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On the latest team news

From the last game we have a chance to get Peter Cech back and Laurent Koscielny is joining in today. If their tests are positive they will come back in the squad.

On Ospina and Perez

Ospina and Perez are still out.

On Alexis being named on PFA shortlist

I’m very happy. It rewards a very strong season if you look at the numbers. His goalscoring record is good, his assists are good. I believe that the combination of goalscoring and assists is a sign of the quality of the player.

On why you think he has been so clinical

Because he played for a while as centre forward and because he has a short back-lift, good first touch and the focus needed to score. He plays with the kind of aggressive attitude in the box that allows him to score.

Unfortunately he’s a player who likes to touch the ball. So he is attracted more by a wide position, it’s one of the few times you see that.

He prefers to play wide than up front because he likes to get the ball. He has to keep that balance between providing and goalscoring because he has both in the locker.

On the chances of Cech and Koscielny making Monday’s game

80 per cent. At the moment it’s pretty good. But sometimes the 20 per cent plays a villain part in the preparation.

On how things have been since Monday

Not very enjoyable. But bad moments are part of our job so you focus to prepare and respond in the right way.

On what lessons were learned after Monday?

To play with restriction and a little bit of handbrake doesn’t help the performance.

We are under pressure to deliver and the best way to do it is to play with freedom and accept the risk.

In football when you want to play you have to accept the risk. There are more chances for things to go wrong if you play a bit with restriction in your game.

On what he made of Walcott’s comments about Palace wanting it more

It is not acceptable. I think the players were conscious on that front.

What I said straight afterwards was we were beaten, we have to face reality and respond.

(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

You can never guarantee in football, you have to accept you can win, lose or draw.

But what we want is to play with total commitment and belief in what you do,

On whether it’s disappointing that Ozil’s future won’t be resolved until the summer

No because now is the final part of the season, it’s difficult to get distracted and focus on the right things.

In the summer you a have a long period for the club to negotiate.

On whether anything has changed in terms of his future

Nothing.

On his relationship with Stan Kroenke

I believe our relationship has always been the same, it has not changed.

On whether there are divisions in the boardroom

I don’t know. Honestly, what’s happening with the board is not down to me.

I focus on what is important for me and that’s the performance of the team.

On Marc Overmars saying Arsenal might be an option for him as director of football. Is that something he is aware of?

No, I’m not.

I like Marc Overmars, he is director of football at Ajax.

I’m sure there are plenty of candidates to take care of Arsenal football club.

I’m not worried about that.

On whether he thinks things need to chance within the structure of the club

No. It’s always difficult. We spend a lot of time to focus on things that are superficial - but don’t take care of the essential.

The essential in football is good players on the football pitch, that’s what we have to take care of.

On how big the challenge now is to make top four

Massive. We might get there, we might not get there.

The only way to get there is to believe we can. That’s what we have to focus on.

It’s not the fear to fail, it’s the desire to make it. That’s our only chance.

It’s a big challenge of course.

On whether defeat at Boro is unthinkable

In football you have to accept you can win, lose or draw, but you have to give everything to win the next game. That is what we want.

Nothing is unthinkable in football. But you have to make sure you perform in the next game and give absolutely everything.

On how concerned he is with security given what happened in Germany

We have two securities. One internal security, organised by the club and one which is organised by the state.

I think internally we have improved our level of security and protection.

But I think it is very sad way our society develops. Even today you come out of a game and you can’t speak to a fan without a bodyguard around you, you can’t go to a room anymore without security in the hotel, I find that very sad in terms of the development of our society.

But on the other hand it's what our society is about today. There is insecurity in sport like in any part of society.

On what he has learnt from this bad spell

I give myself the same message I give the players, try to get better.

What I have learned is what I knew already. Football is a complex part of individual and team performance.

When things don’t go well, you are tested more on the mental front than on technical quality.

The test for us now is how much we can not be divided but united, focused and motivated by the challenge that is in front of us.

On whether he feels the bad run is down to character, rather than ability

Top level sport is about character.

I find you hundreds of players who have the same technical level of players we have, the final part that makes the results is mentality, character.

How do you change that?

You don’t change it. These players are that level because they have the character.

Under difficult circumstances the confidence can drop and can be a bit contagious. Therefore it is important to rebuild.

The energy of the team can change is three days. It can come back very quickly.

On whether he has been angrier than he has ever been

I think at the moment it’s important I don’s talk too much about what we do.

Of course it’s impossible not to be angry after our performance at Palace. But it’s important that we don’t talk to much and we focus on action.

On Alexis being offered 300k a week

First of all I cannot confirm that we have offered that.

Secondly we will do as we always do, we will consider our financial potential to sustain the wages for the whole squad.

(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

What is for sure is what is paid today was 20 years ago per year.

Will that continue to go up? I am always tempted to say no, but I was always wrong on that front.

On what sort of challenge Boro offer

The challenge is the same everywhere in the Premier League.

We have to be more efficient offensively. We had 70 per cent possession at Palace and didn’t score.

And much more efficient defensively as a team - we have to defend all together and win the decisive duels.

On not wining despite dominating possession

You can hand negative possession. That’s possession where you go nowhere and do not cerate clear cut chances.

And you can have possession because your opponent leaves you with it.

Football is happiness, freedom to express and desire to win. That comes only if you have the belief behind that which sustains it.