Every word of Mikel's pre-Bournemouth presser

Mikel Arteta sat down for his pre-Bournemouth press conference at Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday.

Our manager was asked for the latest team news, his thoughts on the Cherries and more.

Here's what he had to say on the following subjects.

on the fitness of Calafiori and Jorginho:

Yeah, Calafiori is out, Jorginho is still out. Jorginho’s got a bit more complicated than expected. Thankfully, he's fine, he's feeling good, he's recovering well, but yeah, it was a bit more than what we wanted. I think I'll leave it to the doctor if he wants to clarify or judge that.

on if Jorgi could play in the rest of the season:

I think so, yeah. Hopefully, if everything goes well in the next week or so, I think he will gradually integrate in the team, yeah.

on if Havertz could be back before the end of the season:

I think so. I think if everything goes the way it's going at the moment and the way it's planned, I think he will have a chance to play a few games here in the season.

on if there are any other updates:

No, the rest are out.

on if Partey will be involved tomorrow after he was suspended in the week:

Well, he could not play, he was suspended. I have the opportunity to play him tomorrow, yes.

on if he should be involved ahead of Wednesday’s big game:

Yeah, now we will assess how the squad is, what we want to do tomorrow, set Sunday up with the players that we have available and do the line-up and the possible subs.

on Rice’s 100th appearance for us next time he plays and what that says about him:

Consistency, availability, the way he's performed, the way he has adapted to the club, to the team. I think it's been an unbelievable signing.

on the supercomputer giving us a favourable chance of finishing in the top five:

You love the supercomputer! The message is very clear. We have to have the right to win the game tomorrow, be better than Bournemouth and win the game. That's what we have to do and that's the way we have prepared since two days ago.

on if we’re looking at mathematically qualifying for the top five:

It's a lot of ifs. The most important one is to increase our probabilities to win our game and that's the focus of the team. We've just got a couple more.

on what we’ve achieved this season with so many players unavailable throughout:

The thing is that we live every day with what we have. I was very shocked just before the game against PSG at home because I was walking into the dressing room and suddenly I saw all of them together sitting. It was Tomiyasu, next to him Calafiori, next to him Gabriel, next to him Thomas Partey, next to him Kai Havertz, next to him Gabriel Jesus, next to him Jorginho. I said, that’s a starting line-up. And we don't have them. We haven't had them for many, many months. And then I felt joy about the team and what they are doing and how they're trying and nobody's talking about it in the building at all. But it's happening and I felt pride about how the boys and the staff and the club are reacting to these situations.

on how to stop our players thinking about Paris this weekend:

I will discuss that. Because the only thing we can control is our performances, our emotional state and how well we are performing. We know how important it is still, a lot of the things that we have to do in the Premier League, even though we haven't achieved what we wanted. I take the opportunity as well to congratulate Liverpool and what they've done in the manner that they've done, how consistent they've been. And I think they fully deserve to win it. They were the better team, they had so many attributes, they had consistently their squad available. And we're going to try again. But up to that moment next season, now we're going to have to finish the season very strong.

on finishing second being our target now:

Yes for sure.

on how impressed he’s been by Liverpool this season:

It's good they had no distraction. The good thing is they had them on the pitch all the time, which is something very positive. And it's a club, in the last 10, 15 years they've been consistent, they're fighting for trophies, winning big trophies, winning the Champions League. So they're used to that. Nobody should be surprised because they have the level and they made it because they've done a lot of things very, very well. So they deserve to be champions.

on what type of teammate Andoni Iraola was when they played together at Antiguoko:

He was super talented, very skilful. He used to play as a winger, a winger coming inside. Really a smart player, probably none of us thought we were going to be in the position we are in today in the Premier League. But really happy for him, I think he's doing an extraordinary job. I think he has changed a lot of things at the club as well, the atmosphere, the belief, the player that he's recruited, the way they play, really impressive.

on if Bournemouth can challenge us for Champions League football in seasons to come:

