Press conference

‘We’re excited about how we can finish the season'

We’re right into the business end of the season now - and there is still much to play for over the coming weeks.

We face Everton on Friday night as we look to seal a European place for next season through the Premier League, before facing Villarreal in the Europa League semi-finals.

It all comes on the back of a difficult few days, but Mikel Arteta is determined to put the focus back on what happens on the field.

“It’s been a really challenging week for everybody in world football but we have to move forward,” our manager said.

“[Everton] are having a really good season, we are not getting the results that we want - against Fulham where the result was disappointing apart from the performance, which in my opinion we totally deserved to win the game. But we need to win every game now in the Premier League to give us the best possible chance to be in Europe next season through that competition.

“I think we do [have momentum], and the way we are playing as well. But the Fulham game, not winning that one was a real shame for us because that would have put us in a much better position.

“But we have to move on, we still have a lot to play for in the league and playing the semi-finals of the Europa League so we are all excited about the way we can finish this season.”