You’ve conceded very few goals in open play recently. How have you been able to do that and are you impressed with what you’ve seen?
Yes, I am very impressed because it’s not easy to do it in this league. It goes down first of all to the engagement of the players, understanding how important that is, their application and then individual and collectively how good they’re able to execute it. That starts with the front players the way they go about the press, how intense they are and how much they’re willing to support the team in that sense.
Then it’s a collective thing; the understanding, the distances, the compactness, how you win the duels, how you force the opponents to play in certain ways that’s better for our defensive structure. It’s going to be really important for the future if we want to maintain the rhythm and winning football matches.
Cedric has good games recently but Tomiyasu’s back now. Is your mind set on that change?
No. It’s exactly what I want that we have players that can play in the same role with different qualities that give us different options and you have the reassurance that they both can perform at the highest level. That’s the case.
What do you take away from Wolves’ last two wins since they played you two weeks ago?
Nothing different, I think they’ve been really consistent. What the manager and the coaching staff are doing it’s exceptional. They’ve been in a really good run over the years, they have a really clear way of playing. They are a very good team, it will be hard to beat them and it will be tough tomorrow.
It looks like a really important fixture given where the two clubs are in the league. How much have you stressed that to the players?
I think they know. They know what every game means for us. We know how close it will be right until the end, we’ve seen a lot of different results that you don’t really expect. We play at home and the importance of getting the points when we play at home is going to be crucial to get to the destination.
There are such fine margins this season, what do you think will be the difference between these teams?
I don’t know I think it’s going to be a rollercoaster. The moments when the team opens a gap and then catches up. You see the fixtures that we all have to play and they’re extremely tricky. But we’ll see.
Are their any new injuries?
No, at the moment it’s all as it was before last week.
What do you put Wolves impressive form down to?
First of all, the recruitment that they have and the players that they have brought in, with the qualities, with the characters and the specificity with which they play. Obviously the defensive performances that they’ve put in have been superb with the amount of goals that they’ve conceded. With the creativity that they have and the goal threat that they have, that combination is always going to be a positive outcome.
How important is it for the club to qualify for the Champions League?
I think for the club this is where we want to play. We want to be every year playing amongst the best teams. That’s what we want to do.
How important is the top four race in potentially extending your contract?
It’s just that I am really happy here and my aim is to build with the club a winning team that when we watch it feels identifiable and that can transmit what we want football-wise and as an organisation.
If you do finish in the top four would that be the next natural step to sort a contract extension?
As you think things will happen naturally. It has happened over the last few months and now our focus has to be on delivering what we want.
Is the feeling from you that the club is in the best shape it’s been since you’ve been in charge and that’s why you’re so happy?
I’m happy with the direction we’re taking, but I’m not happy with where we are that’s for sure because we want to be competing and challenging with the best teams in this league in consecutive seasons. We’re not there yet but I think the team is evolving in the right direction. The project and the phases that we proposed, they are happening and there are a lot positives but we are not there.
When you watch the Champions League on TV do you miss being a part of it?
I do a lot, because as a football player I’ve experienced it and it’s one the best feelings you can have. To be surrounded by opponents that are the best in the world and challenge yourself and evaluate yourself against that type of opposition. Then as a club you play in a competition that brings the club that brings them into a different dimension, different stage, different impact and a competition that is very attached to the history of this football club.
The race is in your own hands. How will your players handle that pressure?
There is going to be that 'til the end until mathematically it is possible. Our focus has to be today. Train well today, prepare well today, be mentally ready, physically ready, tactically ready tomorrow to play a really difficult match and tomorrow show that on the pitch.
What have you made of Bruno Lage this season?
He’s done a really good job. I think Nuno set different standards at that club and the work he did at that club was phenomenal in every sense and he set the club to a different standard in the Premier League. Now Bruno has come in and has put the team again in another level. The way they are competing again is remarkable.
Are you ahead of schedule if you finish in the top 4?
We are where we are. I’m happy we’re in this position and we want to make the most out of it. Again that can be the aim and the objective but the focus has to be tomorrow.
Antonio Conte said ‘you can get your wife wrong, but you can’t get your striker wrong’. How much do you agree with the importance of strikers?
