Mikel Arteta Arsenal
A big win for you in the way the players greeted it…
I loved it, absolutely loved it. It’s a really difficult place to come, we played the way we wanted to play 11 against 11. We dominated the game, we created enough chances, we missed two very, very huge chances that normally he [presumably Nketiah for both] puts away. We continued playing the way we wanted to, Eddie earned us the right to go ahead with his action. We scored the penalty and then we have to play half an hour with 10 men. It’s a conflict we didn’t prepare for but we had to adapt and the players were fantastic. I don’t think we gave anything away. The subs were great, the way they came out, the concentration, the focus, how much they helped the team, the coaching. They changed momentum in many occasions of the game. So really happy.
The second yellow looked very harsh, did you see it like that?
I prefer not to make comments because for me it’s so obvious.
Two games in a row with Gabriel in the bench, does Saudi interest in any way inform your decision?
Nothing at all. It’s about the games that we were expecting, what I was expecting, how we wanted to defend and attack and our belief it was the best thing. He’s played in both games, he’s helped us to win both games for different reasons. He was really good today, he absolutely dominated the box. He’s going to play a lot of games. That’s the decision sometimes.
No interest in any offers from Saudi?
*shakes head*
What are your thoughts on the new time wasting rules?
For me it is not an issue. The referee makes that call. And we are consistent with that. They explained it. The only thing we are asking for is consistency. If not we need to play with a stopwatch to understand what is it and what is not.
Did we see why you decided to sign Rice tonight?
Hopefully we saw a little bit. I think he was great. He was bossing midfield, I think he dominated the game. He was very influential, both attacking and defending. Today he played in a different position than last week because of what we expected from Palace and what we needed, and I think he was really good.
Is it an issue that VAR can’t intervene for a second yellow to rescind it?
I don’t know if that’s the solution. The decision is made. We’re not gonna change it. We adapted to it. Obviously it made the game much tougher and normally you’re going to drop points when you play 30 minutes down to 10 in this league. To survive the way we did is not something that usually happens. But we’re so happy that we overcame that big hurdle.
Is Martin now your penalty taker?
I had no clue. It’s about leadership of players. If they felt it was the right thing to do then I’m fine. I was surprised like everyone else. They made that. He scored the goal which is the most important thing and we won the game.
You had a lot of tall players at the end. How nice is it to have the option of that physicality in the squad?
When you are building a squad there are certain things it has to have to win and be successful and be at the very best. That’s what we are trying to do. That means that different profiles are needed. If we have to take the game and be physical we are very capable of doing that.
Have you come close to the level you want to see this season?
No because you have to put the ball in the net more often. Especially with the dominance that we’re having in games. But it’s the most difficult thing in football. If you don’t do that then you have to do the other part which is being extremely solid. We were last week and we were today with the chances that we conceded. So let’s keep playing better and evolving.
