitions they may create because
they're going to have to play on the break. I
think we're going to obviously stop him getting
a ball. Another thing is the fact that William
Saliba is Mateta's teammate, so he'll know how
he is having trained with him, but we'll know
how he is anyway because we've played against
him over the years. So I think if we can kind
of dominate them, he will essentially be starved
of the ball, just like Julian Alvarez was in
previous weeks. So therefore... I don't really
expect him to be much of a threat if we play
properly and kind of dominate the game. And when
we don't have the ball, be in a shape where he
doesn't have an angle to receive a pass. Because
I think he will be a threat in the air if Munoz
has an opportunity to cross the ball in. On what
the conversation with Jokeres was like after
his two goals on Tuesday, it didn't need a conversation.
He just needed a hug and just look at him. and
enjoy how happy he was after the game. And I
think we were all very happy because he fully
deserves that. Yeah, I mean, I've been assessing
Jokeres. I feel like he's a kind of unassuming
character. Behind the scenes, he probably talks.
But on the pitch, he's single -minded. He doesn't
really talk. He's like a robot, you know, shoot
to kill. Doesn't really do dialogue on the pitch.
But I feel like I've noticed he's got a kind
of respect with people like Gabriel, Luis Skelly.
And obviously you've got the Nordic region players
with Norgaard, Odegaard. I'm sure there's probably
a friendship there. But on the pitch, he's single
-minded and just wants to score. You know, he's
kind of in the zone on the pitch. So he's not
one for hugs and talks and chats and small talk
on the pitch. Doesn't really talk, you know,
it's focused. But off the pitch, as I saw his
interview with Michael Richards and Thierry Henry,
different person. So that's probably where his
personality is. But when the game is on, when
he's in game mode, the personality switches off
and it's just score, win, get off the pitch.
And that's that. And if he's concerned that we
have only five goals from open play so far, damn.
No, not at all. Because I don't see football
like open play and set pieces. I see the game
in a different way. Okay, so I've noticed whenever
Arteta's vague and blunt, he doesn't like the
question. This is a two -sentence response. No,
not at all. I see the game in a different way.
All right. He didn't like that question. On how
we've performed our set pieces, or should I say
how we've perfected our set pieces, with work.
First of all, creating the culture, giving that
part of the game the importance that it has.
Understanding that, again, football is evolving
and the opponents are behaving against us. We
have to maximise certain things that happen very
frequently. So something that happens very frequently
has a lot of value to us. So trying to maximise
that and be effective. So when he's saying frequently,
he's obviously often said that a team that has
loads of corners are a team that's dominating
the game, which is actually a good point. So
therefore, if you're obviously probing and pressing,
having shots which are taking deflections, it's
going to consequently lead to more corners. So
the more corners you have, the more opportunity
that we have for people like Declan Rice and
Kai Osaka, their ball specialists, to put it
in accurate, unbelievable positions for our great
headers of the ball. Julian Timber, Gabriel,
William Saliba, to be able to try and connect
with it. And we've also got people like Ebreche
Eze on the edge of the box ready to strike like
he did against us. From a corner, right in front
of me, in March -April time, to strike. And hopefully
he has the opportunity to do that. I fancy him
to get a goal and assist on Sunday, by the way.
All right. On the point when he thought it would
be smart to home in on set pieces. Ten years
ago. I think it has to be. I wasn't here, but
10 years ago, I said it's a massive thing to
do that. And I have started to have a vision.
He's a visionary, guys. He's a visionary. And
try to implement a method and try to be surrounded
by the best people to deliver that. Wow, okay.
10 years ago, I'm pretty sure it was at Man City.
So I don't really recall Man City being deadbolt
experts, but that's an interesting statement
there. on if we're trying to replicate Wenger's
success with a tight back four. I go back through
the history of football in general and the teams
that have had the best defensive record most
of the time, except for the last three seasons
in the Premier League, which we did. Normally,
you win the league, but just go against those
stats. But the bigger, stronger we are in that
foundation, the bigger the probability of winning
games is. Yeah, I think I touched on this already.
If you concede 14, 15 goals, you win the league.
I think in terms of the fact that the teams with
the best defensive record usually win the league,
with the exception of the last three seasons,
well, they probably almost invariably have the
best attacking record as well. So as a consequence,
as a team, they probably have the best attacking,
score the most goals and concede the least goals
because they're probably by far the best team
in the league and that's probably... you know,
reflected in the stats. You know, Man City, for
instance, probably scoring like things like 90
to 100 goals and conceding like 20 goals because
they've just been by far and away the best team.
I think that's what it is usually. On if it's
tempting not to change too much when things are
going well. They are far from perfect and there
are a lot of things we must do better. Obviously,
there are a lot of things that we're doing very,
very well and we need to maintain that. So it's
just about understanding that the margins to
win football games at this level are very small.
In certain moments, we have lost. In certain
moments, we have fully deserved to win them.
