Every word from Arteta's post-West Ham presser

After marking his 300th game as our manager in perfect fashion by beating West Ham United 2-0, Mikel Arteta was soon in the Emirates Stadium press conference room to field questions from the media.

He was asked about his latest milestone, what pleased him most about the win as well as the latest on injuries to Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice.

Here's every word Mikel said in the post-match press conference:

on this afternoon’s win:

The last two games have been very special. Newcastle, because we had a history there, a lot of scars and a lot of learnings to take, we put that right. Then we had West Ham, losing two games at home in the previous two seasons. I told them it was a big opportunity, we’ve had very difficult fixtures since the start of the season, and some very bad injuries as well not helping. Still, the team is performing, playing well, winning today with absolute dominance and without conceding a goal. So, good to get to the international break in this spirit

on Odegaard’s injury:

I think he had a clash knee-to-knee and immediately he was uncomfortable. I just spoke to him, he's not positive about it. He's got a brace on, we'll have to wait and see from the doctors. But we haven't been very lucky with that either.

on Odegaard’s bad luck with injuries this season:

We haven't had him since the start of the season for one reason or the other, the shoulder twice and then this injury. So we have to wait and see the extent of that injury. We will find solutions but obviously our captain is a player who gives us a completely different dimension with the things that he can do, especially in attack. Let's wait and hopefully it's not that bad

on Calafiori’s role within the team:

A lot of dynamism, sometimes a bit chaotic but I think his dynamism and the spaces and the situations that he can create are very difficult to control for the opponent, especially against a team that is very well-organised. You have to disrupt their organisation in order to create chances and I think we've done that really well.

on why Rice came off:

He's not all right because he asked me to come off, so that's a shame. He had a pain in his back and he could not carry on which is something very unusual for Declan so we'll have to assess him and see how he is.

on the quality off the bench:

That's what we want but it's not ideal because we had really clear intentions with the line-up, what we wanted to do and that lasted very few minutes because of the injury to Martin but the good thing is we can bring on somebody else and be a little bit different but it's still very, very efficient.

on how pleased he was with Zubimendi’s performance after coming on:

Especially the way they acted and the way they were matching our midfield and the spaces that we could create with Zubi. I think it was better they didn't have an intention to play or combine in the first phase as well so that was great. A lot of direct play, second balls and we wanted to create, to make sure that we could control that, to dominate the game in the areas that we wanted and that's the reason why.

on the new midfield trio today:

We need more and more chemistry and we needed a longer period because the first part, until they start to live it and find the solutions and the tools that are going to allow them to flourish, but it never happened because it was too early with Martin’s injury.

on winning his 300th game in charge:

Very proud - it is a big number for this football club. I want to thank everybody, especially my coaching staff who have been with me since day one. Without them, it's impossible, first of all, to do the job and secondly to enjoy it, so I know that I have the best people in the world around me. Also the players and the staff that have been with me since day one, supporting, helping me to be a better coach, to learn from them, to inspire me and to enjoy the good moments as well. I wanted to celebrate it with a win, I've got it. Now we have an international break to enjoy it and use the time as well to prepare because what's coming before the next break is going to be really difficult again.

on Saka reaching 100 Premier League goal involvements:

When you look at those numbers, 200 games, 100 goal involvements, it's unbelievable. His age, what he's doing, the manner that he's doing it as well, really impressive. That's the kind of players that we need to achieve what we want.

on making a statement in the upcoming fixtures:

We know how difficult those games are going to be but we wanted to come here because we had some very difficult fixtures, playing some of the top teams, some of them away and with some big injuries as well. We had to adjust a lot of things with some players who were coming as well from big injuries and surgeries in the first few weeks of the season. So it's been a challenge but the team has been, I think, very convincing in performances and results and it's a good platform now to continue.

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