Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reflects on their 2-1 loss at home to Fulham.

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Watch Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reflects on their 2-1 loss at home to Fulham. - NicheSportMedia on Dailymotion

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00:00Hi everyone, if you have a question, raise your hand and we'll come to you.

00:20A beautiful moment to see how much our people love, respect and admire Bukayo. He's not

00:39a surprise to any of us and I think the best example is his reaction. Immediately after

00:44scoring a goal, what does he do? He goes and says thank you for all the hard work that

00:49all the sports science guys, physios and everybody involved in the recovery has done for him

00:54to be able to be in the condition that he is. I think he lifted the stadium, the energy

00:59and I'm great to have him back.

01:02How was he feeling afterwards?

01:04He was very positive. The first one is always the one, how am I going to feel? Because now

01:10I have different opposition in front of me, different demands and pressure and he dealt

01:16with it really well. As you said, the downside to that is Gabi and Jurgen. We don't know

01:21how they're going to be. We'll be assessing them tomorrow and understand better how we

01:26are with those two.

01:28What are your impressions of Gabi?

01:35With both of them, because there are two players in this team that never want to come off.

01:41Gabi felt something in his hamstring. We don't know how big that is and with Jurgen as well.

01:46He was already struggling very early in the game. He managed to continue and at some point

01:52he couldn't. That's the downside to it.

01:55So Jurgen was it?

01:57No, Jurgen was the knee.

02:00They've been so important for you defensively, haven't they? Clearly, we could ask you about

02:05a week to round with it.

02:10The good thing is that it's been like this the whole season. You see Martinelli today

02:15and say we missed him three months. You see Bukayo four months, Kai four months, Jesus

02:21almost the whole season. How we have managed to be where we are with all those injuries.

02:26Ben White hasn't participated at all this season. It's what it is. We want it so much

02:32that we're going to give it a real go and we are very excited for the next week.

02:36You just touched on the issues of the attack at the end of the pitch and now having the

02:42selection issues in defence. How much of a worry is that with the game so close?

02:49You can imagine we lost four players in the defensive line in one week. So Calafioli,

02:54Ben White, Jurgen and Magallanes. We have still another four that are so bloody willing

03:03that they will do the job.

03:05You mentioned right at the start that Bukayo went to all the fitness guys and on the camera

03:12we could see him hugging Sam Wilson. I was wondering if you could talk about how important

03:17Sam and people like Sam as well are in those kind of weeks coming up to players coming

03:22back to fitness?

03:23Listen, as a manager I think and being part of the staff we all love this kind of recognition

03:30and gestures because it goes beyond the professional side of it. There is a connection there that

03:36is so necessary and for people to appreciate as well. The amount of work and stress as

03:42well and responsibility that they have to go through because they will be like this.

03:46I hope everything goes well and the work that we've done is going to work. So I was very

03:51pleased with that.

03:52I take it there's probably a lot of times where it's just those two alone at the training

03:56ground together when maybe he's getting back on the grass and kind of getting back closer

04:02to fitness.

04:03Yeah and that's why the emotional part is so important because you can do all the physical

04:06work and all the conditioning but you need to leave the players. Four months is a long

04:11time and there are moments that we travel and we go to play Champions League and you

04:15are there for two days, you are on your own in the training ground and it's not easy.

04:20I think they could get swallowed up in Saka and the injuries but Nick Amorino scored I

04:26think his fifth goal in eight games playing at centre forward. That must really please

04:30you knowing that he's playing out of position.

04:32He does yeah but he's got that capacity to score goals, to send the danger and to move

04:38in the right moments into the right spaces. Today was a different goal but then you ask

04:43him to play as an eight and he does it perfectly and understands the timing, the position,

04:47the run, so good. It's a joy to have players like this. I saw Ethan as well, he had some

04:53really good moments. Martinelli I think was superb as well. You see how much we missed

04:58him, that threat, that attacking purpose that he has every time he's on the ball. Some good

05:03performances.

05:06You mentioned you've had to deal with injuries all season. Have you ever noticed anything

05:11like this?

05:13No, especially because there have been some big, big players in very, very critical positions

05:20and affecting a whole line. We have a lot of good news as well. Look at Miles, look

05:27at Ethan, look at other players doing other stuff. That's it.

05:31How hard has it been to plan and strategise when you lose players like that?

05:37It's scratching your head. I'm having the next few games the same. At the same time

05:44it's been a great learning experience for us and all the coaches and staff to manage

05:49that situation. At the end the players are going to react to how we react to it. If you

05:54start to feel sorry for yourself and say it's impossible how we're going to do this, it

05:57will be impossible. These boys don't give you the reason to act like that and look where

06:04we are. And we are in April.

06:08This could now be a really massive week for Jakub Kubiak. He hasn't played much football

06:13but how confident are you that you can throw him in against the likes of Everton or Real Madrid?

06:19The good thing with Jakub is that he's been very reliable. Every time we need him he's

06:22always there, he's available. He does his job. We ask him to play as a left centre-back,

06:27as a right centre-back, as a left full-back. He's ready. He was with a smile on his face.

06:32It's sad for Gabi but he really wanted to play as well and he will be fine.

06:38Jakub will be up for the challenge of coming up against some of the best clubs in the world?

06:43If you ask the dressing room how much they want to play the next two games and the Real

06:47Madrid game, believe me, everybody wants to be on that pitch.

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