Press conference

'I know what it means to win this competition'

It is almost exactly a month since Mikel Arteta's first match in charge - coincidentally an away game at Bournemouth.

So how has the team progressed since then?

"A lot of things [have changed since then] that I wanted to implement, not just towards the players but around the club, in terms of the culture," Arteta said. "I'm seeing very good signs in progress.

"A lot of things about our way of playing and our style as well, even though the circumstances in some of the games have made it a little bit more difficult than expected. But in general, I can see the direction towards what I wanted a month ago.

"I think that one of the important things is creating that connection again with the fans. It’s a long time ago, and these people have been here for a long time, [since we have] seen the fans react and support the team how they did against Chelsea. It was incredible and in some stages it was like we were playing at home.

"The amount of support they gave was incredible in difficult circumstances and I’m so proud that they’re feeling a little bit closer to the team now."

Arteta lifted the Emirates FA Cup as our captain back in 2014 - and stressed his desire to go far in this season's cup run.

"We’re going to fight for every competition that we’re involved in," he said. "I know what it means to this club to win that competition and we need to get back winning. We need to get back to being up there and having everybody talking about us. We need every competition to try and do that."