I imagine, I think in the Premier League every club that is in this position, they have the opportunity to do it. Now they have the consistency in the league, they have very, very good players. When you look at the players and the set-up that they have, it's really impressive.

on if not winning the league has hurt:

Big time, yeah. I understand that (Liverpool) is a team that is being more consistent and they have a lot of ingredients that you need to win it, but it's very painful, yeah.

on if this was meant to be our year:

Yeah, I never thought like this, it's not that simplistic.

on how to have fewer injuries next season:

That's another discussion we have. We have so much to play for still in the two competitions, Premier League and Champions League. The focus is there. Then at the end of the season we have many weeks to reflect and do the work that we are already preparing to give you much better answers.

on if working out how to keep more players fit is one of the key things:

Two main things. Play with 11 players, number one, 38 games if possible. And the second one, have availability of your best players in the best position and win your games. Ideally, for 38 games in the league. If you have those two things, you have a much better chance. Without those two, look at the history over the last 100 years, not one single team has done it.

on if this game could’ve been rescheduled to give us more time to prepare for PSG:

Well, I think in this context we have discussed that many, many times. We were a bit lucky because this last weekend we didn't have a game so I think we cannot argue in this case and at least we have four days so it will be very well prepared.

on if he watched Liverpool celebrate winning the league:

A small part of it.

on if he can get motivation from watching rivals celebrating the title:

No, at the end they are your colleagues as well and I know some of the people on the staff as well and I know how much work everybody puts in. And listen, they deserve to win it, they've done it in a manner, in a way that has given no chance to the others and you have to congratulate that. It's sport as well and you have to accept the reasons why you haven't been able to achieve it and try to improve, that's it. It can be part of your motivation, that's not the biggest part, my motivations are much more focused in other aspects than that one but it hurts to watch it, that's for sure.

on William Saliba links and his future:

Those kind of things are more for Andrea and the club to talk about. What I'm certain, because I had the conversation with him, is that he is so happy here, that he wants to continue with us and what will happen in the future with our negotiations and things that have to take time and process and be on top of them, but I'm quite confident that William is very happy here and that's the place that he wants to be.

on Martin Odegaard campaign so far:

There were many factors I think, obviously the injury, the long-term injury doesn't help to give you the consistency and the platform to continue in the season but it's very difficult. The level of consistency shown is unbelievable for an attacking player to be constantly there, very rare because there are always ups and downs, especially the players that are very creative and they rely on a spark and creating moments in-game but there are other aspects of his games that remain intact and he continues to do every week.

on squad depth in the attacking-midfield position:

We have a lot of options there, Mikel can play in that position, Declan, we have Ethan there in his main position. We have players that can play in that position, we have Max [Dowman] coming up as well very soon as well so I think we are good in the position.

on the achievement of potentially finishing second with the injury list this season:

I don't know, it's not for me as well really to judge, I don't have a very clear opinion because I see what having those issues, the impact of that because you just think it's the impact of what happens on the pitch on the day and they are much bigger than that. The numbers that we have trained with this season, I've never experienced before in my life but there's a lot of learnings to take and a lot to take to the team, to the club as well to learn and a lot of things especially that are going to make us much better.

on whether he’s seen a difference in Jakub Kiwior’s confidence around the training ground:

He's so likeable, everybody really loves him in that dressing room, he's very vocal on the pitch. He had a language barrier at the beginning when he joined us, now he's much more open with the boys and he gets on really well with everybody so I'm very happy with him.

on whether Max Dowman is part of his plans for next season:

For the near future, yeah, let's see how this evolves but we certainly have a big talent there.

on how Bournemouth’s high pressing style is similar to PSG’s:

In terms of intensity and how they approach every duel, in the way of playing they are a bit different. They want to achieve things that are very similar to PSG in certain ways so it's not to practice about them, it's just to be very efficient and very good in what we have to do against them in order to play the way that we want.

on Calafiori, Jorginho and Havertz:

I wouldn't rule all of them out, let's see in the next few days how a few of them react.

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