Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta discusses how the title race is all to fight for with 5 games left to this season. Arsenal have learnt a lot through their experiences and they need to be resilient and check their egos
Sobha Realty Training Centre, London, UK
Sobha Realty Training Centre, London, UK
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00:00The sort of mood feels all very suddenly negative and gloomy and all the questions are obviously
00:06around bodies to improve, but as you said in your first answer, William Tamari at the
00:10top of the league, is there a bit of perspective needed on a wider scale do you think?
00:15I think this has to be there and this is what keeps everybody and ourselves in our toes
00:21and is that it's testing your resilience and your ego. And again, if I take a newspaper
00:28and I show it to my son that it's seven days ago after Brighton and seven days later
00:33against Bayern Munich talking about the same team, they will think that it's three years
00:37ago. It's the reality of what it is. But we have to live with that, that's the beauty
00:42of it as well. And Saturday you can be home and you can be the happiest man ever and say
00:47we have a real chance here, let's go for it, five games to go. We have to make that
00:52happen and that's our job.
00:54You said after Wednesday that in that moment it was quite hard for you to find the right
00:59words to tell the players and the staff. Have you found those words since and what have you said?
01:04No, probably it's not worth it. We need another moment like that and an opportunity
01:09to make it because at the end it's difficult to say something to make it. You have to have
01:15the experience now and overcome that barrier. And now we have a hurdle, what is in the quarter-finals
01:20and for 14 years the hurdle was somewhere else before. Before that we weren't even
01:26in the competition. So, let's keep moving forward.
01:33By the time City play on Thursday you could be four points clear if you beat Walton Chelsea?
01:38That's a great question, very positive question. Keep going.
01:44I know City are a very experienced team and they're unlikely to get too nervous, but psychologically
01:49how important is it to keep your rivals on their toes and constantly looking and seeing
01:54that your four points are clear?
01:55What we are talking about here that I like is that we won our games. This is the only
02:00thing that we can control and the only thing that we are putting focus and energy on. Prepare
02:05the best possible way to go to two goals and be better than them and beat them.
02:11In terms of putting them under pressure, I know you want the three points but you also
02:15have to think about the wider context of putting someone like City under pressure and keeping
02:19them on their toes?
02:20That will be the consequence of that. If we win we will put pressure for sure because
02:23we will be at the top and they will have to win their games. But we have to do what is
02:29our duty.
02:30You said after the buy-in game about getting to that stage of the competition, it's taken
02:35some teams six, seven, maybe even ten years to get there. Some Arsenal fans may listen
02:40to that and be a bit worried, but maybe they thought they were closer than that. What can
02:45you say to them? Ten years sounds like a long time, but what would you say to them?
02:51I don't know. I don't know how long it's going to take. I have no clue. First of all, we
02:55have to earn the right to be in the competition again for another year and then we're going
03:00to have to go stage by stage to see how good we are. We were very close. Was there a difference
03:05between a buy-in that they've been doing for 20 years in a row and us? I think the
03:09margins were very small, but those margins are very important and sometimes there are
03:14details that we have to improve and we have to experience to be able to overcome that.
03:20I cannot tell anybody. Next year we're going to get to the semi-final and then what? I
03:24don't know.
03:25You said you felt you were close to doing that.
03:28I think we were really close and I think we were very enthusiastic because we could see
03:32and as well how a club like Bayern behave playing against us. That's a lot of credit
03:38to say, look what they did against you guys. I've never seen it, Bayern behave like this.
03:43I haven't seen it. I've seen it against us. Good. That's something positive to take.
03:50The players have obviously had a very difficult week. How have you approached this game differently
03:59with them psychologically? Is there anything you've done differently to try and prepare
04:03them for what lies ahead?
04:04I think the players, the staff, we're all very lucky to have the week that we had because
04:08this is the week that we want and we've been seeking for many years to have Arsene. You
04:15have to deal with that. You want to be in this position, you have to go through. He's
04:18going to be tough against those opponents. The margins are minimal and you have to go
04:22to compete and try to be better than them. Maybe even if you are better, you don't win
04:27and it happened at home against Bayern and against Villa. Are you ready to react to that?
04:32If not, you're not ready to be living these kind of weeks and we want to be living these
04:36kind of weeks. The answer cannot be, the question is, it's been difficult or tough. Don't feel
04:42sorry for yourself. You want to be here, be prepared because this is a possibility.
04:46Do you sense that among them in the last day that they're really now focused on the one
04:51target?
04:51Yes, especially working like we have done in the last nine and a half months in this
04:57league. We deserve to be in the best state on Saturday to give ourselves the best chance
05:04and this is what we're going to do.
05:06Three weeks ago, Mutual were looking forward to the most exciting title race ever and now
05:15it seems that everybody's knackered, players are asking to be called, taken off. Are we
05:20in danger of killing this off? Is the Premier League putting itself in extinction?
05:26I don't know. I'm sure that the players are going to squeeze every drop of energy and
05:39effort that they can to make it as entertaining and as good as possible. I have no question
05:44about that. The task and the reward is that big. They will give everything and I'm sure
05:51it will be fascinating at the end of the season.
05:53Is that who's going to win the title this season? The team that can just drag their
05:58tired carcasses over the line rather than play great football?
06:02At the end it's going to be about winning football matches. How you're going to do
06:05it is a different story but it's going to be down to who is best at winning football
06:12matches.
06:12Does that equalise things with yourselves? You haven't got as big a squad as City,
06:18more experience but you're the youngest team.
06:24Potentially you could squeeze the most out of them?
06:27That's what we are doing every day. There is so much growth and there is still so much
06:33energy in this group and especially with what we are playing for. That's not going to be
06:37a concern for sure.
06:42Thank you.