Every word from Arteta’s post-Brentford presser | Press conference | News

Mikel Arteta had plenty to celebrate on New Year’s Day at the Gtech Community Stadium, after we came from behind to record another away win.

After the game the manager met the media, and was asked about the performance, Ethan Nwaneri’s first Premier League start, illness among the team, Mikel Merino and more.

Here’s a full transcript from the post-match press conference…

on the team’s performance…

It’s a very difficult place to come, when you see their record at home, the way they play, the way they cause issues to opponents, very impressive, on top of that, we went a goal down. So then, it becomes a big mountain to climb, but I think the team showed a lot of composure, was very calm emotionally because we needed that in today’s game and as well had the right desire to keep insisting, attacking them and do it in a way that can cause them problems, which is difficult. So, overall, I think we deserved to win the game.

on what was going through his mind after Raya’s error…

Hopefully that the watch didn’t vibrate! Obviously, it was a very unusual action from David, it happens and we’re lucky that the goal didn’t go in, probably it would’ve changed the game. So, good, the team adapted, we lost some players again before the game, we have a little issue, the team still performs, the roles are there and with a 17-year-old in the starting line-up which is great to see, that played with a courage and a determination as well.

on illness within the squad…

Yes, on the pitch and off the pitch as well.

on why tonight was the right time to give Nwaneri a start…

That position wasn’t because of a bug, that was a decision we made because I thought he was the best player to play in the position to start the game and because there was a story there, with his debut here. He made his Premier League debut and sometimes that feeling comes in and you feel it’s the right one and who knows.

on Nwaneri’s development since his debut in 2022…

Part of that development is patience, managing frustration or managing expectation, or you expect that everything is going to go so fast, like the previous things happen and it’s not the case. So we’re building him, he’s already played a lot of games a lot of minutes for the age that he’s got and he fully deserves that.

on how disruptive the bug was in the team…

But these things happen, I mean, in this period there’s always things; throat infections, viruses, so I tried to delay the line-up as well as far as possible because you can get up in the morning and have a surprise unfortunately.

on whether our players will be fit for Brighton…

Yes, I hope so, you know, it’s nothing serious but they weren’t in the ideal condition to play today.

on what our protocol is for illness…

I leave that one to the doctor. Obviously it’s in relation to the symptoms that they have. With Kai [Havertz] it was obvious, he wasn’t feeling well at all and he had very clear symptoms so stay away from it, put him in a car and go back to home.

on if others have had to isolate…

I don’t think so.

on playing nine games in January and whether we’re stretched…

When I see the willingness of each individual to play through anything and the versatility that we can create within our idea, the answer is no. But we don’t know, if something else happens, then would have more issues but hopefully not, hopefully people are coming back, like Riccy [Calafiori] today, he was back and other players that are there are in top form as well, we need everybody.

on our response after going behind…

Yes and we discuss about that option because it can happen and then the game folds in the hands exactly what they want but, we managed to turn things around, the timing of it was really good so we were really lucky that we took that advantage early the second half and then it was a different game.

on a report leaking about an illness in the squad…

I didn’t know anything that was leaked.

on Mikel Merino’s performance…

Very good, it’s because he deserves it and the type of game that we have to play and the amount of density that they defend when they are deep requires people with a lot of threat in the box and he’s a master of that and we believe with this unit on the left we can have the dynamics that we wanted so, very good, he scored a very, very important goal again he’s always there, he’s a big threat, so, great to have these options.

on why we needed to be calm in this fixture…

That’s something general but there are certain teams that are so good at doing certain things and you have to manage that every game.

on whether he’s confident Havertz will be fit for Brighton…

I think so yes, I think he will recover very quickly.

on Martinelli and Jesus’ goalscoring form…

Very good timing, both of them, really important. It’s a big quality of our team to share the goals across the team. Today, we’ve done it again, scoring three very different ways. It’s great, that’s what we need, people up front has to be firing, has to be with that feeling and they are with that feeling right now. They are so consistent with the way they behave, they train, they want it and goals are about moments as well and about the feeling and the energy that a player is in right now, they’re in a good mood right now.