But that's not going to be the same trajectory
all the way in the season and we need to be prepared
for that. So the more alert we are, the more
urgency we have, the more desire we have for
the next game, we're going to be in a better
place to win the game. Yeah, I mean, Arteta doesn't
really tend to tinker much with things, and I
don't really envisage he will for Sunday. If
he was to or is to, I think he makes a few changes,
one or two max. Ricardo Calafiori coming in at
left -back. He's going to have to be alert because
he's going to be up against Sara Munoz, who are
probably, you know, that's the side of the pitch
where Palace are probably at their most potent,
and that's obviously the source to go for Arteta.
One or two changes, a few tweaks. And then we
should be alright for me. Because we can make
the changes against Brighton in midweek. On the
importance of the Emirates Stadium atmosphere
in the title race. Key. Capital. One of the most
important things. And I love that because we
don't expect supporters to turn up to the stadium.
We want them just to play the game with us. Which
is very different. In order to do that, you have
to be in your seat with a certain behaviour.
With a certain body language. And it's a good
test. Sunday at 2pm. how we're going to turn
up for a big Champions League game. If we're
going to go another step and do something that
we didn't do last year, everybody has to turn
up to the stadium with that mindset. So that's
what I want to see. Yeah, I mean, it's important
that we do provide a great atmosphere. For me,
actually, looking back, being in the stadium
on Tuesday, I didn't realise at the time that
this is the best atmosphere I've been in present
at Arsenal. But coming out of it and assessing
it, I realised, yeah, that was a proper atmosphere.
That was amazing. Probably the best we played
maybe this season. Best result anyway. But yeah,
for me, that atmosphere was the best I've been
at present. I mean, I've never felt so good at
a game. So hopefully we can kind of, you know,
replicate at least 10 % of that. And if we do,
it'll be a good atmosphere again. On what it's
like to play against a former club. There is
something in your tummy. There is history. There
are a lot of emotions. There are very close relationships.
You might think once you step in there and go.
With that mindset, someday you have even more
will to win because you made that decision to
be successful and achieve something else in your
career. And I'm sure Ebbs is going to be ready
for that. Yeah, the type of character Eberechi
Eze is, I think he's just focused, you know.
He's ready to do what he needs to do on the pitch.
And everything else after that will be after
the 90 minutes where you can reacquaint yourself
with former colleagues, friends like Mark Gueye.
And, you know, he might have a word with Steve
Parrish. and things like that. But during the
game, it's work. You need to win the game for
your childhood club, for the club that's paying
your wages. And you have a duty to us to improve
because the last few performances haven't been
your best. But like I said already, I trust you
to return to your best form and do the job against
Palace. on if he saw where the game was going
regarding set pieces 10 years ago i went to city
with the best manager in the world and i could
see where we could have improvements and it was
clear because at some point i was doing that
and i wasn't the best person in the world to
do it so if i'm not the best person in the world
to do it and the best method to do it there are
ways to improve it and you can see straight afterwards
when it started to happen but it's not only obsessed
with that I'm the same with the defensive part
in every transition. I want to be the best. When
it comes to chaos, I want to be the best. When
it comes to positional attack, the best. When
it comes to low blocks, the best. And that's
the eagerness to constantly find ways to develop
your team, to evolve your team, and to give your
players more tools to be unpredictable and especially
more efficient. It's funny because up until about
two, three years ago, Mikel Arteta used to always
say City was the best team. Liverpool are the
best team or one of the best teams or Pep Guardiola
is the best manager. He stopped saying that about
two years ago because we've probably been the
best team over those few years in the last two.
But for whatever reason, we've fallen short.
Last season was a shame. This season, once again,
we're probably the best team. But we need to
show it. And the only way to prove it is with
stats. Otherwise... You can't say you're the
best team if you're not emerging as victors because
history only remembers the winners. On Rice's
set -piece taking ability, again, I heard some
quotes that he made that this season his position
has changed a little bit and I disagree with
that because his position has evolved. Okay,
okay, okay. So, well, it depends what you class
a change in evolution as because... You can argue
it's the same thing. And he is becoming a total
player. A total player has to be able to do as
many things as possible, and he has the capacity
to do that. So that's to evolve a player, to
start to bring something else to the team, and
especially when you talk about scoring goals,
expecting the opposition goal, even better. And
he's been instrumental in our improvement. in
that part of the game. I wonder what it means.
I think maybe it's a sense that Rice is probably
playing slightly more withdrawn, probably slightly
more next to Zubimendi, in a sense, with obviously
Eze playing more centrally, as opposed to Rice
being a box crusher, playing box to box as a
number eight. where he can score more goals,
especially he was doing towards the end of last
season, probably where you probably want to see
Declan Rice. However, there's a school of thought
to say that his best position is either as a
lone six or next to one, which I disagree with.
I think his best position is where he was playing
last season, which consequently got him the Gunner
of the Year award. On what Zubimendi has added
to the midfield. Well, every player is different.
