After watching his side cruise through to the Carabao Cup semi-final with a 5-1 win over Sunderland, Mikel Arteta was quizzed on hat-trick hero Eddie Nketiah, goal-scoring debutant Charlie Patino and the continued absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Here’s what the boss had to say to Sky Sports…
On maintaining momentum…
Yes, it was great, we’re in the semi-finals. That’s what it was all about today. We had some phases in the first half, we started ok, scored two goals and then started not to respect our basics well enough and we had a period where we suffered. We picked the level up in the second half and we won.
On Nketiah’s hat-trick…
It’s what he does every day in training, put the ball in the net. I think I’ve been very consistent with what I think about Eddie, how much we like him and the contribution to the team each time he plays is top.
On persuading Eddie to stay…
That’s what I want, his only thing is that he wants more minutes. That’s the decider. It’s difficult to go against him. As a club, and me personally, I really want him to stay here and that’s what we’re trying to do.
On Eddie having more of a chance given Auba is sidelined…
Eddie is our player and a really important part of the squad.
On what pleased him most about the performance…
That we were very efficient in the final third and especially in front of goal.
On Patino not disappointing on his debut…
No, he didn’t. He’s a player with a lot of personality. I’m delighted for him. He’s a kid that we like so much and to have his debut like that and score a goal is something special.
On whether we’ll see Aubameyang in upcoming matches…
He wasn’t selected for today’s match.
On the semi-final potentially being a single leg [vs two]…
Let’s wait and see. I understand with the fixtures that have been postponed that there are issues. We’ll see what happens.
The thing is with Eddie, is he an Arteta striker? Can you see him doing what Laca does at the moment? Is he able to shield the ball and link up play?
If he does stay, I could see Eddie becoming a Solskjaer esque player for us. Which is so valuable to have. But as a first choice, I just can’t see it ever happening.
What do you choose? First teamer at Wolves or Brighton? Or super sub at the Arsenal?
I know which I would choose.
I agree with your comment bar one thinky. Nketiah would be a starter only on a handful og PL teams and definitely not at wolves and Brighton
Arteta kind of said Eddie is an Arteta striker.
You’d chose Arsenal, right?
Fuck yeah
Single leg semi final would be so nice. It makes so much sense I’m guessing the fa will probably do the opposite and add a third leg for good measure.
I looked up Patino’s name because I’m weird and I like finding out about the origins of names. I wondered if it was a diminiutive of Pato (duck), you know like that AC Milan striker Alexander Duck. And..
Galician (Patiño): from a diminutive of pato ‘duck’, hence a nickname, for instance denoting a person who waddled.
I love to think of his much maligned Galician ancestors looking down on his performance : “we’re not f-ing waddling now”
Fuck, now Arteta is talking about cooking him
Keep on enjoying the win.
They said on commentary his dad is Spanish.
The way Arteta answers some questions though…
‘Will Eddie have more of a chance given Auba is sidelined?’
‘Eddie is our player…’ 😅
I hope Auba does not become the new Ozil. On the issue of pushing big players out of the team, Arteta is behaving like someone who spends much more money than he has.
Ozil pushed himself out of the team. So did Guendouzi. Auba is doing the same. It was foolish to offer him that last contract. Good players, yes, but they were doing things that this manager was not going to tolerate. I think he was right. As for money, Stan has plenty of that. Here’s hoping our finish this season convinces him that buying and/or keeping the players Arteta wants is a good investment.
Booooriiiing.
I just can’t see what Eddie brings to the table beyond the end of this season. If only we could have got ££ for him in the summer.
MA uses many words, yet says nothing. Very much AW like. And I like it. Learned from the best.
Eddie is very much a “fox in the box” and clearly a goalscorer but does he fit into the Arsenal philosphy? Not sure. I only remember one other similar player wearing the shirt and I’ve been a Gooner since 1970. That was Franny Jeffers and he never really made it because he didn’t fit into AWs team structure. I hope MA can find a way of integrating EN into our young team. If I was EN I’d think long and hard about moving on as this young team has so much potential. Post match on Sky last night Paul Merson… Read more »