Mikel Arteta met the media on Tuesday evening for our Champions League win against Shakhtar Donetsk.

The boss was asked about performance, injury concerns, Gabi Martinelli and more.

Here is a full transcript of his press conference…

To get work done this evening:
Well, I think there were two very different halves. We were very dominant in the first one. We created four big chances that we should have converted and finished the game with the dominance we had. In the second half we were completely different. We looked tired, we lacked the sharpness with and without the ball to win the ball back at the right moments and in the right places and to give away certain balls that allow certain transitions. We had two big chances again, missed a big penalty and those emotions were hard to overcome again and we have to start, but I have to thank them for being a good team once you give them space, don’t finish actions and If you give them a chance to run, they are a threat. Overall it’s Champions League, get the win without conceding a goal. Let’s move on.

About Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori:
Ben was my decision to take him off, he had a yellow card, we played enough with 10 men in certain phases. They had a lot of intensity on that side and a lot of attacking players on that side, we didn’t want to take any risks. With Riccy it’s something different, he sensed something, I don’t know to what extent, so it’s not great news in that sense.

On the team’s preparation for the game against Liverpool on Sunday:
Well, we played two and a half days ago, after the internationals, after flying from Brazil and many other countries, and I was expecting that we might let up a little. And the fact that we did so much in the first half and didn’t manage to get that far in terms of the result and the score, I think we paid for a small part of that and then made life even harder for ourselves done because Obviously we started giving the ball away in the right places and not recovering it and it was more open, that didn’t help, but we have four days and believe me, on Sunday we will be flying.

Whether this week is a good time to prepare for the weekend:
We will think about what we need to do, we have a day off and then two days to prepare for the game and Sunday is a long way off and we are more than sure we will be in a great place.

On Martinelli’s appearance:
He looked really sharp, he looked really fresh, fresher than anyone else on the pitch. You noticed that it was different against Bournemouth. He had a different kit, he added another level of threat, he started the game really well and had a great performance today.

On Trossard’s decision to take the penalty:
Yes, they made that decision, the penalty taker is usually Bukayo or Martin and after that we have two or three players who can take it, they made the decision and unfortunately Leo missed it, but as you said it’s a missed one Opportunity.

On Gabriel Jesus’ return to form:
Very important because he can play in different positions and roles, his attitude again was exceptional, very unfortunate because he had two big chances that he could have converted into a goal, he was good in many other areas and we need everyone.

On the importance of qualifying for the Champions League as early as possible:
That would be great, but at the moment it is very difficult to look at the table because tomorrow the number of games and the different opponents we play will change, but the Champions League, one win, one home win , is particularly important in this format We keep a clean sheet, but as you said, given the many injuries we have to deal with and the situation we have to deal with, we are happy and let’s move on.