Every word Mikel Arteta said on Leicester, Havertz injury, Saka setback and Arsenal transfer regret

Mikel Arteta was in a good mood on Friday morning, considering the challenges that his Arsenal side are facing this season as they look to deal with yet another major injury. He was asked on this Valentine’s Day about his love of the game and was bullish in replies to systems, regrets and a change of expectations.

He did give clarity on how Kai Havertz was injured, gave a brief look at the weekend’s opponents, Leicester City, and rubbished suggestions of a Bukayo Saka recovery setback. Solutions are the main concern for the present which we will truly only get to see the result of this weekend.

You can read every word from the press conference which football.london was in attendance for here.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Thank you. The same to you.

Premier League's back. Do you love it?

I love it, yes.

But some heartbreaking news, more injury heartbreaking news about Kai. We know it's serious, we know he's up this season, potentially up the next season as well. Just explain how he is and how you're going to deal with the situation.

Yeah, so we were having a great camp in Dubai, recharging, training, having some time off and connecting again with nature and a different environment. And then the injury happened in a very unexpected way, certainly. So it's a big blow, obviously, because of the injuries that we have. But fortunately, we've been through a lot this season. We have played without Gabriel Magalhaes, without Saliba, without Ben White all season, Tomiyasu all season, Calafiori two months, Merino two months, Martin Odegaard two months, Bukayo Saka three months, Gabriel Jesus, all of them. So that's it. That's the challenge ahead. Love it and look forward because we are still where we are with all the things that I mentioned on top of playing four times with 10 men, blah, blah, blah. So let's see what the team is made of.

You used the word in there that you love it. I was going to say to you, as a coach, does that get your juices flowing trying to solve a problem like you've decimated up top at the moment?

Yeah, because I don't want to look... I understand the narrative. Any team in this league loses four players in the front line like those ones. And I know what the answer is going to be. I don't want to even mention that because we've been through a lot and we have sustained the level of performances and results to this point. So we are more than capable of doing it. And that's the only thing that we're going to be looking at.

Is anything ruled out? Ethan up top? Raheem up top? Merino up top?

You don't have to be very creative with the options that we have. I'm sure you're going to get it right.

But you did say at some point quite recently that Ethan has it in him to be an out and out top number nine.

Yeah, the thing is when? I think he's in there. It's more than a necessity. It's a real quality. He's been playing as an attacking midfielder and in the right wing and I think he's been really good in that position. So that's fine.

A chance for Raheem to shine. Give him a chance to play week in week out.

Yeah, and for other players as well. And for Leo probably to play in two or three different positions. So it's between all of us. We have mentioned that many times. It’s adding value from different players. Probably being a little bit different in what we have to be with adapting to the qualities and the strengths of our players and go for it. The spirit is certainly the same.

With Bukayo, there's been a few headlines around. Is he still on the schedule that was set for him? Would you be tempted to try and speed him back because of those problems you've got with other injuries?

Well, I don't know. We have a long-term injury. What is faster? In a 10-day injury, three days is a lot because it's 30 per cent. In three months, a week, probably is not that much. But it's too early. It's an average stage of the rehab when we get a little bit closer and he starts to do more demanding stuff and more load, we will see where he is.

But just to clarify quickly, there's no setback?

No, it's fine.

Just finally on injury, Ben White back in the squad?

Yeah, Ben has been training more regularly now so we have to still manage a lot his load. But he's going to be able to do it, yes.

Just moving on, Wednesday night, I don't know whether you saw the matchday programme, Everton-Liverpool. A bit of housery maybe going on there, your goal against Liverpool?

It's probably because it was the last time that Everton beat Liverpool at Goodison. Good memories, I look young.

Yeah, you jumped high there.

I was a very powerful player.

It's a big, big jump there. Did you jump that high when Everton got that late?

I'd better not tell you the story of what happened. No, no, no. It was a funny one because I lost connection in that moment. I was watching the iPad and I lost the connection. We didn't know exactly what was going on. That's the beauty of football, that uncertainty and the fact that for everybody, and it's not the first time, for everybody it's really difficult to win matches in this league. That's why always the hope and the ambition is there because to do it consistently for 10 months is a very, very, very long league.

When I saw that goal, I looked at it back, took it down beautifully, 20 yards out, hit it with the right foot, no chance. Pepe Reina, I think, was to stop it. Looks like you might have an answer to your striker problem. Get your boots?

I think we'll be in big trouble.

Just with that points difference now, maybe down from 24 hours to four at the weekend, does that lift hopes, particularly after Dubai, last season after Dubai you were on that amazing run, didn't you?

Well, when the gap obviously becomes a little bit shorter than you expected, it's always really positive. And you need that, at the end, it's generating momentum, and the next few weeks are going to be critical as well to understand what we're going to, after the international break, where you are with six, seven weeks to go in the season.

