Every word of Mikel's pre-PSV press conference

After touching down in Eindhoven, Mikel Arteta has held his pre-PSV press conference.

Here is everything the boss had to say on the following subjects:

on Timber’s road to recovery:
He is doing very well. Obviously he’s going through a really significant injury but he’s flying to be fair, the stage he is right now. The way he works every single day is incredibly satisfying to watch but unfortunately we’re going to miss him still for a long time.

on how fast he is recovering:
Very fast. The first few steps are crucial for that injury, for the amount of work they have to do for the knee to be resolved and get some activity and mobility back and start to build the strength. Especially how the head is throughout that period, I think he’s in a really good place.

on his twin brother playing at Feyenoord:
Yeah, the parents have done a really good job I think! I know the brother a little bit, I know the family. Really good footballers and two extraordinary kids. I don’t know the rest because they’re a big family but congratulations to the parents.

on if he ever saw him play:
I did yes. Just to make sure we didn’t get the one that we didn’t want!

on them playing together at Ajax:
I know. I know the whole story, where they went first, where they moved.

on PSV this season:
Really impressive how they play, the consistency, the way they are winning football matches. They’ve been extremely dominant, not only this season but last season as well and huge credit to the manager, the coaching staff and players for what they’ve done. When you look at the record that they have here, it’s incredible so we’re going to have to be really good tomorrow to beat them.

on Lino, Reuell and Ethan:
Three big prospects. We want to bring a lot of players from a system and they deserve to be here. The circumstances have got them into this position. They’re still really really young but we want to get them the experience because they have the talent hopefully to be very close to us. We’ll try to give them the opportunity if we can in the right moment.

on how hard it is to blood young players into a team competing at the top level:
Yeah, obviously it gets harder and harder, so the talent has to be really good and and you have to find and build the space in the squad to give that talent an opportunity. We should not forget that because it's a big part of what we want to do in the future. And especially when you have it, you cannot let it go. I think we have some good space and good talent to develop in the environment.

on if people understand how good players need to be to break into Arsenal:
I don’t know. I think on TV, it looks easier. If one day we give them a chance to train with the boys, they will probably realise that the level is really, really high. The demand that the game has got right now is huge and the competition is huge as well, because we can pick players from anywhere in the world and we have the ability to do that. But I'm very positive with the few that we have at the moment.

on his experiencing of transitioning into the first team at Barcelona:
It was very difficult. The country was very very different. I used to live in a room with bunk beds. There were eight of us. There was Pepe Reina, goalkeeper at Barcelona, Victor Valdes, Andres Iniesta, Thiago Motta, Carlos Puyol, myself. So there was huge competition within a room already. You know, we were all like little brothers living with each other but the competition was fearless. And that's probably what it made us after. So when you have to compete with other players, you are ready. But it's always very tough to put them in the environment that is very close to what they find in the future.

on if we need to change how we see academies, if selling players can also be considered success:
Sometimes, it's about timing as well and the competition that they have in their position. Some days, you develop a lot of midfielders, then it's strikers and then you cannot really accommodate all of them. The club has to have the capacity to give a space to those players to go somewhere else and it has to be part of that strategy for sure.

on how Emile Smith Rowe has dealt with his injury mentally:
What he has been through is part of the experience that 95 per cent of footballers have to go through. That’s difficulties, injuries, setbacks and different kind of performances too. He’s back now, and he can use that in a very powerful way, he will be a much better player. I think he’s on the right path, the way he’s done his rehab, I haven’t seen it like he’s done it this time. I think you have seen how his team-mates reacted to him being back with the team, which is a really positive thing as well. The more we can give him chances to play, the better we will be. So let’s hope that’s going to be the case.

on what Lino, Reuell and Ethan have done to earn their chances:
First of all we have certain needs in certain positions. Some others we decided because of the necessities we have and how we might use those players tomorrow, so they were the best ones to bring.

on if he thought about resting senior players on Tuesday:
We have five or six big injuries, so we are already a bit thin. I don’t know in a different context what I would have done. But as well I want everyone together, and everyone together with the mentality to win. I want to see in the tummy of the players tomorrow that although the job technically is done, it is not completely done. Our duty as representatives of Arsenal is to win every game and tomorrow we need a big performance against a team that is going to make it very difficult like they have shown in the past two years here.  

on how much it energises him as a coach to bring through young players:
There is something about them. When you work in a meeting, or you talk to them. They have that energy, the eyes are open, there is a lot of enthusiasm. There is something fresh, something new and I have been there. Once you have been in that position you feel a huge sympathy for those moments. Everyone really wants to help them, I really want to help to fulfil their dream and hopefully we can achieve that.

on what it was about Ethan that impressed Mikel when he gave him his debut:
There’s something unique that he’s got that I really liked from the beginning, his ability to take the ball in tight areas and to escape a little bit like Jack Wilshere used to do. The personality he has, he trains with us like he trains with the under-18s or under-16s and I love that in a player. He’s got that bit between his teeth as well that he wants to show every single day how good he is and to impress people. When you have someone like that, you have to give him hope and as well it was a really important moment for us because we really wanted to keep him and I think it was a strange sign for him that this is his place for him to develop.

on how exciting it is to have young talents doing big things:
It is early days, but we need to get the machine going because we want more of those and we have to produce more of those. There’s a lot of work going into the academy and that’s big credit to all of them every single day for the amount of work that they’re putting in. They do a lot, they’ve planted the seeds and now we need to bring them up.

on how Bukayo is:
No, he’s fine. With a few of the players we decided to give them another day’s recovery just 48 before and some of them have played a lot of minutes. We’ve already done what we had to do inside, so it wasn’t worth putting them out and exposing them outside today.