Every word Mikel Arteta said on Arsenal vs Liverpool, injuries, Amorim and Maresca sackings

Here is every word from Mikel Arteta’s pre-match press conference ahead of Arsenal vs Liverpool

Mikel Arteta faced the media ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Liverpool as they look again to make a big statement in the title race. Victory over Aston Villa and then away to Bournemouth, while Manchester City slipped, has handed the Gunners more control.

Arteta has welcomed back many of his squad now but there are still questions over Kai Havertz, Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera going into this game which Arteta provided some insight for.

The Gunners were beaten at Anfield earlier in the season, and there is extra motivation, therefore, beyond what already exists ahead of this tie.

Here is every word Mikel Arteta said in today’s press conference:

Arsenal vs Liverpool tomorrow, the reigning champions, they come to your house, what is the mood around the training ground, the coaching staff, the players, and yourself?

Super excited, it's a massive game against obviously the champions of the last Premier League and we have a point to prove. We're going to have our crowd, our supporters, very early, before 8 o'clock, everybody there, creating an amazing atmosphere and looking forward to it.

Yeah, a big atmosphere expected at the Emirates, as you said, it sounds like there's a plan for a big stadium mural when the players come out of the tunnel. How much are you calling on your supporters to deliver a result for you tomorrow?

They've been unbelievable again this season and it makes such a difference, we become a different team. The level of energy, commitment, confidence, desire that we can show in every action is transmitted by them and we need them tomorrow in every ball.

Yeah, can I ask a bit of team news? Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera, they are out against Bournemouth, are they close to being back?

No, they're out again.

When can we see them back, what stage are they at?

I think pretty soon they have to go to the last stage of the rehab, I think everything goes well, hopefully very soon they will be available for selection.

And just finally for me, this is the first time we're hearing from you since Ruben Amorim left his job as Manchester United head coach. Jim Ratcliffe actually used Arsenal standing by you as an example, as a reason why Arnold should get three years in charge and obviously he didn't get that time. So what does that say about the support and the trust that the club put in you during the first difficult 12 to 18 months?

I can only talk about what I have experienced and it's always sad to see a colleague losing his job obviously. We know where we are and yeah, I think you need support from the ownership, you need support from your staff, from players. At the end of the day you need to win a lot of football matches to stay in the job and that's the reality and the nature of our job.

You mentioned there being a point to prove when you play Liverpool, is that sort of a case of the fact that they beat you narrowly in that game back in August? Or more to do with the fact that you are leading the table at the moment and that's a statement if you were to beat the champions?

Yes, we are at the top of the table, we play at home against a really, really good opponent and we want to maintain our position. And in order to do that, we're going to have to be excellent throughout the game to win the game, and that's the point we have to prove.

Arne Slot said this morning that he feels that this is the best Arsenal side that there has been in the last couple of years. It seems like an obvious question because you are leading the league by six points, but do you feel this is the best Arsenal team that you've assembled and developed? And if so, what makes this team so special?

I don't know, I don't like really comparing, and I think every week the team is different because the players available are different, the opposition is different. So, yeah, maintaining all the great things that the team is doing and the players are doing, and consistency is going to be the key to that. And we know the difficulty of every game, and we are approaching that with a lot of excitement, understanding where we are and with a huge desire that we have to achieve what we want to do in May.

They've won a nine-game unbeaten run in Liverpool, obviously, they had that good start to the season where they were winning games but quite narrowly in a lot of the matches. Obviously, they are unbeaten, but perhaps they're not playing their best football, so how do you view the Liverpool side that you're going to be taking on tomorrow?

Well, the margins I think for all of us are really small, we always talk about that. They have a great manager, they have a sensational structure, understanding what they have to do in relation to the players that they select tomorrow on the line and they can play in different ways because at the end those will make them a little bit different and more specific to what we can expect tomorrow. And we have to be conscious of that and then focus on what we have to do.

Can I just ask about Kai Havertz, he was on the bench against Aston Villa but then not against Bournemouth, how is he getting on in his rehab and return to play?

Yeah, we are monitoring, obviously his load he has been out for a long time for two different reasons and he's very close, he trained this morning again and hopefully we're going to have him available and the best version of Kai Havertz.

You had good wins in matches against Newcastle, away from home, West Ham at home and Brighton as well, teams you dropped points against last season. Drew against Liverpool at home, a game you probably should have won last season as well, is it another chance to show the progression you've made this campaign?

Yes, at the end we want to win every game and the most important one is obviously tomorrow's and we know what we have to do to beat them and now we have to put it on the pitch.

Leandro Trossard was voted player of the month for December recently, what's been behind his fantastic form lately?

Well, first of all, I think his level of understanding and consistency, he's got ability, but the level of consistency he's shown this season, in particular, I think has been exceptional. I think he's really clicking with the team in every aspect of the game, and he's a player that provides something different to what we have.

You've spoken about the role that supporters will play tomorrow, what's it actually like when you've got such a huge crowd right behind you?