We have some terrific midfielders here. He brings
certain hierarchy, certain composure. That is
very difficult to understand. And then the way
he perceives information and learns from the
game and what is actually happening in the game
at the speed is remarkable. And I think again
about him. It was about unlocking certain spaces
and his capacity to look further and hold a position
when his teammates are further from the ball
than himself. And then, yeah, if you can add
goals to it, even better. Well, put it this way,
he's scored or he probably will end up scoring
more goals than I would have anticipated he would.
in the whole season. I think he's got two or
three already. And, I mean, if you were to ask
me how many goals I'd think Zubimendi would score
this season, I probably would have said two or
three. So, you know, I think he's been exceptional
so far in his short Arsenal career. He's dominated
the game. He's controlled things. And, yeah,
he's been a solid signing. Well, more than a
solid signing. He's been very good. Very, very
good. And if there's more to come from him, A
lot more. And the more he understands his teammates,
the timing of that, and those relationships build,
I think we'll see another level of skill in him.
I think him coming into the team has made Rice's
role kind of adapt, which has obviously meant
that he isn't the same in an attacking sense.
However, if the team as a whole is better, then
you'd probably take that. But Rice is probably
thinking he might have wanted two or three more
goals than he has got or done. But if the team
as a whole is evolving, then you'll probably
take that. On the work, we do an open play to
create openings. And the other way around, football
is like this. Football does not stop. It's all
connected. You want to see the game like this.
Okay, I don't. I think... I think, you know what
I personally think? I think we're playing within
ourselves a lot of the time. I think there are,
in many games, there's probably levels that we
could go up, you know, sufficient to win that
particular game. So, for instance, Fulham, we
played at a certain level that we needed to to
win the game and kind of reserve energy and go
to the next one. You don't want to be... playing
out of his skin and whipping them 4 -5 -0, then
you're cream -crackered against, you know, Atletico
Madrid three days later. So I think we're doing
enough to win the game and coast through it.
So it's early in the season. As long as you're
picking up the point, it should be all right.
Against Crystal Palace, we're probably going
to have to be at a certain level to win the game
again. Probably a better level than we was at
Fulham, but not as high as we were midweek. And
I'm... I'm confident that if we play anything
like we're capable of, the result will not be
in doubt. On if teams are moving towards his
way of thinking, I don't know. But it doesn't
mean that it's more important. It's equally important.
But what happens is what happens frequently in
your games. And that's the thing that you really
have to dominate. The opportunity to hurt the
opposition. So we have to train and make sure
that the things are good for us to happen very,
very often because it will be more difficult
for the opponent. But I mean, I think everybody
tries to do the same. Fair play. I mean, we're
a tough side to break down. We've got players
that are very good at winning the ball back.
Declan Rice, Timber, Calafiori, Gabriel, Saliba.
Very good at winning the ball back. We've got
a top goalkeeper. Zubamendi is another player
good at winning the ball back. However, a lot
of the time it's the fact that the fans are complaining
about the lack of flair. They want to see more
goals. I feel like we did actually exhibit flair
against Nottingham Forest. One of our best performances
of the season. We also were proactive on the
front foot against Newcastle. in probably our
best, arguably, well, let's say one of our best
performances this season. So it's like I was
saying, depending on the opponent and the context
of the game, we will play at that requisite level,
which is enough and sufficient, which will suffice
to win that game. So we will probably need to
be at a certain level. We don't have to be at
our highest level to beat Palace, but we'll have
to be at a certain level, base level. To make
sure we do win that game. On the journey of his
ideas about set pieces over 10 years. No, no.
It's not about football. It's using those moments.
And if you cannot generate other moments, make
sure that you use these ones. But I think it's
something that relates as well to the culture
of the coach, the environment and then the players
that you have. And everything has to be aligned.
I mean, if you want to have a certain approach
to the way you play the game, for example, we
are super aggressive. You better sign and educate
and train situations when the team can deliver
that. Because if not, if you want to be a team
that do really good high press, you better be
the best in the world at tracking back. Because
at some point, the ball is going to break your
press. So you have to have players who are able
to deliver that. So it's all in relation to what
you want to do. You have to acquire and have
and evolve the players in that direction. Okay,
so essentially we're good from set pieces. So
you're saying that we've got good set piece takers
and good attackers of the ball, which is true.
And I've already touched on that. On if this
is phase five. No, this is not about the phases.
The phases were something else. Once again, you
know, like I said, if Mikel Arteta's vague, you
don't like the question. Another two -sentence
answer. On if it's possible to break Chelsea's
record of 15 goals conceded. You mentioned the
word if three times in that question. And if
football, if, if, if, is too many ifs. It's so
unpredictable already. So on top of that, you
put ifs. This is like a riddle. Then it becomes
extremely difficult to focus on the things we
are doing. We are doing consistently well. And
if, there's another if, we can improve them and
let's see where we are at the end of the season.
I don't think I really like that question. Just
the fact that if is a conditional verb. But yeah.
I mean, I think the players just need to focus
on kind of getting through each game. I think
the record will come if it comes, you know. We've
got solid defenders. We're not conceding shots
on goal. I think the main thing is picking up
three points. Everything else will take care
of itself. On only conceding one goal from open
play. Obviously, it's something that is super
positive if, there's another one, it's the first
time that has happened in our history. Imagine.
how difficult it is to do it. So yeah, we are
very, very happy to be performing at that level
in a really important part of the game, especially,
and now it's about continuing to do it. It is
indeed. It is indeed.