Every word Mikel Arteta said on Arsenal vs West Ham, Hincapie return and Lewis-Skelly concern

Mikel Arteta spoke to the media ahead of the Premier League clash with West Ham, as Arsenal might have the chance to go top of the table. Ahead of what will be his 300th match in charge of the Gunners, there is a bad run against the Hammers to overturn.

Gabriel Magalhaes and Piero Hincapie’s statuses were updated. Both continue to return from injury, with just one available for the weekend and the other coming back after the break.

While Myles Lewis-Skelly was in focus after Thomas Tuchel’s comments about his potential struggles with England if he does not start playing.

• Mikel Arteta sends clear message to Viktor Gyokeres after five games without scoring
• Arsenal press conference LIVE: Mikel Arteta on West Ham, manager sackings, team news and more

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

Can I get some, sorry to be traditional about things, but some injury latest? Gabriel obviously came off didn't he? You said at the time you didn't think it was too bad, can you now confirm that?

Yes, well we'll have to wait and see after training, we've done almost nothing today so we'll see how everybody is but we weren't too concerned about him.

And that hasn't changed, you're not being concerned hasn't changed too much in the meantime.

No.

With Hincapie, what's the latest on him?

He will be available after the international break, we've been trying to do everything as fast as possible but this came too fast and now we have the international break and hopefully after that he will have a couple of sessions with the team and ready to go.

And with Kai, Noni and Gabby the same?

They're still out, yeah.

Can I just talk to you a little bit about the announcement of the England squad? MLS is in, Thomas Tuchel says this, is in the squad despite not playing the Premier League in this perhaps he would like to because he described it as a perfect citizen around the place and he wants that kind of person around the place. Won't always be enough but this time it's enough and he also feels the same way about Bukayo as well because he's back in the squad despite being back from injury and not having a full 90 minutes when many others in a similar situation haven't been called back into the squad. Does that make you proud that you've got these kind of characters that international managers want to have them as part of their squad?

Very much, and coming from someone like Thomas, who I know very well, for him to describe Myles in that way, I think it’s a credit to the boy, the families and everybody that has been part of his education, because that's very, very important as well. Myles, as you said, he hasn't played for a lot of the minutes that he wanted but he's professional in the way he's engaged with the team, with the team, with the national team and this gives you always the possibility to count on him and the other day we had to play in the Champions League and I think he had a really good game.

And with Saka, he's brought him back into the England squad when others in a similar recovery situation haven't been called back in. Have you had a conversation with the England camp about managing his minutes?

Not yet, but we're always talking, Thomas and I, we're always in very fluent communication both ways. First of all, from my side to give him feedback on where each of the players are and after when they've been in camp as well to reflect and learn how everything has gone. So I'm sure we'll do that and so far it's been very fluent and very positive communication.

So a great fight back late on, at Newcastle, a brilliant performance and result all over the pitch and from the bench on Wednesday. The handbrakes off. Can you carry on like that against West Ham?

That's what we want, to continue to play and flow and dominate games in the manner that we are doing and it's going to be a key fixture. We learned in the last two seasons as well because we had two defeats against them here and it's someone that we need to put right and tomorrow is another opportunity to do that.

I think with those two home defeats, obviously a different story away from home, won by hatfulls away from home but at home those two defeats back to back. I think you've only lost four of your last 42 home Premier League games and half of them have been against West Ham. Have they become a bogey team?

Well that's the difficulty of that and the game that we're going to have to play tomorrow as well with a new manager and we know Nuno really well the way he sets his team. We expect a really tough match that's going to demand again three days later to come back and have the same performance to win again.

And to win, go top of the table, even if it's only for a couple of hours, potentially go top of the table into the international break. How important would that be for building the rest of the season?

Yeah, it's about generating momentum, and there are periods in the season that are critical, and tomorrow's game is a really important one for us, and that's why from the beginning we need to generate that. The stadium as well and go for it because after we have a two-week break with the international week.

And your 300th game as Arsenal manager?

That's a lot.

That's a lot. 58% win rate, you're the GOAT of Arsenal managers. How proud are you?

Continue to go. The only thing that matters now is to go on Saturday again and maintain the feeling and the things that we're doing really well and hopefully many, many more to come.

You won't make 3,000 because you'll be too old and I won't be around.