There's nothing like it, I mean you become a different player, your emotional status is better, your energy level is better, your confidence is better, they strive you to get every action with a lot of aggression, with a lot of determination and that leads to the whole team so that's what we have to provide tomorrow.

Considering how good Liverpool were last season and the signs they made in the summer, did you expect them to be your main rivals in the factory?

Well, yeah, but obviously that's on paper, but I still think that they are a superb team and what they've done as well, and you have to understand as well the confidence that they have with certain injuries and the difficulty of the league for all of us, but my opinion hasn't changed about them.

And after that Anfield match there was a lot of talk about whether the team were too cautious to compete with Liverpool, were you confident that you'd always prove that wrong over the course of the season?

I don't know, we always prepare the games to beat them in the best possible manner, in the way that with the league is going to give us the best chance to do that.

Right at the start of this press conference you just said you feel like there's a point to prove, so I was just wondering what that point is in your head?

That we can go again and again, every week we have a point to prove, we had it a few days ago against Bournemouth after a great win against Villa and it's going to continue like that to tip me and we know that because once we are in the position that we are in we want to maintain and extend the league that we have and in order to do that our level of determination and desire has to be with our mindset.

In terms of maintaining that for weeks where you're playing every three days, how do you keep everyone, not just players but staff, on that kind of goal if that makes sense?

Well we want it that much, that's what is driving everybody and that's the superb quality that we have within the club, staff and players especially, because we know what it's going to take to achieve what we want.

This is maybe a bit of a random one, but I noticed that Martin Zubemendi, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice were all born within two months of each other and I was wondering with those three, when they play they all seem to gel quite well and I was wondering if their ages have any...

They started to connect since their birth, let me investigate, I can come back to you in a few weeks.

But how do you see them as a trio, both on and off the pitch?

It's a great point, so maybe it's something that we have to think about. It's very clear and obvious that they understand each other very well, they complement each other exceptionally well and that's something that we believe that we could achieve before we brought them together and now they are doing it.

Amorim and Maresca both left their jobs after speaking about frustrations with the head coach model. You were hired here as head coach and then you became manager. I know every club is different, but for you what difference did that make going from head coach to manager?

It was different at the time when they proposed to change their role and what they thought about in the areas that I could help probably more than they expected at the beginning. But at the end it's about the relationships and the people because we have formed great teams with very different qualities and some that have been more on certain things and when there is somebody that is much better than me on that, I let them do it. So for me the title doesn't really reflect the way we operate daily.

I think it's more important the people and the morale within that people to really understand that let's give each other the things that we can master and make us much better and the rest we just support that idea.

It must have been a confidence boost for you in your first managerial role to be given that extra responsibility.

Yeah, because I didn't demand it, I didn't ask for it, and they believed it was the right thing to do. But again since then because we have to work with different people with the changes that we have in recent years I think when you have a leader which is ownership in this case it's Stan and Josh, and Josh is very close to that with very clear alignment to all of us what he wants to do, how he wants to achieve it and creates that space for everybody I think it's very easy to work like this.

I know it's been mentioned already but going back to that game at Anfield it felt like the reaction at the time was so immediate and visceral in terms of your perceived style. Have you looked back on that game and what did you sort of take away from it and what do you think maybe the broader conversation got wrong?

No, I mean people are entitled to their opinions, mine was different, but that's the beauty about football.

What was your opinion?

Very different.

We saw another brilliant finish from Gabriel Bournemouth; he's now just two goals behind your old team-mate, Laurent Koscielny, in terms of record goals for a defender in the Premier League for Arsenal. I'm sure you expect him to break that record pretty soon probably the rate he scores at. What is it that sets him apart from pretty much all other defenders at the moment when it comes to the art of goal scoring in the opposition box?

Desire to score and the amount of work that he puts in, attention and detail to get himself in the best possible positions to do that, and to execute the game and the speciality sets and actions that are going to demand of him.

We just saw Piero Hincapie, he seems to have really settled in now and adapted and stepped up in Ricardo's absence. How impressed have you been with the way he's adapted to the Premier League, especially after missing out early on through injury?

Very impressed because obviously he came very late in the market without pre-season after a surgery as well. He’s been immense for everything that we asked him to do, he's fulfilled that in various roles as well. I think it's been a big boost for the team and another step in terms of what he can bring to the team.

This group of players have got more points than the Invincibles managed after 20 games, more points, more goals, obviously you've been here a long time as a player, and as a manager. Do you think that this group that you have is as good as the Invincibles, if not better?

No, because the Invincibles won a lot, and they won consistently, and they created a history and a legacy, and we have to do that.

When you speak to the players, are they ever mentioned…

Obviously, there are a lot of stats, but in the last two or three years, as well, we've had stats and more points and more goals and a history. At the end we have to translate that to major trophies and what we want to do. Probably now what we are doing would have been enough, but now it's not enough and we have to make the margins even bigger. That's what we have to do.