Mikel Arteta press conference LIVE – Arsenal boss on Odegaard, Calafiori and North London Derby

Mikel Arteta is set to face the press at London Colney ahead of his side’s Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend.

It’s been a busy few days for Arteta who committed his future to Arsenal by signing a fresh deal to keep him at the club for another three years on Thursday.

In less positive news though, the Gunners boss faces something of a midfield crisis ahead of this Sunday’s crucial North London Derby.

Summer signing Mikel Merino will miss the game with a shoulder problem, while Declan Rice is suspended after being harshly sent off against Brighton prior to the international break. Martin Odegaard is also a massive doubt after sustaining an ankle injury while on duty with Norway.

There are also questions over the fitness of Gabriel Jesus and Riccardo Calafiori, while deadline day signing Raheem Sterling has not played football in over a month after being bombed out at Chelsea.

Arteta on if the coming weeks are make or break for the title race

Day by day guys. If we look where we’re going to be in May and the amount of games that we have to play we cannot be like this. We’re going to run out of oxygen. I want to prepare the next day. We’re going to go to Spurs and have an unbelievable game.

Arteta on if he’s happy with his squad depth

Yes. It can be bigger but we have certain limitations that we know about. We had to do certain things certain transactions. We have signed a few players and it’s been a bit different to other years. What happens in recent years is really unlucky but we have to face it.

Arteta on if he can emulate Wenger

Hopefully yes. My aim is to be my best version of myself. The best coach ever for Arsenal. That’s the only objective.

Arteta on Sterling

I knew straight away after 10 seconds that we had to bring him because he really wanted it. After 10 seconds I knew already before the next questions that we had to bring him here.

Arteta on Calafiori

He’s another one where we’ll have to wait another day.

Arteta on Jesus

Gabi was out there. He’s got another session tomorrow and if everything goes well he’ll be with us.

Arteta on Merino

Better, it’s a slow process and it takes a while to heal. We’re using this time to make sure he understands and is back to help the team straight away.

Arteta on Odegaard

We need some more tests. Let’s see what happens in the next day or so. This afternoon probably. Let’s see the extent of the injury and how quickly we can get him back. Martin wants to be here every day but we have to wait and see.

I leave that to the doctor. He’s willing and he wants to be present in every game. We need to make sure we know first how good he is or not.

Players with 48 hours are always available. Let’s see what happens.

Arteta on his contract

I’m really happy and excited. It shows the alignment between the club and the coaching staff. We enjoy working together and we have higher ambitions that we want to fulfil.

Spurs news

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou is holding his press conference right now and he has issued an update on his club’s injury situation.

Spurs were concerned over the fitness of three key players – Micky van de Ven, Dominic Solanke and Yves Bissouma. It looks like two of them are goig to be fine for Sunday’s clash, with question marks over just one.