Mikel Arteta delighted by Emile Smith Rowe's return to fitness ❤️ | PSV vs Arsenal | #UCL

Technically, it's job done to turn the top in the group, so how are you feeling right now? Well, very pleased, because as you said, technically, the objective that we had at the start of the competition, the job is done, and it's done in a really good way, I think, and we've one game to go. But the reality is that we represent Arsenal for the Champions League, and every game is massive for us, and tomorrow we're going to have a really tough opponent with a huge record here at home, and we want to win the game. I feel like I'm on a European tour of you, all these amazing stadiums that we're going in. What was your first thoughts when you came into the Phillips Stadium this time? Very impressive, because it has a big history in this football club. Some of my biggest idols since I was a kid, they played here as the strikers, so I think it's a really special place, a space that has got a unique idea and identity, and how they have developed players, the history of winning so many trophies, so it's great to be here. When you think about how impressive it has been for your team over the first five games, now going into the final game week, what's impressed you the most, mentally, in the way they've just adapted to the Champions League football? Well, taking some question marks away about how the team was going to react, because for 85% of them I think it was the first experience in the Champions League, it was certainly for me as well as a manager. So we had a lot of things to prove and test ourselves, and I think the team has done it with real determination, whether they played at home or away. The team had a very clear intention to dominate the games and to be always in the front foot and go out and win the games, and that's what we have tried to do and we have had success. Is tomorrow an opportunity for other players within the squad to showcase their ability? Potentially give you a headache, because there is maybe the flexibility now for rotation, we know December is always so many fixtures. Is there an opportunity for somebody to maybe make a statement as to what you can do with the first eleven? It will be an opportunity for those players that deserve that opportunity, and it's true that with injuries we are a bit short in certain areas, but as well there are certain players that deserve to play some minutes, and if we can we will do that. I'm seeing a lot of young talent as well that seems to travel, and teenagers, you're making me feel old! But how are they going to handle this occasion, how are they going to handle the new responsibility of European football, because as you said this is a historic stadium, there's a lot of history within this club, maybe it's an opportunity for them to showcase what they can do at the top level. It's like always, you have to be thrown in the right moment, in the right environment, and then you can evaluate whether they are ready or not, whether you have made the right decision to expose them in the right time, which in my opinion is very, very important, that first experience. So we'll see how the game goes tomorrow and what we can. Your team really seems to be making a lot of people smile, especially on social media, I saw the tweet today about Emil coming back in the warm reception, you might not have seen it as of yet, but I'm sure you lived it though, in terms of the reception and the way that the club altogether seems to just be galvanising around every player. What was that like to see Emil come back so quickly of course, and then obviously the reception that he seems to get as well? Well he's a really likeable person, he's gone through a lot in the last year or two, especially in the last few months when he was getting some momentum again, he had a really difficult injury, he tried to carry on playing even with that injury, and that's incredible, and then he showed again a lot of desire to be back as quick as possible, and the rehab that he's done with the medical team has been incredible, and he's now ready to play a few minutes if he can, and you can see the reception of the teammates and how welcoming the team is to him, because we need a player with his qualities to be back. Some people will go into tomorrow night from the outside and look at it and say, well tomorrow's just a given, you can just do anything with the result, but speaking to you for the consecutive period that we've been speaking, I know how big momentum is for you, so how much is an opportunity for tomorrow to keep building on that momentum, and respond of course to what happened on the weekend too? We're here to win, that's for sure, and in order to do that we're going to have to play really well, when you look at them and the record that they have over the last two years, they have won every single game in the league, the only game that they lost was against us at the Emirates, so they're a really, really good side, extremely well coached, and we're going to have to be really good, and I want to see my team again at their best, because we can win, lose, draw, and the team has to be at the top always. I know an element of you is going to tell me to stay present, but I'm going to try and live with me for a little bit for this next question. The last time Arsenal won five group stage games in the Champions League, they went on to then go into the final. A lot of Arsenal fans will tell you that would be one of the best campaigns they've ever seen. Again, that question of momentum, how important is it to make a statement, not just to the teams that's left in this group, but the rest of the teams that are going to be progressing with you? I don't know, it's just for us to say, we are here, we play a game, we want to win, and we do everything to win, and we prepare every time to win, and to be better than the opponent, and that's the mentality. You have played less minutes, more minutes, you play a game in the next three days, you play two days ago, you have to win in any context, and in order to do that you have to prepare your mind, your body to do that, and that's what we have tried to do in the last two days, after Villa, to come here and perform well to win the game. I want to ask you about what you want to see different from your team, I know there were elements, I listened to your post-match, that you were really proud of what they did at Aston Villa, but you know as well as I do, this is a results-based business, so what difference do you want to see from your team, from what you saw on the weekend, to what you're going to see tomorrow night? Put the ball in the back of the net. Because watching it back twice again, I am more complimentary to the team than I was after the game. What these guys did against that team, is top draw. If we play 100 times like this, we will win 99. And any final words, in terms of where we were in game week one, in terms of what we spoke about, the mentality and asking that Arsenal team to embrace the Champions League, and now you're going into game week six, and you can look at it from a different perspective, and as you said, objective complete. Just any final words as you progress through the group? Yeah, the hunger and the tummy. You know when you have done it, you still have a little bit more, because you love winning so much. Let's answer that question tomorrow.