Chelsea boss Maresca on challenge of facing Arsenal, pressure on Mikel Arteta and race for European qualification (Full Presser)

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca previews their Premier League clash with Arsenal, the pressure on Mikel Arteta and discusses the race for European qualification and the fitness of his squad Stamford Bridge, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Arsenal have had a manager for more than five years now, and that's a sign that they're

00:29making progress. He's been under pressure a lot lately, Mikel Arteta, because he's not

00:37won a trophy apart from the FA Cup when he first took over. Is it a sign of strength

00:42or a sign of weakness from the Arsenal board that they've not made that change, or how

00:47do you read that from the Arsenal board, that they've stuck with him?

00:50I'm focused about Chelsea and about Arsenal, and not about Mikel.

00:53Okay, but you've mentioned it yourself prior to this, you've talked about Arsenal and the

00:59fact that they've had the manager for a long, long time, so you've spoken about it before.

01:03What's your take on the fact that they've stuck with him for so long? Is it a good sign

01:07for managers as a whole that clubs can be this patient?

01:11It's a question for the Arsenal board.

01:13Okay, but you have spoken about it before though, that's why I've asked.

01:17Yeah, I just said that Arsenal have had the same manager for the last five years. Then

01:21if it's correct or not, it's no question for me.

01:22So is it still a team that Chelsea would aspire to be like, that you would like Chelsea to

01:28be more like, to follow that model? You've said that before.

01:32Chelsea is going to follow the model that they want to follow. They don't need to copy

01:36Arsenal.

01:37How big do you think the gap is between Chelsea and Arsenal right now?

01:43It's quite big. The reason why is because they are working with the same manager for

01:48five years, so the difference is quite important. With the same players, they already played

01:54for some important games. But our target, our duty is to close that gap between us and

02:01them. In this moment, the table just said that the difference between us and them is

02:06I think six points, if I'm not wrong. So we are quite close, but we have still nine games

02:12to go.

02:13You've got a good chance of winning a competition this year in Europe, but if you did qualify

02:17for the Champions League next season via the league, would that feel like a trophy in itself?

02:23In this moment, we have two targets. That is to finish top four or top five for the

02:27Champions League, and the other one is the conference. This club used to play final and

02:34fight for titles, so if we are able to give to the fans and to the club, again, this chance

02:42to fight for titles, I think it's important for us.

02:46Has the 5-0 from last season, even though it was before your time, been watched in detail

02:52and used as a motivating factor?

02:58No, we played the first leg at home here, I think it was 1-1. We played a very good

03:03game and I didn't use for any motivation last year's game.

03:08Can I just ask you as well about goalkeepers? You had said Philippe Jorgensen was the Premier

03:14League goalkeeper playing tonight. Is Rob Sanchez likely to play in that game?

03:20Yes, it will be Robert playing against Arsene.

03:22Do you expect any changes of goalkeeper now in the Premier League between now and the

03:25LEC?

03:26Since we started, the idea was not to change keeper, but sometimes you have to modify,

03:30you have to be flexible with your idea. We do this in the game plan, we do this the way

03:35we want to attack, the way we want to defend, but also we need to be flexible on players.

03:40I think Robert needs some days off or at least rest mentally. Now he's back, hopefully we

03:50are not going to change until the end. Also because I said many times, we are quite happy

03:54with both keepers.

03:55You said you're only six points behind Arsenal, could be three on Sunday. Are they catchable

04:02in second place?

04:03Yes, they can be nine. At the moment they are six. We are not focused on if they can

04:10be three or nine or six. We are just focused on how we can do our game, how we can try

04:15to beat them and then hopefully we can do that and we can be more close.

04:19On the run you're on, could be a target for you now?

04:26Yes, it could be a target for sure. It's our duty to do our best, but at the same time

04:33I think the target for us is the Sunday game and then game after game to see how we can

04:39go close.

04:40Is it realistic that you can go away to Arsenal to play them at the Emirates?

04:56If it can be realistic.

04:58Do you think it's realistic for your team to go away to Arsenal?

05:02But the intention will be that. Then if we are able or not, it depends a lot on the opponent.

05:07They just said to me that Pedro Neto tonight did the sprint, the quick sprint and the long

05:13sprint, 90 minutes. I don't know if you remember the sprint that he did at the end. But the

05:17reason why was because we were sitting back, we were at the edge of our box. So if we plan

05:22the game sitting back and wait, for sure our strikers, wingers, they are going to do 20

05:29sprints for 60, 70 metres. But when you play most of your game on the opposite side, there

05:34is no space to do that kind of sprint. So Arsenal, our plan is to control the game,

05:39but also it's a team that they are going to try to press high and they are going to try

05:43to be aggressive and probably we have more space to attack in behind.

05:46You mentioned it a bit just before about the results, won four in a row now. But I don't

05:57know if you feel the team have turned a corner from the recent one. Do you feel like you

06:04won four games in a row now and the team have turned a corner and put that winter blip behind

06:10you?

06:11No, I try to judge game after game. I think we lost some games where we didn't deserve

06:16to lose. I still remember probably Bournemouth away that we won but we didn't deserve to

06:22win. But also we dropped points in games that we deserved points. Villa away, I think

06:28we deserved points for sure. But it's football. Now it's four games in a row, but it doesn't

06:34mean that now we are going to win all the games or we are going to lose all the games.

06:38It's just game by game.

06:39Now the important thing is that we are almost in April, quarter-final, fourth in the league

06:44and hopefully we can, as I said many times, we can bring this club where this club belongs

06:49to. That is a different competition and we are going to try to do our best.

06:53When you look at the games that they've missed, that seems to correlate with some of the more

07:02difficult results that the team have had. How important is that?

07:05Absolutely.

07:06Is it the way your team plays?

07:07No, absolutely. It's not an excuse, it's reality. But for us it's for all the club. When you

07:11lose an important player, for some moment of the season we lost three players that they

07:17are the ones that score more goals. Nico, injury, Noni Madoueke injury and Kool that

07:23in this moment is struggling to score goals. So we are in the last four or five weeks,

07:28the three guys that score more goals for us, two of them are not available, one is available

07:33but he's a bit unlucky, he's missing goals. But there are more players that are doing

07:38well.

07:40Arsenal obviously don't have any fit strikers, yourselves don't have any fit strikers, so

07:46a striker's London derby. How weird is that, planning tactically and how much do you relish

07:54going up against Arteta and seeing who's tactics come out?

07:58It's quite strange for both because we have all of them injured but I think they are trying

08:06to find a solution, we are trying to find a solution at the same time. Pedro, since

08:10we started, is doing very well in that position. We'll see if Sunday we use Pedro there or

08:17we change something, we're going to see. But for sure, as I said before, all the clubs

08:23during the season, they have moments where they have injury, so they need to adapt, they

08:27need to be flexible and try to find a solution.

08:30When you were at West Ham, you would have come across Declan Rice when he was much younger.

08:35Did you, at the time, see a 100 million pound player? And also, just for Sunday, how do

08:40you see the way to stop him?

08:44A top player.

08:46Did you see him becoming this good when he was at that age?

08:49In this moment, he's a top player.

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