Every word Mikel Arteta said on Arsenal vs Brighton, Saliba and Martinelli bad news and Rice

Mikel Arteta faced the pressahead of Arsenal’s match with Brighton in the fourth round of the League Cup on Wednesday evening. Speaking at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday, the Spaniard was able to give his thoughts on the clash.

There were plenty of injury updates to provide, with the four longer-term absentees joined by William Saliba, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice who all suffered knocks against Crystal Palace.

Arteta provided the latest on them and his thoughts on the importance of the League Cup. In addition, he discussed his thoughts on his opponents, fresh off a recent defeat to Manchester United but with an in-form former Gunner up top in Danny Welbeck.

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Here is every word from the press conference:

I know there's a lot of team news to update, but let me just go one at a time. William Saliba, what's the latest?

He's out.

He's out, do you know for how long?

No, we're assessing him, but he won't be involved in this match.

Okay, Declan Rice?

He'll be available.

Riccardo Calafiori?

He will, yes [be available].

You had a few worries about Gabriel Martinelli when he came off. What's the latest on him?

Yeah, it looks as well that he's going to be out. We have to again do some more tests and see the extent of the injury, but this game is going to be two different.

And I know Bukayo Saka came into the game with illness and you took him off. Is he going to be okay?

Yeah, he's going to be fine.

Okay, just on Brighton, what have you made of them so far this season and a familiar player in great form up front, someone you know very well in Danny Welbeck, seems to have a habit of scoring against his former clubs. Is he someone you're going to have to try and stop?

Hopefully not tomorrow. Yeah, very happy for him to see as well. We were teammates and the whole history of him and the good and the difficult moments they had in his career. So I think it's remarkable what he's doing. The same with the team and Fabian and the coaches and the continued work that they've done at that club is incredible. I think Fabian has added something slightly different as well. A very well-prepared team, very difficult to beat them. You've seen the results against the big teams as well. So we expect a really tough match obviously.

Given the number of fixtures you've got just now, it is a test of what is a very, very strong squad. Should we expect a lot of changes? I know you're not going to give us the team, but should we expect a lot of changes tomorrow? And are you more relaxed about the options that you have compared to previous seasons?

That word, relaxed, in football is impossible. We're going to try to manage the minutes and the loads as good as possible because, as you say, we have a lot of games coming up with very short recovery time, which is a bit unusual. But we're going to remain very competitive.

The bookies have you outright favourites, Mikel, to win the Premier League title. Gary Neville says it's yours to win. I'll make that differential. It's not yours to lose, it's yours to win, is what he said.

Okay.

Are you aware of the noise? Do you embrace the noise? Do you ignore the noise?

That's what we want, I think. When our people are excited and when you see that the team is competing at the level consistently, there are the right reasons to believe. And that's the main thing. You want to win big trophies. You certainly have to instil that feeling amongst the team, the club and around it. We're in a really good position at the moment, but we know how early it is and how difficult every game is.

I know, Mikel, that a lot has been made of set pieces. There was another set piece that provided the winner on Sunday. Some pundits and rival fans kind of looking down their nose on it, but there is a phrase that says, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Do you almost feel like a trendsetter when it comes to this side of the game?

I don't know, but a lot of things that we do in many other aspects, I'm sure teams will pick them. We do the same with other teams, the best teams in the Europe doing certain things. We can gather information and then adapt it to your own team. If you find that this could help and be a way to win more football matches, more than welcome. That's the history of the human being.

You've been working to increase the atmosphere and the connection with the fans. Have you been feeling that? And do you still want more?

We always want more, but I think I said it after the match against Palace that I really liked it. It's always tricky after a big match in midweek against Atletico to reproduce that. To create an atmosphere to play football and the more we do that, the more we increase that, the more we maintain it throughout the game and the team is feeling that. We're going to become better and stronger and much more difficult for the opponent to play.

You have good squad depth this year after the summer signings, but probably one place you don't due to injuries is a direct replacement probably for Viktor Gyokeres. Is he harder to rotate and does he need some minutes out because of how much he's played?

Yeah, in the front lines especially. That's where we have more difficulties as well with Noni out, with Kai out, with Gabi Jesus out, with Gabi Martinelli out as well. So that's the area that we have to be more careful as well, more conscious, because there we don't have that many options. So as I said, we're going to try to manage the load as good as possible to make sure that the players are fresh, they can compete really well and the team can maintain the level that it's shown.

You're competing in four competitions this year. You're one of the favourites in most of them. Where does the Carabao Cup rank to you and how important is it for you to go deep in the competition?

Today the most important one because it's the game that we have tomorrow. It's a competition that we haven't won it for many, many years and it has to start tomorrow. We have to do a great game in order to be able to beat a very good Brighton side. We know that, we are prepared for that and we have to show it on the pitch.

Mikel, can I just ask you about Ben White, who's obviously had a difficult start to the season fitness-wise. Is he still sort of feeling the impact of the knee surgery he had last season? Has it been something else? What's been the issue for him fitness-wise?

Yeah, he had a setback, and that hasn't helped, but I think in pre-season, probably, he was our best player. I think he played every game, and he was in great form, and we needed it because when Ben is at the level that he can show, he's a top player for us, a player that drives the team in a different way, gives us a different threat on that flank as well, and we needed him at his best.

It's sort of known now that he wants to play for England again. Do you feel he's got the time to break into Tuchel's squad before the World Cup, and are you eager to give him the opportunity to show Thomas why he should be picking Ben?

