Press conference

'We really want to play at home'

Finally, after close to four months, Premier League football will return to Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night when we face Norwich.

Mikel Arteta is pleased to be returning home after four successive away fixtures, but admits it will be very different.

 

"We really want to play at home," he said. "That's where we enjoy more, but obviously not having the fans within is a tremendous disadvantage.

 

"We want to give them happy moments and enjoyment and at the moment we cannot do that just by seeing them as they have been watching on TV. But it's what we have at the moment.

 

"We had two friendlies [there] before we started the Premier League at home and it was a really strange feeling, but hopefully they’re used to it now.

 

"We know what we expect with all the protocols that we could to make sure that the players know exactly what they have to do, and hopefully they can enjoy it again playing in our stadium."

 

But what does Mikel expect from Wednesday evening's visitors?

 

"A team that is fighting for relegation always has an extra edge," he said. "They know the difference between playing in the Championship and the Premier League, and they fought really hard to be where they are.

 

"I’m expecting a fully committed team and they are really brave with the way they play. They cause you problems and I’m expecting again a very honest team that is going to fight for their lives to try to give them a better chance to stay in the league.



"I will show [the players] what they are able to do when you give them time to play and it’s a very tricky team with the way they play. I will make sure that we recover first and we’re ready to go again."

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