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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