When you see the teams that win championships and European competitions, you see the teams that Antonio has had in the past, the amount of goals they have scored there is a huge relation there. He is probably right. I don’t know about the comparison with the wife, but it’s a good one.
So you won’t be playing Mrs. Arteta up front next week?
No, not at the moment.
We remember what happened in this fixture with Raul Jimenez last season. We saw again Robin Koch suffering a head injury at the weekend. What can football do to take it more seriously?
I think we’ve made a lot of progress there compared to where we were a few years ago, and I think we have to continue that. In the case of Raul, it was a really scary moment. Thanks to the medical team, probably they saved him in that moment from something which probably could have been much worse. It’s great that after that he’s come back so quickly and the goals he’s scoring. Regarding that topic, yes we can always get better and that should be the aim.
Was the Jimenez situation one of the scariest you’ve had in football?
I’ve had others but that was one of them because straight away when you see the reaction, the anxiety that is suddenly involved in team doctors and everybody that was involved trying to assess what was happening it was frightening. Thank God he ended the right way, but it looked really, really bad.
Were yourself and the club in contact with Raul during his recovery?
Yeah we were. And David was as well because he was really affected by that. We are colleagues at the end, we share the same profession and industry and when something like that happens you are emotional.
Could Wolves finish in the top four?
They look like it, with the way they are playing, the results they are getting and the consistency they are showing that’s for sure. If you look at the last two games and how they played against us they’re gonna be up there
Emile scored again at the weekend. You’ve said in the past if he was going to be a top player he’d need to be more consistent. Are you seeing the output of goals and assists he needs to provide?
Yeah. The numbers should be looking something like this and that’s not a coincidence. He’s practicing every day, he’s working, he’s open, he’s willing to do it because he knows he has the qualities and the capacity to do this. That’s what we have to demand from the players whether they are 19, 20 or 35.
Has something been unlocked in him now, especially after that experience that he had with England?
I think it’s a combination of everything. It’s in his nature. He needs to feel that confidence and trust around the coaching staff that we are the right people to guide him and to take him to the next level, he needs his teammates because they are big contributors to what he can do on that pitch, he needs to feel love, he needs the right environment around him with his family, girlfriend or whatever is next to him. When that happens, you have a good chance.
How has the Amazon documentary impacted you this season?
It’s another experience. I lived it once when I had a different role. At least I knew what it was. It’s a way of telling the people who follow us how we live, how this looks like internally. It has to be natural nobody has to be acting, we just have to be ourselves and tell the story as it happens. This season has been a little bit of a rollercoaster for many situations that we all know and COVID being involved and many restrictions. Hopefully it’s a good story to tell and for people to understand what happens behind the scenes. Sometimes it’s not easy because you feel observed and sometimes that’s in the back of your mind, but you have to let it go and become what it can become.
Will we see a different side to you?
I don’t know. I am who I am when I’m angry, happy or disappointed, I don’t know. I do hide what I feel, but for sure if you follow me for 24 hours, I’m sure you’ll know more about me that’s for sure.
How would you line up against Wolves? Pick your XI below
Jack Wilshere has found a new club in Denmark. What’s your message to him?
First of all thank you for what he’s done all the time with us. It’s been great to have him. I think speaking on behalf of everyone at the club it’s been a pleasure to have Jack back, to enjoy watching him play again next to us, to have him around, his experience for all the young people. Hopefully we have helped him a little bit because he had some doubts over whether to start coaching or continue playing and I think this group of players have given him again that necessity to experience on a daily basis how magnificent it is to feel like a football player. I think he wants to feel that again and I wish him the best.
He seems to have matured a bit since we saw him singing from the open top bus after the 2015 FA Cup doesn’t he?
Yeah. I think he’s come a long way Jack. I don’t think he can lose that spontaneity that he has and that character that he has because it’s part of Jack. Obviously he has come by and he has matured a lot.
Do you think he has what it takes to pursue a career in coaching?
100%. I think everybody at the club will be willing to open the doors for him and try to find a role for him that can work for everybody. I think that will happen naturally in the future.
