Every word Arteta said on Champions League return and Martinelli's derby chances

Debut as a Champions League manager, can you sum up how you feel? Proud and excited I would say. It’s been a long time for the club since we’ve been in the competition and obviously the first time for me as a manager as well. Really looking forward to it. Can you sense it around the training ground? Yes, and we’ve been chasing it and fighting for it and now we’ve got it. Now we have to make the most out of it and it starts at home. I’m sure our all supporters will be really excited for it and to manage that and to as well enjoy the challenge. On Gabriel Martinelli Yeah, he felt something in his hamstring and we need to do some further tests to see if there’s some big damage or not but he will be out for tomorrow’s game that’s for sure. North London Derby, will he be ready? It’s a possibility we don’t know yet. As I said we need some more tests and then see what happens. If you’re asked who will start up front, in midfield, in defence, goalkeeper, you won’t tell me? Same answer. Are you confident with this Arsenal side with this group? Well, that’s what we want to do and this is football. Tomorrow we are going to play against a really good team, they’ve not lost a game they’ve won the majority of their games. They’re used to winning like every other team that is in the Champions League and it will be a really tough test I am sure about that. A young squad, but with Jorginho and Havertz who have won it before, how important is their experience? It’s great to have a mixture and the excitement that creates to play for the first time, I sense it. There are players that have played for many years, some of them have won it. It just makes that it that experience and desire to make your debut in the right, to perform at the highest level. In terms of the goalkeeping situation, are you surprised at the reaction? No, because I respect opinions as well and I understand the questions and I understand historically what happens and for me there is nothing different. We’ve been doing it for many years, when Bernd [Leno] was here we brought Aaron [Ramsdale] and I don’t see any difference. But it's my job, I have to answer the questions in the best possible way, in the most honest way. As a manager I have to do what I feel and what I feel is that always is the best for the team and for the club, not for Mikel that’s for sure. Importance of the fans and their role for the Champions League night? We will see tomorrow night but I am sure it will be an incredible atmosphere they’ll create a special night. I’ve played a few of them with the club and I have special memories about them so I’m waiting for it. Can you describe the role Odegaard has had in the rebuilding process of this club? Well he’s our captain, a really important player for us and a player that has developed, evolved and been in this journey for us together for a few years. He’s been instrumental in everything that we’ve done, starting to build the culture that we wanted and recruit the profile and the players with the right specificity to play what we want to play and obviously the level he has performed at in a really consistent way. Mohamed Elneny is the only player who remains from Arsenal’s last Champions League squad. He’s still young though. He’s in a good place. It’s been a while and it’s been a really significant injury but I think he’s in the latter stages of that rehab process. He’s been training now for almost two weeks with the team and he’s in a good place and it's always great to have him around. Could the occasion be too much for some of the players making their first appearance in the competition. I hope not. We have to treat it like every other game. We are used to playing top opposition every week in the Premier League and tomorrow again, we’re going to have a top side fighting against us and the good thing that we experience that every three or four days in the Premier League. What response have you seen from Aaron since he was dropped? Honestly, I don’t want to talk about the response of every single player in the squad whether they play or not. Is Fabio Vieira more confident now he's playing? That was my fault. I said that many times, I haven't played him enough. He hasn't had enough room in the team with the competitions that we play to participate more, but we see every day the talent he has got and what he can bring to the team. I was really happy with his performance at the weekend. Is that the juggling act now: rotate while giving consistency? To be happy they have to play and they have to feel important, valued and that we trust them. It is the only way to do it. I will try to do that in the best possible way and maximise their performance. Are there any moments from the last couple Champions League that stick in your mind? Every time that I watched it and we weren't there I felt it. I think you put pressure on yourself you know? This club has to win the Champions League and when I have the job that I have, the responsibility to try and bring the club to the biggest stages, the biggest tournament and then be fighting for them. It was a process, but we are here and now we have to make the most of it. How much did missing out on qualifying have an effect on things? I think it's a learning process always when you don't achieve what you have in your hands. You have to take some learnings and some lessons from it I think we did. We got better as a team and we did the right things as well to improve the squad and now we are here. And we deserve to be here. After losing to Sporting, Villarreal and Olympiacos do you feel like you've got something to prove in Europe now? Every day you have something to prove. It's the sport, that's the thing, tomorrow we have to prove, I have to prove that we have prepared in the best possible way. And we are giving the players the best possible chance to win the game, that's the reality in the sport. What characteristic differences are there between Raya and Ramsdale that would make you choose one over the other for certain fixtures? It's something that I'm not going to get into. I don't speak about how Eddie [Nketiah] is to Martinelli or to Reiss Nelson or to whoever. Every player has a different personality and different characteristics. On PSV, what do you think of Hirving Lozano? A good signing? Every player is dangerous at this level, and tomorrow we will have a lot of things that we have to control. I think the main thing is that we focus on ourselves and that we play at the level that we have to play at to earn the right to win the game.
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