Arteta: How to Stop Chelsea's Moisés Caicedo? It's a Team Responsibility

On September 6 at 23:30 CEST (Beijing time), Arsenal will host Chelsea in the 3rd round of the Premier League. Before the match, Arsenal manager Arteta held a press conference. This is the first part of the press conference.

Hello Mikel, as usual, we need to ask you about the inevitable team news and latest injury updates. Could you give us more details?

Sure, of course.

When we allowed the media to film training yesterday, Guimarães was already on the training pitch. Is everything alright?

Yes, he's absolutely fine. He took a knock in the last match against Aston Villa, and we assessed the injury, but he should be able to participate in full team training tomorrow without any issues.

And Mosquera? He obviously wasn't at training yesterday. How is he?

His absence from training yesterday was more of a precautionary measure than due to any serious injury. So we'll need to observe how he feels and get his feedback during tomorrow's training.

So is Ngoyo fit and ready to start in this match?

Well, he's definitely available in the squad now. So we have to make specific starting lineup decisions based on our overall tactical setup.

Do we have a chance to see Timber play in this match? I'd love to see Timber back on the pitch making those wonderful cuts and turns...

Yes, he's actually in very good competitive shape right now. As I said before, he's been back in training for several weeks and has been fully integrated into our first-team training, so he's in a very good position.

Do you think it's possible he could be included in the final squad and play in Sunday's match?

After tomorrow's training, we'll make another decision based on his latest condition.

Regarding Saliba, his injury recovery seems to be taking longer, but he was included in the Champions League squad, which must be very exciting and encouraging news, right?

Yes, actually, we can't know exactly how many more weeks he'll be out, because each individual's physical recovery and healing process is completely different. We know we must respect certain specific scientific recovery timelines, and although his recovery has progressed very positively in recent weeks, we still need to wait patiently and observe how his bones react as they gradually begin to handle training loads. However, based on the information we have now, including him in the Champions League squad was an extremely straightforward decision. Yes, it really was, and we also had sufficient squad spots available to do it.

The transfer window has finally closed now. Are you happy or relieved about it?

That's how it is; when the transfer window closes is not something we decide. I think we all know that when a decision needs to be made about the transfer window closing, it's made. And now the situation has become extremely clear. Every club's squad is fully defined, and we can finally redirect all our attention back to the pitch.

Especially on the final day of the transfer window, there seemed to be some panic at certain clubs, potentially leading them to overpay for players who may not have been worth the price, but Arsenal didn't get caught up in that panic. Has Arsenal reached a certain level in world football where you only target the most elite talent, and if there isn't a truly suitable deal, you don't feel compelled to sign someone just for the sake of it?

I don't know, I think each period, each transfer scenario, and each club's specific situation are different. Sometimes you really need to react quickly because unexpected things happen, and you have to be ready all the time. So I think every specific transfer case is completely different.

There are reports of a clause in Nwaneri's contract that allows him to be recalled in January. Is that a likely scenario or a future option?

Let's wait and see. Right now, for Nwaneri, the focus is for him to go there, play for a team with an incredible club atmosphere, an excellent development environment, and a Champions League stage ahead of them. He needs to dedicate all his talent to Borussia Dortmund, and then we'll see what happens next.

Of course, that also means he could potentially face Arsenal in the Champions League in the future?

Yes, that has indeed become a possibility now. He'll have more space to develop, facing a completely different tactical role than in the Premier League, so yes, that's true.

Right, let's talk about Chelsea. Their attacking trio is now jokingly referred to as "J.P. Morgan"...

J.P. Morgan? Okay.

Yes, meaning Palmer, João (Pedro) and Morgan (Caicedo)...

Yes, I got it. I understood the joke quickly. Thanks for clarifying! (everyone laughed)

But facing an attacking line like theirs, is your defensive strategy to "keep them out of the bank" (still playing with the banking pun here)?

No, there's no "banking" on anything here (laughs). Yes, defending Chelsea's attackers is clearly a collective defensive responsibility for the entire team, not just an issue for the back line.

I think you could also come up with a finance-style name for your attacking trio, the three players who played until the final whistle against Aston Villa... What surprised me was: Saka, Eze and Havertz, which spells "SEEK". Is it because of this extremely high quality in attack that you don't need to seek new offensive reinforcements in the transfer market?

(Arteta held back laughter for a long time but couldn't help himself) I didn't think so deeply, let alone engage in such lexical analysis of names to draw such conclusions. But I must emphasize that I really love the players we currently have—there's no doubt about that.

Obviously, you have "Goldman Saka" (playing on Saka's name and Goldman Sachs), who has been very reliable over the last two weeks. This is another financial pun...

(Arteta started to hold back laughter again, and this time he managed to) Yes, he's been very reliable over the last two weeks. I don't know how many more weeks are left in this season, but his performance has been brilliant.

Traduzido por IA.

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