Yeah, well it's still a lot of months to go and in football everything can change one way or the other and if Ben wants to do that, it's Thomas' believes he's the right player to do so. I'm so happy for him. He will have here, I'm sure, a lot of minutes, a lot of opportunities and obviously his background talks about himself in the best possible way to give him the chance to be there.

In the first five league games of the 2019-20 season before you arrived, Arsenal conceded 109 shots on goal and 34 of those were on target. In your last five league games, you conceded 33 shots on goal with just seven on target. That's a massive change over the course of your tenure. Was that a key area that you identified when you first arrived that you were desperate to change?

Yes, because I think we discussed the other day about the very close relationship between keeping clean sheets and not conceding goals and winning major trophies, and that's a foundation that we are building over the last three years, I think, and we need to continue to do that. Tomorrow, again, in competition, whether you are in or out, you know how crucial that is.

And it was alluded earlier that people perhaps looking down their noses at the idea of set pieces. I just wanted to run a quote by you. The quote from this person reads as follows. I love the quote from Micah Richards when he says, when Arsenal does something, everyone has something to say. This is true. This is the reality. Do you know who said that quote?

No.

That was Granit Xhaka back in 2022. Do you think he's right? Is it when Arsenal do something, everyone has something to say about it?

I don't know. I don't think it... Well, probably it is true because it's such a big club that obviously we make a lot of noise with it, whether it's good or bad, whatever. But that means that people are paying attention to that. We know our history and that's very normal. Hopefully we make noise for the good things.

We saw a little bit of Piero Hincapie at the end of the game, at the weekend. Arsenal fans will be looking forward to seeing more of him. He's obviously a really versatile player. He's played different positions in different systems. How do you envision his role in your team? Do you see him more as a central defender or maybe a full-back?

Both, I think. He's a warrior. He's going to bring such intensity, physicality, and emotion to the team as well. His quality on the ball is a player that is super keen. He can play inside, he can play in wide position. He's done it, as you said, in different ways. Now we need to get him up to speed because the moment that physically he's at his best, he's going to raise the level.

Another player on the squad who might be hoping to feature tomorrow, Ethan Nwaneri. Last season, a lot of his football, I guess due to injuries, came in the wide position, on the right-hand side. This season, most of what we've seen from him has been in the centre. I just wondered, is that something that's been instigated by you, by the player? Is that a choice for his development? What can you say to explain this kind of change for him?

A bit of everything. In the context of Bukayo's injuries, and not having a replacement as well, it opened that opportunity for him to break in and have a lot of minutes at his age. And now that he's more settled, more stable, more mature, we see him a lot playing inside in both positions. That's where his biggest threat is. That's where I think he feels most comfortable as well, and he can connect better with teams. But it doesn't mean that he cannot play wide. He can do it still, but I think now we need to start developing more in one position.

Kepa, If he plays tomorrow, I'm guessing you won't tell us if he will play tomorrow.

Shakes head.

If he does, it'll only be his second game. I just wondered, how did you tell the goalkeepers how it would work this season? Is David... I would suggest he is probably first choice David Raya. Is that what you told them? Is David Raya first choice in Kepa's competing?

I never do that, but I don't do that with any player. I think at the end they have to earn it. David has been incredibly good for us in the last few years, and Kepa knew that when he came in. But he's ready to compete. If I have to highlight behaviours in that dressing room and culture, probably I would mention him as a number one. Because, again, he's come in into a different environment after winning everything in football, almost winning the national team, Chelsea, Real Madrid, big, big clubs. And he comes here and every single day he's behaving like tomorrow's training session is the most important one in his life. And he will have his chances to play. He's in a really good place. And if he plays tomorrow, I'm sure he will be really, really good.

For the way that you talk about him, is part of the top form we're seeing from David is actually down to the position that Kepa's provided?

Because that connection, I think, and the environment that you create between the goalkeepers and the coaches is unique. They are unique. To be a goalkeeper, you have to be unique. To be in that environment, you have to be unique. There are a lot of times by themselves they have to do a lot of individual practices. And I think Kepa has raised the level. He has created a true, great environment for everybody to shine. And I think that's down to him.

You talked a couple of years ago about substituting goalkeepers. Is that still in your mind? Did you buy Kepa with a view to maybe doing it?

Yeah. To be fair, recently we have quite a lot of issues and a lot of the subs have been because players could not finish games. But, I don't know, maybe somebody will do it.

Will you do it?

Yeah, if I feel it, yes. If I feel it, yes.

With Ben White, obviously when he first joined you guys, he was an absolute mainstay. He started most of the game, especially in the league. Obviously now, because of the injuries and setbacks, he's been on the bench most of the time. You said about the setback. Can you give a bit more details to what that setback has been and the process of all that?

Yeah, it was an injury that kept him out for a few weeks and we had to manage his load and he didn't have the rhythm to do that. So, the reason why he's not been playing that is to manage that. He's in a good place now. He's been training more recently, and his feeling has been very good and he will have minutes to play.

Last year, there was a period where it was reported that he was playing through knee pain and then only had a surgery after and he wasn’t be able to tolerate the pain. Looking back now, in hindsight, not regretting, but do you look back and think maybe he should have had surgery earlier than playing through the pain?

I don't know. That's more for the medical staff. But, obviously, we want to protect our players and we're not going to expose players if we know that we're going to damage them for the future. Ben, I mean, he will play with anything.

You really have to scratch and ask him, are you okay, are you okay? Because he won't tell you because he wants to play every game, which is great. But with that injury, it didn't allow him to have that consistency and hopefully now he's going to get that rhythm because the team needs him.