Every word Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said on Edu departure, Odegaard return and Rice injury

What are your emotions after Edu’s departure?

Yeah, everything happened very quickly. Obviously I loved working with him, I really enjoyed being alongside him in this incredible journey. from day one, we've been together. First of all I'm very grateful personally for what everything has done for me and for the amazing work that he's done for the football club.

I think we both had this special chemistry working together, we really both enjoyed our roles and working together. I'm very blessed that he's been part of my life in such a beautiful place that I am right now, managing this incredible club and he's been a massive part of that. He's had an amazing opportunity now to do something else in a different role and he believes that it's the right professional move for him.

We have to respect that and from the bottom of my heart I think everybody really feels that we want the best for him and that's it.

What would you say to any supporters who are concerned that Edu's departure might stop the progress that you've been making over the last few years?

The plan and the vision that starts with ownership that is very clear and very ambitious is going to continue. We have a very strong leadership team with an unbelievable know-how, a real passion and great feelings for the football club that we're not going to stop where we are at the moment.

Then across the club, the excitement, the passion, the understanding of where we want to take this journey remains intact. That means opportunities as well for somebody else to come and fulfil their role. A lot of people that Edu has brought alongside him in this journey which is always very important.

We move on. We say thank you and we have to move on because that's the reality of our industry.

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How's Martin’s injury and how is Declan?

The positive news is that Martin is great to have him back. He's trained with us for the first time. A full session today. He felt good. He's a bit earlier than we expected but he wanted to be with the team so we'll decide tomorrow whether to use him or not but at least it's a big step that he's travelled with us and is part of the team.

Declan, unfortunately, picked an injury during the match against Newcastle. He was able to finish the game but he wasn't feeling good in the last few days. so we'll have to assess him on Thursday and understand whether he's going to be fit or not for the weekend.

You've obviously had a fantastic couple of years, Mikel, really taking the club forward. Do you feel a little bit more pressure?

Absolutely. My blood is pumping. This is the kind of game that we want to play. To come to Milan to play Inter, two years ago they were the final in the Champions League. They won the Scudetto last year and to come here and show the team that we are in right now and the ambition that we have. These are the games that we want to play, that's for sure.

UEFA have announced that there will be a period of silence before the games for the events in Valencia and Spain. How important is it that football marks these moments?

It's great because we need a lot of support. We need noise around what happened because obviously the situation has been extremely difficult for a lot of families, for a lot of people. But especially that difficulty is going to continue for months. So that support is going to be, has to be consistent and the more aware we make people, the better because more help and support they're going to have. So thanks for that.

What does Kiwior have to do to play more?

Especially do all the qualities that he had and put them at the service of the team. That's it, when he has the opportunity to play those minutes, show that he's got the level that we believe he has to perform and help us to win football matches. That's it.

With everything that's happened over the course of the last few weeks, whether it's the recent results in the Premier League, the news about Edu this week, coming here without Declan Rice, Chelsea coming up on Sunday, what do you describe this as?

With everything that we've been through here, four or five years, what a great place we are in. Because we've been with problems of all kinds in this football club for many years and we are in an incredible moment right now.

We are blessed to be where we are. We're going to play this competition, we're going to play 70 games, we're going to have injuries, we're going to have defeats like many other teams. It shows where we are and then how good we're going to be to react and be ourselves and tomorrow come here to win the game tomorrow.

What do you make of Inter. Inzaghi was very complimentary about you…

Speaker 2: It's obviously the opinion of other managers that if they see us in this regard, we see ourselves as a very strong team that can compete with anybody. It's time to show tomorrow that we are at that level and we can come here and beat them.

What’s Inter’s strengths?

I think they have a really clear idea and identity and that's for me the biggest strength of Inter and that's full credit to their manager. He has some very specific ideas, especially in ball possession, the way he moves the position of certain players, not all the players but certain players, to occupy different spaces. It makes it tricky and unpredictable. But we face, to be fair, in the Premier League as well a lot of tactical issues that we have to resolve and hopefully tomorrow we're going to be able to do that as well.

What is it about Saka that makes you want him to be your captain?

Especially the way people look at him. People admire him, people respect him, people want to be next to him. He's got this capacity to inject this positivity in people. He's got a very particular way of smiling and transmitting his energy.

He's one of our leaders right now. He's come all the way from the academy, he shares the values of the football club, he's one of our biggest talents, biggest players, no question about that. He's got a status in the team right now.

What would your message be to the fans who maybe are uncertain or a bit worried at this point?

In moments when you have a defeat or two or you have certain news that nobody expects, like we always do, stick together, bring positive energy and move forward. This is part of football and we have to be very strong. Like we've always done, we'll get a long way just with that. Stick together.

How do you feel facing Inter and how did you learn Italian?

It's certainly a privilege to be here and fully prepared for the game that we're going to have to play against the opposition that we're going to be facing. And yeah, regarding the Italian, because I love the culture, I love languages. It's a way that helps you to communicate with the world, especially with our players and staff.

Can I just ask you the nature of Declan's injury?

Well, yes, it was a knock. So it's a problem on his foot. And yeah, he wasn't comfortable to put his boots on. So at the moment he's not fit.