Every word Mikel Arteta said on Everton vs Arsenal, Havertz setback, Gyokeres and Gabriel

Every word from Mikel Arteta’s pre-match press conference ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Everton.

Mikel Arteta spoke to the press ahead of Arsenal’s match against Everton in the Premier League. The team has enjoyed a rare midweek off from action for the first time since the week commencing August 25.

The Gunners boss was asked about the latest team news and the side’s record away from home, too. After three away games in the league without a win, the pressure is on the rise.

Viktor Gyokeres has been the focus of a lot of the attention in the week since his fifth blank after returning from injury too. Arteta however is backing him to have a very strong second half of the season.

Here is every word from the press conference:

As it's Christmas, let's stick with tradition, we'll start with some injury updates. Sorry, I tried to be different but it's impossible. Ben White, obviously we think he's got some kind of hamstring issue, he's had a scan, what can you tell us about him?

Yeah, he's out, he's evolving well, it's not a major injury, but it will keep him out for a few games, I think.

So better than maybe has been reported out there, it's not a major hamstring problem?

I don't think it's going to be and Ben is a really fast healer as well so there's hope that we're going to have him in the next few games.

Also, I'm seeing reports that there might be a bit of a target for Gabriel in terms of that big Aston Villa match on the 30th of this month. Would that be about what you were aiming for?

He's pushing hard as he always does every time he's out and he's evolving really well, he's doing pitch sessions so he's not too far, we have to see in the last stages of that rehab how he progresses but we are quite positive about him.

Earlier this week, I think it was Tuesday, we were allowed him to do our initial 15 minutes of access for the cameras to train.

What did you get from it?

We got the fact that they're a really happy bunch, a group of Premier League winners in the making and no Zubimendi, certainly while we were there, I just wanted to check that that was just part of his normal process.

Yeah, that was load management for a few players that played a lot of minutes recently so that's probably the reason why.

Happy anniversary. Thank you very much. Six years as you kick off against Everton tomorrow exactly. Has it gone quickly or slowly?

It's gone fast. A lot happened but it's been an incredible journey and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

And obviously, your first game, you weren't in charge, but you were in the stand. The first game after you were appointed was at Everton; I think Carlo Ancelotti was in the stands as well. And back to Everton tomorrow, but a different stadium, how will that feel? Because obviously your connections with Goodison.

Well, it's strange but very exciting as well. I think obviously one of the most iconic stadiums in the Premier League is no longer part of our schedule but I'm going to have the opportunity to win as well, we're going to have the opportunity to win at an incredible stadium that they built and Saturday night you know what you expect.

All those games that you played at Goodison, but as a manager, it was a little bit of a bogey stadium for you, wasn't it? I think you only won one.

For all that away visits it's always like this, it's a really tough place to go. We all know that and that's why we're going to have to be at our best to win on Saturday.

So the mission is to make the new place, Everton's new place a bit more of a stadium where you can go and get a win as Arsenal?

Yeah and we had in the last few years very good records away from home and that's the places that you have to go and win the game and in order to achieve that we're going to have to be really good.

You're about to start a busy schedule of seven games in 22 days, the games are coming thick and fast. You've been involved in the Premier League environment for many years as a manager and a player. Despite the hectic schedule, what is it the most you enjoy about being around the Premier League in the festive season?

That it is different, that it hits you with big demands and a lot of games and a lot of things happen not only in your professional life but in your personal life as well, because there are special days for all of us, but I see it as an opportunity. I think we are blessed to have the opportunity to play when people are on holiday, they can enjoy a lot with their families. I think the atmosphere that is created in the stadium is unique and that's what we have to enjoy.

If you look at your outfield players, except Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi has played the highest amount of Premier League minutes and this is his first season not experiencing a winter break. In terms of managing the workload, how do you try to do it to get the best for him and for the team?

Well in the small windows that we have, we make sure that we look after him and he understands that every possibility and every chance that you have to look after yourself, you have to take it in this league because the demands are going to be really, really high. But I think he is coping really, really well with the league, with all the challenges that the league brings to you. A new club, a new country and I think he is an exception.

