Mikel Arteta was in a defiant mood on Tuesday morning ahead of his Arsenal side’s clash at Nottingham Forest. There was plenty of fallout to discuss from the defeat to West Ham United and the latest team news including Ethan Nwaneri.

There was also some honesty about his view of Arsenal’s scenario in the title race and how his side has performed in relation to the injuries and sendings off his side have suffered. He was strong on his intentions and was even asked about the sporting director situation.

You can read every word from the press conference which football.london was in attendance for here:

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Good morning, Mikel. Obviously, tomorrow is too soon for Bukayo and Gabriel Martinelli, but are they progressing well? And can you give us an update as well on Ethan Nwaneri, who I think was just tired on Saturday?

Yeah, Ethan, he was just cramping. Obviously, his load has been very different in recent weeks, but he's fine. And Bukayo and Gabi, yeah, they are progressing really well, but they're still a bit far to come back.

The weekend felt like a big weekend in terms of the title race. Obviously, whilst it's mathematically possible, I know you're going to keep on fighting. But can you describe how frustrating, how powerless you feel when you're just looking at a team like Liverpool who just do not look like dropping points?

It was a very disappointing weekend, obviously. In the previous 15 games, we have won ten and drew five, exactly the same as Liverpool, with exactly the same goal difference, which is plus 23. So it's been extremely consistent for the last three and a half months, considering everything that we've been through and we have generated that momentum and it was that weekend where we have to do what we have to do. Again, once more, nothing different to the previous 15 and we got a defeat. And on top of that, they win. So when you are trying to build that momentum and we're putting so much into it, especially with the circumstances that we have, it was a very hard one to take. The reality is there's so many games to play and you have to get back to it. And we have the levels and the consistency and the hunger to go again. And that's what we're going to do on Wednesday.

But whereas for the last two seasons, you've been in this position where you know if we carry on winning, we're going to win the title. Now you're looking at a team 11 points clear, who just, they just keep on going. And that must be the really frustrating thing.

But you cannot control that. You know, at the end, you're going to have to set a certain amount of numbers to win in this league. And we're going to have to hit that number if we're going to have any chance of doing that. But we're certainly going to continue to try.

Obviously, in an ideal world, you would have a fully fit squad to choose from. You don't. But you've always struck me as a manager who enjoys trying to sort of solve problems. And obviously the problem at the moment is how do you score goals? In a perverse kind of way, do you enjoy having that sort of problem to try to write how do we best do this?

[Long pause] It's been incredibly satisfying to work every day with the players and the coaches and the staff to try to overcome certain situations. So if somebody tells you at the start of the season, by this time, you have played five times with a red card over half an hour in each of those games, and you have lost this amount of players, what's the bet? You are in the middle of the table, at least, you know, and you are out of the Champions League. That's not the situation. So that tells you the resilience, the resources, the ambition that the team has, every individual has and that has been probably my time, one of the proudest moments to work in that sense. The thing is that when you are there, you want more and you want more and you want more. And I'm not going to stop over my dead body. We'll stop thinking that way and putting everything that we possibly can to increase the probability of us winning and being better than the opponent and being hitting that performance and those standards constantly, regardless of what happens.

Do you think Mikel [Merino], in that false nine position, can still work with Saturday just about day at the office?

Yeah, in relation to the opposition and the options that we have and then what the team generates as well. So especially attacking players depend a lot on what the team is generating, the chemistry on there, the fluidity, the areas that we are hitting, how we interact with each other. And he worked really well against Leicester and he didn't work that well the other day because there were a lot of things missing.

Just one final one from me. Obviously in the past, what's been great for you as well is goals from midfield. Declan hasn't had the sort of key goals this season that he did last season and it seems that Martin Odegaard is just going a bit quiet, a bit off the boil at the moment. How do you fix that?

Well, we have fixed it because, again, the goal difference with the best team in the league is plus 23 in 15 games, so that's quite unique to them. But we want more goals from all of them and we know that there are areas that we can increase and certainly this is one.

Last weekend against West Ham, was it one of the most frustrating days you felt as an Arsenal manager?

I don't know. It's just, it's not a frustration. I think it's… it was a feeling probably of knowing how much we are putting into it to be where we are. That when you have the chance now to say, OK, let's go another step and then on Wednesday it would have to be another one and then on Saturday another one, especially with the form that Liverpool are in. It was tough. It was a tough one to take, especially at home that we've been so consistent.