All clubs deal very differently with injuries, and you said previously it's a really good time to take a break. Obviously, it'll be good for Kai as well. But as a manager on a daily basis, how do you focus? You have to pay attention on the next game, on winning, the players that are on the pitch. But how do you make those that are in this period where they do need to focus on themselves still feel included and focused for when they return too?

Well, keeping them as much as possible close to the team and involved. And they are very responsible as well, managing the spirit, the energy of that team and supporting in the best possible way to maintain the standards, to maintain the belief around the team and to be connected. Because when you come back, if you've been in the process every single day, I think after it's much better to achieve again the performance level that you need.

And Arsenal are one of the best final pressing teams in the world. Kai, Saka and Martinelli are a massive key in you achieving that. Will you try to maintain that by playing players out of position like Rice or Merino? Or will you have to change overall the way you typically press as a team?

We'll have moments, I think, in relation to the other positions' qualities and the intention that they have and their availability. Again, hopefully, we'll be better and better and better in the next few weeks. But for now, always adapt to the qualities of the players.

Leicester next away, they've had a mixed season but they've put in some capable performances. What have you made of them so far and what sort of tactical battles are you expecting?

They're very difficult and at home as well, against top opponents they make life very, very difficult and Ruud very well. And how he sets up his teams and you can see the spirit there and that they are very much alive and they are a threat.

First of all, all the injuries you've had this season that you've already outlined have been serious injuries, not just sort of broken toenails or something like that. Why is it, do you think, that the injuries players are picking up, not only here but other clubs, are serious, i.e. out for a month, out for a season type injuries?

Well, you cannot prove it, so the evidence that we can provide is very limited in many aspects and every case is very different. Obviously some of them we know are based on loads and minutes, it's inevitable. We have players that have been injured that have played 130 games in the last two seasons. So at the end, it's an accident waiting to happen if you continue to load and load and load. It's the season, it's the accumulation of that, it's the stress of that, it's the luck, it's the preparation, it's the methodology. There are a lot of factors and very difficult to point out as something but obviously the schedule that is planned is super demanding and for certain players, especially the explosive players, it becomes a real issue.

Mentally for a player coming back from injury is difficult. What about you? What about the manager? Because when a player goes down injured, is your first thought, because you've had so much bad luck with how long players are out for, I'm going to lose this player for a long time?

Big pain in the tummy, that's the first feeling. First of all when you see a player in pain, obviously it's a really bad feeling. Then you feel like, not again, and then you realise you have no time to do that. Support the player, start to look forward and start to look at alternatives and how the team is going to be able to continue to perform and convince yourself about that because the player needs to feel that belief as well. You can use cases, situations we've been in the past and we've done it, right, so if we've done it before we can do it again.

Hindsight is the greatest thing, none of us have, but it is the greatest thing to be able to foresee. With hindsight now, if we could turn the clock back a month, would you do anything to have bought in another striker? Would you have done absolutely anything to have got another striker in if you'd have known what you know now?

No, but we always put in that situation that we were an injury or two away of a very risky situation, but when you try your best and you think that you've done everything that you are capable of and you have done your homework and try that and you don't achieve it, you can have regrets, but at least you know that you've done it.

I know how competitive you are and I know you want to win every game, every competition, but now realistically because of how short you are in terms of the players you have, especially attacking-wise, are you going to have to think, I'm going to have to limit my ambitions this season, regroup in the summer and then go again?

If I do that, I prefer to go home. No chance.

What's the spirit in the group like? You said there when you see a player get injured, pain in the tummy, have you had to lift up the group after another key player has got a long-term injury?

Yes, there is always a moment and it happened when we were training super well and we were in the best environment and suddenly, this happens. You have to turn things around at the end. Unfortunately, we go through that a lot and you could see the reaction with Gabriel Jesus got injured and the reaction of the whole team and how we feel about that. Tomiyasu is another one that has been really, really strong with this kind of situation. Ben, when Mikel just came in and suddenly he's on the floor and he's out for six or eight weeks, unfortunately we've had a lot. It's part of the game; it's part of our profession and we have to deal with that.

Because of this particular injury, did you see more of an impact on the squad? Did you see any change immediately after Kai had this injury? Was it like you could see on the players, ‘Oh no, not another one?’

The reaction is, OK, what else do we have to do? Let's do something else, what else do we have to do? That's it, that's the reaction.

Can I just ask how Kai did his hamstring? Would that be OK to know?

Yeah, he was going to stop a shot after a set piece and stretch the leg and he felt his hamstring.

In terms of the options you have now, obviously very different profiles to Kai in terms of height and frame. I was just wondering, would that change the way you, not approach your philosophy of how the game is played, but just maybe a few different tweaks for the different profiles you have with Leo, Raheem?

Yeah, we have to. There are certain things that we're going to have to adapt and again, it brings another opportunity as well because you're going to have in the front line players that are very unpredictable, so good in 1v1s, very creative, very sharp and it's going to give different headaches as well to the opposition.

