Arteta on Raya’s fitness, leadership and defensive partnerships

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media before Saturday’s Premier League game against Leicester City (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Arteta says the club has to “wait 24 hours” to see if goalkeeper David Raya is “looking good or not that good”.

• Defenders Jurrien Timber and Ben White “took part in training today” and will be “available in the squad” for tomorrow.

• On his side coping with captain Martin Odegaard’s absence: “It’s not only Martin, he is one of the players who has more impact in the team in many ways but there were many others as well. The team has coped extremely well because we have an exceptional group, a lot of players are taking a different role in the leadership, in their role in the team and they embrace that challenge and I’m really happy for that.”

• Midfielder and summer signing Mikel Merino is still not ready to make his debut after suffering a shoulder injury in his first training session: “Tomorrow is too soon, he had partial training today and he is looking good. It’s about the healing of that bone and how mature that is to expose him to contact basically.”

• On bringing goalkeeper Neto into the squad: “We had to react very quickly with the departure of Aaron [Ramsdale] and we had him on our list for a few years already. He has played in various countries at the highest level. We believe he was the right player because he was in the Premier League, he had experience and he is someone that we can throw there in any moment.”

• Arteta spoke of the mentality of his players when it comes to their improved defence: “[There is] a lot of work from the coaches, from the players individually, developing those relationships and then it is about building trust as well within the team and the squad in many phases that we are comfortable to do that.”

• On Gabriel and William Saliba’s partnership: “In terms of chemistry, that existed from day one. That was so organic and so natural. They have qualities that complement each other really well and we have to use them in the right way.”

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