Mikel Arteta says it is “very good” to have Ange Postecoglou back in the Premier League as Arsenal prepare to do battle with Nottingham Forest tomorrow.
Postecoglou was named Forest boss on Tuesday, shortly after Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked following a breakdown in his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakos.
The Australian was dismissed himself by Tottenham in June, 16 days after leading the club to the Europa League trophy, and he will make a swift return to North London tomorrow as he takes charge of his new club for the first time.
Asked about Postecoglou’s return and whether it was good for the Premier League, Arteta said: “Very good. I think as a character, as a person, what he transmits, what he brings to football is a joy towards the team. I’ve always enjoyed it and learned from it. Very welcome to having him back.
“I think with Ange, his biggest strength, in my opinion, is wherever he has been he has put his fingerprints on that team, and he has a very clear way of playing, very clear DNA, extremely good to watch. It will be a very difficult game.”
Arteta focusing on Arsenal
Postecoglou’s arrival makes Arteta’s job slightly harder as he attempts to work out how Forest will play. The Tricky Trees played in a low block under Nuno but were effective on the break. Postecoglou likes to play with a high press, meaning Arteta has to guess how the visitors will set up tactically.
He added: “You have to focus much more on yourself and improving and taking the game where you want to because at the end now, even if you know the manager, the scenario can change after five minutes, 20 minutes, 60 minutes.
“The flexibility and understanding, and preparation that goes through now in the Premier League. So what you expect for five minutes is not going to be the same picture for 95 minutes. So that’s what we prepare for every single day.”
Saliba and Hincapie set to be available for Arsenal v Forest
Arsenal’s international contingent have returned unscathed and the good news for Arteta is central defender William Saliba may return from injury this weekend.
“Wilo trained today, so we’ll have a decision to make whether we play him or not, it’s very good news,” said Arteta, who also has Ecuador international Piero Hincapie available following his move from Bayer Leverkusen.
“He’s a player that we monitored for years, and he became available,” said Arteta. “We had the departure of Jakub [Kiwior] as well, and now we needed another player in that position, who could upgrade what we had, play in different positions, play in different formations, a player that obviously has a lot of experience already at his age, so very, very happy to have him.
“He’s ready to go. He’s trained only two days with us, he had a long travel with the national team, a very successful game at the end against Argentina. But overall, he’s available.”
Saka and Saliba talks continue
Arteta said there was no major update on contract talks with Bukayo Saka and Saliba but is confident the pair will extend.
He said: “I think the collaboration between the club, what Andrea [Berta] is doing, and the agents, is very good. I think the good thing is that the players want to remain here and they want to be a big part of the history of this club in the next few years and that is always positive and Andrea will drive that and see where we go.”
Arsenal go into the weekend three points behind defending champions Liverpool, who have strengthened since last season with the arrivals of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.
“Well, they are the strongest for sure,” Arteta said. “They have recruited probably the two most decisive players that were in Europe in the market, and they’ve done really well to recruit them. They were very strong. I think we need to look at ourselves and what we have to do in terms of our abilities to be better than them.”
