Every word of Mikel Arteta’s pre-West Ham presser

Mikel Arteta held his pre-West Ham United press conference at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday afternoon.

He was asked for the latest team news, about our post-Liverpool celebrations, how we are preparing for the trip to London Stadium and more.

Here is everything he had to say on the following subjects...

on team news - and the latest on Zinchenko and Tomiyasu:
We have a few still in contention. They’ve been evolving really well, so tomorrow we’ll have another training session. We’re hopeful we’re going to have a few back and that we can put out a very competitive squad out there.

on Saka’s fitness:
He’s been recovering this week and he looks OK. 

on if he was surprised by the attention paid to celebrations after the Liverpool win:
No, because they told me today. I didn’t know anything about it. But I love it - I’ve seen [away] managers at the Emirates on their knees, on the pitch. I’ve seen very big managers walking onto the pitch, I’ve seen managers going across the touchline. I’ve seen that all in the Premier League. Personally, I love it because it brings such passion and emotion to the game. When it’s done in a natural and unique way, I think it’s great. It’s my opinion and a lot of people may have something very different to mine.

on Odegaard celebrating with the Arsenal photographer:
That’s something that happened because there’s a relationship - they do it every day here at the training ground. But people are entitled to have their opinion. When you do something publicly, there are going to be opinions. Some of them are positive, some of them not so positive. That’s our job, to accept all of that and still behave in what you think is the right way to behave and make sure we don’t lose that.

on why there were big celebrations after the match:
I see a lot of games and in game three, game six, game eight, there are managers and teams celebrating a lot, fans celebrating a lot. It’s so tough to win in this league. For sure, it was a big match for us. You can tell how much it meant from the [first] whistle. You could sense the stadium and the atmosphere very different already. It was a great day.

on the proposed blue card - and sin bins in football:
I don’t know when we’re going to get there, to be fair. We’ve got a lot going on now with decisions, with technology, with what has come in. I don’t know if we’re ready for that yet.

on if it would be a good idea or a bad idea:
Who knows. Hopefully it’s going to be tested very well before we introduce it at this level.

on figures showing there have been a 14 per cent increase in correct decisions and whether VAR is in a good place or not:
Well, if they’ve done that analysis and we’ve seen some improvements, that’s a really positive thing to hear. That’s what we’re all willing to hear and what we expect.

on if VAR is the future:
That’s not in my hands. At the moment it is and we have to play to those rules. As those stats show, [if] it’s going in the right direction, let’s keep going. 

on how the team have bounced back from three successive defeats, of which the first was against West Ham:
First of all, it’s the reactions of the players, the staff, our supporters as well. You want to be a certain team but when you lose a match, if somebody wants to be different because we lost, then we are not who we want to be or who we say we are. What I saw [was] let’s keep going in the same direction, do things better, more efficiently and results will come. That’s what we did. 

on facing David Moyes:
He’s a really experienced manager who’s extremely good at getting the best out of his team. He does it in various ways. He’s extremely good at managing the group, he’s a really competitive manager who understands when you get an edge in the game and wait for the moments in the game to punish you. His trajectory and what he’s done at West Ham is incredible.

on scoring 10 goals in the last three games:
For sure, and playing with more and more aggression and scoring goals. The amount of goals we share in the squad is very, very important because we have lost big players this season for long periods and we’re still very competitive. That’s what we have to try to continue to do.

on Kalvin Phillips not clicking at Manchester City:
I don’t know. I’ve got enough to make sure our players click, and that’s something for them.

on whether we are in danger of over-complicating football with the introduction of blue cards:
I don’t know. I think everything is being done with the intention to simplify it and make it more clear and try to cut out mistakes from decisions that are extremely difficult. In a split second, when you are talking about centimetres, or even millimetres. So hopefully everything is done to improve the game, and if that’s the case. It’s worth trying.

on whether criticism of Arsenal is unfair:
I don’t agree with that. In my life, what I have heard in the past five days, it’s all positive. So do you want to hear more the negative part, or the very positive part? I think there has been a lot of positiveness, and maybe a little criticism, if you focus there, you only see that. It depends on your perspective. It was an extremely positive reaction from our people, from media, staff, others managers, I got so many texts. When I’m walking in the street it’s pride and a lot of compliments for what we did, so I don’t have that impression at all.

on Gabriel Martinelli’s potential:
He wants more, he’s not satisfied. He’s not satisfied when he does really well, he’s not satisfied when you put him on the bench! He’s not satisfied after every training session, so only good things are going to happen with him.

on whether Jorginho’s contract will be extended:
I’m really happy with him, that’s all I can say. The contract situation is for Edu and the board to manage. But his application, and the capacity he has in the big matches to affect the game is tremendous and he was really good against Liverpool again.

on Martin Odegaard’s form:
His overall performances and aggression without the ball every time we get to certain areas, you see the skills that he’s developing day in, day out. He’s always available and having a great season.

on whether players are judged on stats more now compared to when he was a midfielder:
You know a lot about the players now and what they do probably much more than before, but as well I think it’s a very good source but not the only source to judge a player on.

on Thomas Partey’s fitness:
He’s progressing really well but it’s a bit too soon to tell you exactly when we’re going to have him back.

on Gabriel Jesus’ fitness:
No update.

on whether he would like to keep Jorginho:
I’m really happy with him, that’s all I can say. When we imagined what he could bring to the team and how we could make us better, he’s doing exactly that or even better.

on the reasons behind our record at the London Stadium:
There are certain reasons. First of all, they are a really good side and difficult to beat at home. We are going to have to be at our best to give ourselves the best chance to win the game.

on whether there is any relation between celebrating and showing maturity:
If I think when I have won Premier Leagues somewhere else, the answer would be a big no because I have experienced it. I’m not saying there isn’t a correlation. I’m saying my experience says no but maybe someone says my experience says yes. Okay, mine says no because I’ve seen how to celebrate.

on Declan Rice’s reception at West Ham:
It depends and I always say that when you come back it is very difficult because the opponents are focused on giving support to their own team. As well, I’ve seen so much appreciation from the club when he left, what they did for him and the way people talk about him. That’s very important as well.

on what he can tell us about Prince William and Tom Cruise:
What do you want to know? I can tell you about the Air Ambulance Charity and the work that they do and the amount of lives that they save. The amount of support and commitment from all of us to have that service and unfortunately the government cannot provide today. We want to have a better understanding that this can happen to any of us in any moment. I’ve seen videos that you cannot believe, so just support them as much as possible because they are life changers and in these moments you need someone with that expertise. What they do is incredible.