Arsenal will challenge West Ham United away in the 36th round of the Premier League. Before the game, Arsenal head coach Arteta attended the press conference. This article is the third part of the press conference.
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Regarding Myles, you mentioned understanding him better. You also talked about Eberechi Eze a few months ago. With regard to Myles, what aspects of him have you understood more as the season has progressed?
Because I need to put on the hat of Myles Lewis-Skelly to understand his feelings. He is a young man who used to play for the U18 and U21 teams, but he hasn't even played for the first team. He was playing a completely different position at the time. He came, he stood out, and he played a completely different position that he had never played before. He was excellent and everyone was talking about him. He went to the representative team, came back from the preseason, and then he began to realize that maybe he wouldn't be a starter. You need to go through these emotions. Not only you, but also the people around you who give you advice. You have to get through that stage, and it's not easy.
I understand this. When everything is going well for you, things are simple, but when things go the other way, the temptation is to start blaming others. I need to understand this, I need to guide him, I need to give him my opinion and tell him why he hasn't gotten so much playing time. He accepted it, although not the first time. After three or four times, I think he realized—well, I don’t think things would have happened if I hadn’t gone this way.
In previous seasons and this season, we often asked about injuries, but as we enter the final stages, only Mikel Merino is out for a long time, and Jurrien Timber has a muscle injury. They are the only two players you are missing, and this time you also have Gabriel available. You also have a center forward available this season. How important is this for your team to enter the final stage?
Very important, it's really great to see and witness the quality of our bench the other night. If you compare this to a year ago, it's a very different picture. We've also been trying to keep more players active in the past week or so, and you can feel that too. I said from the beginning that that was the highest priority . If we have that, we have a better chance of achieving our goals.
Although winning the Premier League game, having the ultimate ultimate goal is crucial , will the players feel that every game is almost a rehearsal for the final, a preview for getting into the starting lineup in your mind ?
I don’t think they would think that way, because they know that the rehearsal is done in training every day, and everything they do is giving us a headache, just like they have done all season, but especially in the past few weeks. Okay, what's the best starting lineup and what's the best way to finish the game?
In recent games, we have seen more connections between Ben White and Saka on the right. To what extent is it an advantage to be able to have them play together again?
Yes, when you talk about the right, I think the amount of time they've played together this season has been very little for different reasons. That's great, they have a very good connection, very good understanding, they have played together for many years, and you can perceive and notice this in a very positive way.
Regarding Jurrien Timber, I think people expected him to only be out for a few days at the time. Was the injury much more complicated than expected?
Yes, it's probably the most difficult thing to manage, both for the player and for myself, because we didn't expect it to take so long, and he's not fit to play a game at the moment.