You spent six years at Everton, Goodison Park is an iconic stadium. When you move into a new ground, a new stadium, how important is it to maintain that connection between the club and the fans do you think? And you know Everton really well, their fans are really enthusiastic in a completely new stadium.

Well I imagine that's what they've been trying to achieve. It's never going to be the same because everyone has their own history, energy and moments, and then you have to translate that. We had experience here at Arsenal as well in order to achieve that. So yeah, it takes time.

Six years in charge, in terms of your achievements, would you say changing the culture of the football club is right up there?

It was one of them. It was the first foundation that we had to sit, and I think that was done pretty rapidly. Maintaining it is something that is very, very difficult, and you need a lot of good people and very aligned people to achieve that.

I think we have that in a really strong and solid way, but all the things socially, the transformation has been around the club in terms of the size, in terms of revenues, in terms of the squad, that we built the value of the sport and the success that we had. Even though we haven't won any major trophies yet, I think it's very, very consistent, so we're in the right place.

You mentioned not having won any major trophies yet, that could come this season. You seem a very modest man. You like to share around all the praise. How much really is this all down to you?

One man cannot really change anything, especially when we talk about the size of the issue of this football club. You need a lot of good people, very committed people around you with the same vision, the same work ethic, the same passion and I'm very lucky because I had throughout that. At the end, you need a lot of support, starting from upstairs with everybody that makes decisions alongside you, but the most important ones are the players.

The players have to buy into what you say and what you do and I feel very lucky because those players give you 100% in the direction that you want every single day.

Tomorrow, you face a man who brought you to English football, and maybe apart from the grey hair, not much has changed about David Moyes. Just talk about your admiration for him.

I think that's the word that I would use. Gratitude and admiration. I think he taught me the love that goes for the game and then the integrity that the game requires at any cost.

I think he's a remarkable man. The way he manages the club, the people, his players, he's outstanding and I'm very grateful for everything that he did for me and for Everton as well. But I think in general for English football as well because he's been an example of how to behave in good moments and in difficult ones.

Normally, when you see how people are, and I think David and that is something extraordinary.

Funny, a slightly left field question. Not football wise but if I could wrap you up with a little present for Christmas Day what would you like to get?

Win, win, win, win, win.

Apart from football.

No, no, that's it.

After the cup, naturally, my mood and my energy are going to be much better, so that's what I want.

When you took charge six years ago what chances then would you have given yourself of still being here now?

How much would I bet you mean? I don't know. If I say I never coached at the highest level. I come to a club that is in a difficult stage of history, and the recent past of the previous managers, I don't know. You have to take this job day by day. I do the same. Day one, match a day. Do your best. Do what you feel.

Make sure that the people are on board with you and what you do. And that's it. And then at the end, in my job, at the end it's about winning four matches. That's it.

You've used it primarily when injuries have sort of left you short of other options. At the moment you do have more options. Even with them fit, do you still see Mikel as an option to start up front ahead of them?

Yeah, yeah. He's certainly an option. I think he's given us every reason as well to consider him in a really serious way.

You look at the goals that he's scored and the importance of those goals. I think he needs to be right up there.

And with I guess Viktor still adapting, is Mikel almost at the moment maybe a more natural fit for the team than how they've been used to playing him?

I don't know if this is the word, but he's a player that has done a job with these qualities and in the games that we demanded these qualities. Viktor brings many other different ones and it's great that we can have those. And now Gabi as well, which he came in the last two games and made an impact in the game.

Last week you said Kai Havertz was doing stuff on the pitch. I was just wondering if that's still the case and how close he is to coming back?

He's progressing really well and quite fast in the last few weeks. We are really positive that if everything continues like that in the next training sessions, he's going to be with us.

