Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has spoken to the media before Saturday’s Premier League game against Brighton at Emirates Stadium (kick-off 15:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On team news after the Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace: “[Gabriel] Martinelli is more a knock, and he wasn’t comfortable to carry on after the second half. With Piero [Hincapie], something different because he picked up an injury against Everton.”
Arteta said centre-back Gabriel has “not trained yet” and is still “doing his rehab”, but hopes to have him back for selection “as quick as possible because we know the situation”.
On managing Gabriel Jesus’ workload: “He’s very fit – we’ve been gradually increasing his minutes. [Against Palace], as long as he was OK, everybody was happy to let him go. Before we started to take risks and get him into fatigue mode, we took him off but very happy.”
On Arsenal’s chances of winning the quadruple: “I just think about going home, having some rest, enjoying one day and starting to talk about Brighton. So that’s what we have to do. It’s great [to have that winning mentality] and we are here.”
Arteta said he “remembers very well” last season’s meeting with Brighton at Emirates Stadium where Declan Rice was sent off and Arsenal were forced to settle for a draw.
He expressed his frustration at the incident where Rice received a second yellow card for delaying a Brighton free-kick: “I think the rules are different now. We played a big price with that rule.”
On Brighton: “It’s a club that I admire a lot, and what they’ve done over the last 10 years is incredible. They have had different managers over five years, who came in and brought some very different ideas. A lot of energy, a really, really committed team, and they look very, very together. A lot of quality, they can play in different ways and they have versatile players and so it’s going to be a tough match.”
Listen to full commentary of Arsenal v Brighton on BBC Radio 5 Live from 15:00 GMT on Saturday
