How big of a moment in your season does this feel?
Well, we have the opportunity to get into a final, which will get us closer to a title, against a big opponent, in our stadium with our people. We are very excited to play the game.
How important will the fans be tomorrow night?
They are able to change the energy, the momentum of the game, give a massive lift to the players, give them confidence. So If they can drive the team the way they’ve been doing recently that will be incredibly helpful to give them the best possible chance to get in that final.
How good has the atmosphere been at the Emirates this season?
To play in that stadium when you have your people next to you with how they’ve been, really encouraging and loud, really creating a bond with the time, it makes a huge difference. It’s one of the best atmospheres I’ve seen for many years at the Emirates and I’ve been in a few of those. So just thank you to the fans and the support they’ve given the team.
Can you give us an overview of how your player availability has transformed over the past few days?
I can’t and I don’t want to because I don’t want to give anything away, I’m sorry. There are issues and those issues haven’t been resolved that’s why we couldn’t play the last game. But as you can understand we want to keep that internal.
Are there any doubts that the game could not go ahead tomorrow?
I hope there is no more news from tomorrow and the game can be played. This is the way we have prepared.
How are Emile Smith Rowe, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Martin Odegaard in terms of availability?
Again, there are three cases that for different reasons haven’t been able to play for us in recent weeks. We are trying to change and raise the level of those players to the best possible level to compete tomorrow.
Antonio Conte talked of the North London Derby postponement as being strange and surprising. Do you think it was?
We didn’t have the players necessary to put a squad that was able to compete in a Premier League match. That is 100% guaranteed. But I think this situation is a no-win situation. When we played the first three games of the season, while other teams were postponing matches, and we played and we tried to play, we were killed because people said ‘don’t be naive because you have that many players out don’t play with your kids’. Now we postpone the match for all the right reasons believe me and as well you get those reactions. But I think they are normal.
Can you understand the criticism that COVID cases are not the determining factor in these cancellations?
I don’t know if I understand. What I’m telling you is what we’ve done. When other teams have come to us and said we cannot play and we need the game to be postponed, we have never, ever publicly questioned any of that. And we will not because that’s why we have the Premier League the FA and the regulators to consider and to find out and to do the due diligence necessary – which is a lot – to try to postpone the match and maintain the fairness of the competition.
Can you update us on where Aubameyang is right now and his medical situation?
Yeah, he’s in London and going through some examinations because we haven’t had any clarity from the Gabon national team about the reasons why he came back. So, obviously, it’s our obligation to make sure he’s safe and in good condition and not any issues related to that and try to avoid any suggestion that that’s the case because so far historically with everything we’ve done with the player he’s never had an issue. So hopefully that’s the case.
Is it a missed opportunity for him to have put himself back in your thoughts?
That’s the situation that we have. He contracted COVID and the national team decided to bring him back here. That’s where we are. Let’s do the right step, let’s do the right examinations and make sure the player’s health is in the best condition. We will see what happens.
Could Thomas Partey be available for Burnley on Sunday after Ghana went out of AFCON?
Well, they played last night. It was a huge disappointment for Tommy obviously to represent his country in this period with big games. He’s out now so he needs to be fully involved now with Arsenal. When? As soon as possible.
Have you had any new COVID cases?
No.
What are your thoughts on the scale of the criticism when the North London Derby was postponed?
We’ve been very consistent. We played against Forest when we had 10 players out and we tried to play and we tried to play the next game. We went to Liverpool and we had many players out. When it got to a point when we could not put a squad available with the numbers required to play a game in this league that’s when we didn’t play. Simple as that.
What do you say to people who say you should have just played the academy kids?
I just go back to the facts. We have done that and we have played with academy players and we have played with 18-year-old, 19-year-old players when we already have the youngest squad in the league. So I think we’ve been through that. We have to be consistent and I think we’ve been really consistent. Tomorrow if we have the players available as I suspect to play the match, we will play the match because we want to play football.
Are you saying it’s important for the integrity of the competition to have the best players on the pitch?
I don’t think we’re going to get our way all the time here. We just expect that people follow the rules, that we’re honest and we try to maintain the integrity of the competition at the highest standard because this is what we are obligated to do with the rules that we have in this league. We have to always make decisions on that line.
Are Liverpool favourites with all the injuries you have?
We’re going to pick the strongest 11 we have for tomorrow night with one intention – to turn up there and after the final whistle be at Wembley and in the final.
Managers around the league are saying the rules need to be more transparent now on postponements. Do you agree?
Yes, but I think you have to do that from the beginning. To ask somebody halfway to change, when I want to be transparent I am transparent and when I don’t want to be transparent I’m not transparent, is tricky and is a little bit manipulative. I think everybody has to try to do the right thing and if we have to change things let’s change them. But let’s all act in the same way.
What do you make of people questioning why Arsenal under-23s could play last night when the first team couldn’t?
There are a lot of things we cannot control. Those fixture lists are already set. Then we have the same problems. We have players that have the same issues with vaccination, we have players that for different reasons are coming from loan and they are in our list, but we just brought them back in because they are injured and it’s our responsibility. So the whole thing is pretty tricky to manage.
Pep Lijnders has said he felt Liverpool were written off after the first leg result. What’s your response to that?
I would love to feel that way. It’s a game to play, it’s just half-time. There is another very competitive match to be played and as I said before we will play to be in that final.
Have you got a strong enough squad to last if you need to go to extra time and penalties?
We will have the players that we have. Whether we play 90, 120 minutes or penalties we’ll do so only with players that have the belief that we can win that game and play the importance of that game. That’s it.
It would be fantastic if you could get to another final at Wembley and win another trophy wouldn’t it?
Absolutely. This is why we’re here. To bring success and trophies and joy to our people and keep doing what this club has historically always done. That’s our aim.
Does the reaction to the Spurs postponement show that there’s a lot of hate for Arsenal again?
I don’t know. I think more than hate there is a lot of respect for Arsenal and that comes from the history of the club, how it’s always acted, how it’s always behaved and how it’s always conducted itself in many different moments, in high moments and in low moments. We need to keep doing that. We know we did the right thing. We worked together with the Premier League and the FA to make that decision and to explain the reasons why. I think if anything we’ve been very honest at least.
In the past, managers would use the fact that people don’t like the club as a positive. Will you do the same?
Absolutely. We will defend our club with teeth and nails. We’re not going to get anybody damaging our name or trying to lie about things that haven’t occurred. When we make mistakes we’ll put our hands up, but we will defend our club in a really strong way.
Why have you decided that Sead Kolasinac and Pablo Mari are no longer needed at the club?
For different reasons. With Kola the game time he’s had has made it really difficult for him to be in the team. His contract was ending in the summer so we believed it was the right option to execute that possibility. He wanted to go, he had a good option and it was a good option for the club. With Pablo it was much trickier. But again with the injuries and the history he’s had since he’s joined. He’s a phenomenal professional and he hasn’t had the minutes again this season and it was going to be difficult for him to play more minutes and a good opportunity came. We have to be open to that.
You brought Miguel Azeez and Tyreece John-Jules back from loan. Will they go straight into the first-team squad?
Miguel had COVID so he’s not been involved at all. Tyreece we brought him back for different reasons. In the loan spell things we wanted to achieve were not happening so we decided to call them back, sit down, think and talk about what the best option is going forward. Within the context we are in as well, if they can help with numbers then good.
Could they go out on loan again?
It’s a possibility. We’re going to explore now when we have some normality, after the Burnley game we have a break and the transfer window starts to shut what the best options are for Tyreece and Miguel.