You mentioned that away from over the last few years has been really strong. In the last three Premier League away games, I think Arsenal have conceded the first goal in each of those. So Sunderland, Chelsea and Aston Villa. What do you put that down to? Because I think after the Wolves game, you mentioned defensive habits you didn't like to see. Was that something that crept in from those games or was that more individual?

It's about consistency. I think we've lost one game in 21 away from home. So that says you're in this league, the difficulty of that.

But if you want to continue to do that, you have to hit almost perfection in a lot of things that you do. We've lost two games in the last kick of the game. Two possibilities to win the games as well. But that's what we have to learn and play better.

You mentioned after the Wolves game about things deteriorating when you don't get to train as often as you would like. You've obviously now had this first mid-week off and I'm curious, what have you been able to establish, what's been recovered in this week that had deteriorated in those weeks?

Well, sometimes it's the level of energy. Consistent energy that you need throughout a game to sustain when you have played so many minutes in the legs. And other things are the small things like we talked about, those defensive habits or connections that you don't build because you don't have to do that.

And this week we have time to work on them. And hopefully we're going to see an improvement on Saturday.

And you're playing in a brand new stadium as well this weekend. We've seen a lot of new stadiums built. West Ham, of course, moving to the London Stadium.

Arsenal back in 2006 as well. And those types of atmospheres and the old grounds that were so intimidating, do you ever feel like they get lost when a team moves to perhaps a bigger, more broader arena-style stadium?

I don't know. Sometimes when you change the location, maybe as well. But I don't know.

We're going to have to go and witness how it looks like on Saturday night. It is going to be different to the previous one. You cannot expect to have the same one.

But I think it will bring some good and positive things as well, I imagine.

When you've got all your forwards fit, you've got lots of options at the moment, which means, I'd imagine, you've got more headaches in terms of selection. So what's the process in terms of picking who plays for which game? Is it about the opposition? Is it about who's ready? How do you come to the decisions that you do?

So far, in December, my headaches have come from having no options in the front line and no options in the back line. That's the headaches. I haven't had headaches the other way around. I hope that I do. It won't be headaches. It will be difficult decisions, but they're going to make the team better.

The headaches are when you have to make decisions, and you know you're making the team weaker. Or you cannot make decisions because you're going to expose all the players or players that you give them too much game time. Probably they're going to get injured as well. So that's the headaches.

And just going back to Kai very quickly, is there a game that you have in mind that you're hoping for him to be part of the squad for?

I do. I don't want to say because, again, I think in that last part of, especially after such a long time, that after the rehab, I think we need to be cautious and we need to go really firmly with every step that we take along the way to make sure that when he's back, he's back and he's back for the long term. James here again.

There's a lot of focus on Viktor Gyokeres after Saturday. Just in general, just to start, can I just ask you to assess his first few months at the club? How would you evaluate that?

Well, I think the level of attention on him hasn't changed since he signed to today. It’s normal. You know, everybody was so excited to bring him into the club.

We did it. We brought a player with an incredible scoring record who had to adapt to the league. He had no pre-season.

The first few weeks were difficult because physically he wasn't in his best state and he's a player that needs that, like any other player in this league, almost to perform at that level. Then he kicked on. I think he had a really good period and he got injured.

And now he's back. I saw a lot of positive things in the last two games that he's done. I know we need to continue to tweak and understand him a little bit better in certain situations, and he needs to do the same. But that's about time. We have full support for him.

That scrutiny you mentioned. In Singapore, before he signed, everyone was talking about him. From almost before day one, he had that on him. Do you think that's taken him a little bit by surprise, the level of focus?

I don't know. You have to experience it. You can imagine the global impact that you're going to have to deal with when you come to a big club, and the expectations are as such.

But after you have to live it. And living it is always slightly different to your imagination. But he's doing it with a lot of desire.

I think his energy level, his commitment, it's absolutely top. And we are here to help him because we've all been here. We all need time.

There is always moments and the strikers have moments. They score more goals, less goals. And we need to be there for him.

You mentioned that adjustment period and obviously the pre-season as well. Do you think in the second half of the season we're going to see another level from him?

I think so, yes.