Let me do the calculations?

That's 110. But you could make 1,300, is that the target?

The target is to win on Sunday and things will come. So when I started on day one, I had no clue for how long and with who I was going to be sitting in this chair. And the only thing that I can say is thank you and I enjoy every minute of it and for many more to come, hopefully.

Continuing with the theme of you now taking charge of 300 games come tomorrow, what would make the next 300 a success for you if you're here to see them?

Again, winning. So you said about the winning rate, they’re the highest. And even with that winning rate, we haven't won major trophies. So that tells you the level. That's why you have to do what has been done before and at this level is not enough. It has to be done much more and it is much more difficult. That's what we try to focus on doing.

Looking back at the game against Newcastle, Gabriel getting that late winner, he's now scored 18 goals, the most of any defender in the league since his debut back in 2020. Just how proud are you of him and also the fact that you can rely on not so traditional members of the team to chip him with key goals?

That's a fundamental part of a central defender, dominating both boxes and he does that probably like nobody else and that's the joy of having him on the team.

It's your 300th game in charge tomorrow, it's Bukayo Saka if he plays, 200th Premier League appearance. Give us your thoughts on his progression since you've been here and how key he is for this team.

While you were doing your answer, I visualised Bukayo playing as a left-back. That's the first thing that came to my mind against Bournemouth in my first game. Very far from the pitch, very far in his journey, very far as well personally and the person that he's becoming, the role he's got in the team. We had a great journey together, and it's been a joy to see that every single day.

Finally, with West Ham tomorrow, you've spoken about the two defeats when you've met them at home in the previous two seasons. A win over them, would that show the growth in this Arsenal team when you think about points dropped in the last couple of seasons?

Yes, there are always moments when you have dropped them, and that's certainly been one of those. At home, we know the form that we need and the amount of games that we have to win to reach the target that we have. Tomorrow is going to be a key match for us.

Going back to the 300 games, I was at Nottingham Forest last night. The manager there has had six games and already some of the crowd are saying we want you sacked because you’re not winning matches.

300 games in five years, you are bucking the trend in terms of football management in this country. How are you doing it?

Well again, I feel very privileged. I'm really enjoying what I do with the people that I do it. We know in our job it's about winning a lot of football matches. You want to stay in the job. The other one is while we are doing this, make sure as well that we enjoy our profession because it's got, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful things that you can experience in life. Trying to do both things at the same time.

You've massively changed the culture though since you came here. I mean, you only have to look at the Bukayo Saka’s 200th Premier League game tomorrow. You've got Nwaneri, you've got Max Dowman, you've got Myles Lewis-Skelly you've got academy players, you've got some of the best players from around Europe now playing for you. And they are all at a good young age. How difficult has that been in five years to change that culture?

Well, you see the rotation in the squad has been phenomenal. At the end, you get to where you get thanks to everybody that has been in the journey. Some people have been for six months, some others for three years, some others for 18 months. But they've all been critical and very important. Sometimes to help the team, sometimes as well to learn you the direction that you have to take in and what is the moment as well to change and re-evaluate the things that you are doing. I'm very grateful for everybody that has been part of this journey because they've all been very important.

You said you want to win trophies for the next 300 games to be a success. Do you need to be a bit more lucky as a manager or a bit better as a manager? Because I remember Sven Goran Eriksen once saying it's better to be a lucky manager than a good manager.

Well, probably you need a bit of both in many senses. Because with the amount of points that we have generated or the win rate that you just discussed, all the managers have won titles, big titles. We have won titles, but we won the biggest ones, and that's it. Sometimes in sports, you have to congratulate somebody else who has been even better than you. You can be really, really good or excellent, but somebody has been extraordinary. And this league is the level that it demands. But certainly we're going to try to get to that.

And finally, you'll be facing Nuno Espirito Santo tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago, it would have been Graham Potter. A man I know you know well and rate very highly.

Yeah.

Again, you must feel, or do you feel, sorry for Graham for what's happened this year? How different is the challenge facing Nuno?