And just on one thing you said before on the accident waiting to happen, with just the scheduling, I was also wondering about the workload players have to do now in, I guess, modern football. Is that something you also feel kind of contributes because I know a few weeks ago you mentioned Kai making those runs all the way back to I think it was zone 6, you said. So with all that workload, is that something that also comes hand in hand with the schedule?

Yeah, well the intensity obviously is going to a different level, and the demand that we put in play in terms of the amount of minutes in this competitive environment, it's higher and higher. So it's just a consequence of that, and you look at all the graphics and the injuries that have happened in the last two seasons, especially this season, and long-term injuries, especially muscle and tendon involvement, it's higher than ever. So there is a relationship and even the date of the sample is small, I think it's very clear.

In terms of solutions and things you can do, obviously you are still able to bring in a free agent, is that something you're considering? Are you still looking at the market?

I'll explore every possible situation and make a decision from there.

The other one as well is obviously I know Max was out with you in Dubai, I know the Premier League rules need to be under 16 but there is some sort of scope that you could request to the Premier League that you could play in, is that something you're considering?

Yeah, well we have Max, we have many other kids as well there, it's a big opportunity for us to see them in our environment and it's clear on the rules on age restrictions at the moment and very difficult to change that as well.

You mentioned earlier about the narrative and us trying to work out formations and line-ups, is there an argument that sometimes you might want to keep more of a senior player in reserve on the bench and you might play for instance a younger player from the start, just so you've got that more senior option to come on later in games?

Yeah, that's a good point and sometimes it's a way of twisting your thinking and probably exposing the player in an environment that is from the beginning and is a bit easier. We'll have to cope with different contexts, probably and some of them that we haven't even imagined or can't really plan today, but we are ready.

And just one quick thing on the market, I remember you mentioned before that bodies don't help when you bring in players and there's not a benefit to just bringing in a body, do you still feel in that way that just having someone of a certain ability could help in these situations?

Well, a certain ability, an ability that can play in our level, that's a body that then we recognise as somebody that can support and impact the team.

You talk a lot about the load on the players, but is there anything you can do in training? How do you have to adapt training to these games every three days? Can we even train properly?

No, we're very limited, we train less than ever. You see our data, we train less than ever, it's normal, there's no time for training. But we talk about training only what happens in the grass, the biggest problem is that you don't train the muscle, that's the problem. So the muscle is under-trained and then you expose the muscle and the tendon to an exposure that they cannot absorb because the tendon needs 72 hours to recover. So a lot of people talk about what we're doing outside, it's not inside, it's inside. When you have to load that muscle for two, three, six, eight weeks, you haven't trained it, the risk of injury is much bigger. One, because the muscle of the tendon is not recovered and then it's not prepared to absorb the load and the stress that you're going to put it under again every three days.

So when you say accident waiting to happen, that's what you're talking about.

Yeah.

You've obviously had to show a lot of resilience already this season, you mentioned all the injuries you've overcome. Does that give you confidence that you can deal with this again? You've already come through so much and you're still bang there in the title race.

And look at all the factors that can give you an edge that maybe they weren't there. And a big one again is going to be our people, our supporters. If we're going to be short in certain areas, they can contribute in a way that nobody else can impact the team and it's with that energy. And so when the energy can change momentum, can change belief, and can put a player from this level of performance to that one without me talking to them. And that's a big power and we have to use everything that we have in-house and in our domain to do that.

And that Everton goal on Wednesday, you talk about momentum changes…

That helps, you know. It seems that it helps when you see your team performing and what we're doing in the Champions League and what we are doing in the league with all the conditions that we are in. That massive belief, you know, and the players' reaction is really what it gives me. Being in the mood that I am, that they want more and they are not satisfied and they're not going to stop with that.

Mikel, Raheem Sterling has not played as much football as maybe some people expected him to when he arrived at the football club, but you know him inside out. How do you get him going now for a period of time where he's going to be essential?

Well, he's been much more involved recently as well, and he's merited and he has earned the right to do so. And obviously now in terms of the minutes and availability we have with players, all the players are going to have more exposure and certainly Raheem will be one of them.

How important is it for the players and yourself to have time in Dubai to relax and come together with your families? (Translated from Spanish)

To live, at the end of the day they [families] are the most important part of everything that we do, because they are the part that give us emotional support, they are with us every single day. To that them with us during a time when there are no competition and in a place where everyone is a little more relaxed is the best way for us all to get to know each other and understand each other better and its a beautiful moment for us all to live together.

Tonight, are you going to do anything with the players to celebrate Valentines day? Take the players out or just leave them in the hotel? (Translated from Spanish)

Are you saying for St Valentine’s? For St. Valentines they don’t want to be with me they want to be with their wives/girlfriends.