Mikel Arteta Arsenal
Have you ever made a substitute that’s paid off faster than that one?
I don’t think so. I’m so happy in particular for Calum. He totally deserved it. It was a great moment because it helped us to win the game. He’s someone who deserves the best for who he is as a person and how he behaves as a professional.
Ben White limped off. Will he be out for Saturday?
No. There is a bug going on. We lost Pablo [Mari] as well today who wasn’t feeling great and Ben had it as well for the last day or two. He wasn’t feeling great so we decided to take him off.
Considering that you have a chance to win the competition was it a gamble to make so many changes?
I can’t keep demanding players to do what they do every single day without believing they have a chance to get in the team. I can ask them to raise the level to go better and control them on the minutes. I was calm because I knew they could do it even though it was against a tough opponent.
Does tonight show you what Eddie Nketiah can still offer?
I have no doubt about what he can offer. Whatever you throw at him he wants more, he demands more from himself. Another one I’m delighted to see the performance from that he had to score the goal and help the team because he totally deserved it. He’s got a lot of players as well that they play in that position and he’s got a personal situation, but I try to leave that aside and try to give him what he deserves.
Are there any updates on the contract?
No.
Do you think Kieran is going to be all right for Leicester and is Martin [Odegaard] not involved because he’s carrying an injury as well?
They were both out with two different injuries. They tried yesterday but they didn’t feel great. They wanted to be involved but they weren’t good enough on the day. Hopefully they can be better and be available against Leicester
Ainsley Maitland-Niles has struggled for minutes. How impressed were you with him in the middle of the park?
Well we have used him a lot. In different moments he has played minutes. He can cover positions and that’s the big bonus that Ainsley has. Again he kept trying and trying to improve and today I think he had a really good performance.
Eddie had a move break down in the summer. Do you see him moving on next time having played so little this season?
Yes, but we had a situation in the summer that we tried to resolve and we couldn’t either way. That’s the contract situation. It’s more and more common in football with where we are coming from with COVID and a lot of the issues that we have to resolve. I have full belief that he’s going to be a top, top player and hopefully at Arsenal.
Would you go with your blessing?
I’m so happy to have him in the team. He’s our player and I consider him and regard him really highly. From my side I want him to stay.
The only players you retained from Villa were Smith Rowe and White. What was the thinking behind that?
The thinking was more a reaction to the situation. Martin was going to start the game and he was injured so we had to pick somebody to play in midfield. The other one was Pablo. He was going to start but he couldn’t because he had a bug this morning so we had to play Ben.
Will you look to send Flo Balogun on loan in January if he continues not to get minutes at first-team level?
With Flo we have a really clear project. The steps that he’s making they are the right steps. Don’t forget he’s still really young and hasn’t played almost any professional football and you need to go through every phase and don’t try to bend phases when you are not ready to do so. Again I am really happy with him. He’s doing all the right progress. In December we will see where we are and what’s the best for him as well.
You included Salah-Eddine. What was the thinking behind that and what has he done to get in that position?
Reward him for what he does every day in training, in the games that he’s playing, for his attitude and the quality that he has. He totally deserves to be with us.
You’ve got more games coming up now with the quarters. Is it more important than usual to progress in this competition and have the chance to give more minutes to players without Europe?
It opens up more space to give opportunities to people. We have an extra trophy that we want to conquer and that’s the point of it. It’s great to see the players that didn’t have opportunities the way they played today and the way we won the game against a really good side.
The celebration we saw when Calum scored was that just an outpouring of joy or something more?
I think there is something else there. You see the reaction of his teammates who spend time with him every single day. I think it was genuine emotion because it’s been tough for him and they like him as a person and they know that it was an important moment for him.
Chambers ran over to Nicolas Jover to celebrate. Did that play any part in that as well?
There were three different coaches that told him he was going to score. It was probably in his ear so it was a way to stay ‘thankyou, well done’.