Yeah, a little word for Graham because I think he's an exceptional manager. And he's done that in various contexts in his career for a long, long, long time. And then as a man, I'm just talking to a lot of players and people that have had the joy to work with him. The way they describe him and the time that they have together. So, yeah, sad to see him go. Especially with some of the things that happened on social media. And a lot of things that I think, in my opinion, to have the best league in the world, we have to improve. Because if we have to have the best league in the world, we have to make sure that the people that are so important in our league, they're taken care of in the right way. And I think all as a whole, I think we can do better on that. And hopefully we can learn from that. And then with Nuno, yeah. Another top manager that we played a few weeks ago here against him with a different team. And a top coach as well with a lot of experience and a really difficult game ahead.

Mikel, you've made a big push on contracts over the past six months, tying players down. Jurrien Timber is the latest to be reported in talks. Is that a perfect example of what you speak about, where players deserve to be rewarded for their performances on the pitch? Because his form, particularly in the start of the season, has been so good.

Yes, 100%. And especially the players that they want to be with us. And we want to attach our futures with them. And Jurrein is a really good example of someone that, especially under very difficult circumstances, with a very early injury in his career, with a really difficult injury, the way he's come back and what he's doing for the team, it's phenomenal. And I think he's a really good example of another one that hopefully is going to have a long career with us.

And just on Viktor and Martin, they haven't been able to play together very much. But we saw on Wednesday that connection, which sometimes players have. You think of Bukayo and Martin, you think years ago, think of Pires and Henry sort of periods, not really. Have they got an understanding that you've seen in these first few months that they know what each other wants and how to play together?

Well, as you say, we haven't seen enough for different circumstances, especially because Martin hasn't been much available this season for different reasons. But, yeah, there is something as well. They have that personal chemistry, and hopefully, with more time on the pitch and more understanding, that will flourish as well.

On Martin, you obviously had a great game against Olympiacos. And I was struck afterwards in the press conference, you spoke about how you gave him the freedom to do that creative job. I just wondered, as a manager, when you have a sort of clear tactical model and identity, how do you find the space for the individual freedom within that?

Well, I think there is a way around. I think you have to create a system and a structure around the qualities of the players. And with our attacking players, especially, we try to do that. Even with our defenders, we know certain qualities that we have in that defensive line, and we will pick certain ways to press or certain ways to defend or force people in relation to where they want to end. And with Martin, it's very clear that we want the ball in certain areas with him because when he's able to do that, he's a real threat.

And we saw again on the second goal, you know, Bukayo scores from the left channel rather than the right. Is that kind of part of the tactical design or is that a case of you empowering players to make those calls in the moment on the pitch?

Well, the one with Bukayo, we decided in the last few minutes to change sides for two different reasons. And because he's on a natural foot in that side, especially against teams that are constantly pushing their full-backs and the space is wide, he's a real threat.

Just following on from what Simon said about Jurrien, a very quick question. For you, is he the most underrated player in the Premier League at the moment?

I don't know because I rate him a lot. So I don't know how people rate him, but hopefully a lot because when you're talking about a total player, he has almost every quality that you want from a defender.

I've been racking my brain a bit about how to word this question. There seems to be a lot of talk at the moment about how many minutes Ethan and Myles get in particular. And over the last five years, the squad has developed and got stronger. Have we got to a point now where the minutes that they're getting are probably what's expected for a player at that age in a team as competitive as Arsenal?

I don't know, but I don't work with expectations. I work with what the boys can provide in the context that the team is playing in that moment. And Ethan has played two games in the Premier League very early because of an injury of Martin as well. He played in other competitions, and he will play more. With Myles, it's the same. Sometimes it's form, sometimes it's the fact that we want to do certain things in relation to the opposition. And that's it. What I want is that they are in the state that they have to be used. And when they are playing, whether it is to start games or for a few minutes, they are fully ready. And both of them, they've been really good at that.

Seeing Saka, Rice and Eze on the bench on Wednesday, do you think moving forward we should be getting used to seeing them on the bench or your big stars on the bench? Do you think we should get used to that?

Well, I mean, with the schedule that we have, we have to play Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. So the last time we played three games in seven days was a while ago. Some of the players haven't played ever, three games in seven days. So we need to manage that because they come from a period of a lot of load. We had two very, very high games. So if the schedule continues and they don't give us an extra day, we're going to have to do that.

And seeing now you've got a very strong bench and a very strong starting XI, could this be the year where it clicks now?

Well, I think it's been clicking for a while. If clicking means to win it, then hopefully it is a year.