A couple of questions about Forrest, please. I can imagine it's very competitive within the Premier League managers, but how pleased are you for Nuno, who obviously left Spurs over three years ago and managed to get the chance to come back to management in the Premier League and what he's achieving at Forest?

Unbelievable. What they are doing, what he's done. Not only there, but what he did at Wolves. It was incredible to be fair. So, yeah, huge pride. Him, the coaching staff, the players and the club as well, what they have generated after coming into the Premier League. It's a remarkable story. So, well done to them.

Can you recall from your playing days, in the Premier League or your management days in the Premier League, a team, a club that went through such a big change, such a big massive improvement in less than a year? Last year they were fighting against relegation, this year they're challenging for Champions League football.

Yeah, very difficult. That's why it's a very special story.

You were saying earlier about you're obviously not giving up on the titles until it's mathematically impossible, but in your heart...

Over my dead body.

Over your dead body?

Yeah.

But in your heart of hearts, do you really think you can do it?

If not, I'll go home. Mathematically, it's possible. You are there, you have to play every game. Suddenly, three days ago, we could close the gap and you are like, you are one and a half games away. It doesn't matter. We have to continue to go.

So, it doesn't feel today like you're, what we would say, clutching at straws?

No, it's the difficulty. The difficulty is higher three days ago, yet it is higher. But I mean, you want to win the Premier League, you're going to have to do something special. You're going to have to win this Premier League with the circumstances that we have. You're probably going to have to do something that nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League.

Another red card at the weekend for Myles Lewis Skelly, that's five you've had this season. Is there a problem with discipline?

Big problem. Not about discipline, it's a lot of factors that have contributed to that obviously.

In terms of?

In terms of the different kind of red cards that we had.

Right, fine, okay. And one person you've got back is Ben White. Two questions on Ben. First of all, it's been reported that he might be backing on the England fold, may have spoken to Thomas Tuchel. And secondly, what can he offer Arsenal, and what have you missed by not having Ben White around so far this season?

Well, a player that has given us something very, very special, especially in that right unit. We haven't played the right unit at all this season with him, Bukayo and Martin as well, a unit that has played so much football together. So, great to have him back, more options, his energy, the way he's around the team, the way he generates, he certainly has been missed.

And without having a go at the former England manager, does England have missed someone like him in that position for them?

That's for Thomas to decide.

After the game on Saturday, you said the performance wasn't good enough. Why do you think you were so far away from the standards you've set this season?

Because we didn't put West Ham in the ropes that we had to, especially with the amount of time and space that we have in certain areas. We weren't good enough, especially with the ball and the way we defended the box in two situations that could have cost us the game and that one of them cost us the game. Very clear, we had to set very different standards and we didn't. Were they better than us, watching them back twice? They deserved to win the game, really had doubts about that. But looking at ourselves, we could have done much, much better, that's for sure.

You've said a few times it was a tough one to take, but you'll keep trying until it's mathematically impossible that you can't win the title. Do you have to get that over to the players? Do they feel the same after such a blow at the weekend and the way the table is now?

They know, and especially because we've been in the other position as well very recently and we know how quickly things can change and you have to be there and we all deserve to continue in that fight.

You mentioned about the record you've got. The record against the big six has been excellent in terms of how hard it's been for them to get a result over Arsenal. Teams like Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Ham perhaps in that middle field, there's been a greater challenge against these sides. What do you think the difference has been against the different types of teams you've faced in that record?

Well, very different in relation to the opponent and the performances that we have. Some of them we certainly deserve to win and we do have, I mean, ruthless enough, accurate enough especially in boxes. This season against this kind of opposition with the amount of situations we generated and others like, for example, Newcastle away that we didn't deserve to win the game.

You mentioned there about Ben White coming back. He adds obviously something different to you in terms of an option tactically. When you arrived at Arsenal you used a back three and wing-backs a lot to try and help stabilise things. Have you looked at the option to change formations more drastically from the usual 4-3-3 that we kind of see each week with Arsenal?

Yeah, but 4-3-3 really I don't know when we play 4-3-3 in phases of play in the game because we change our shape in relation to our high press when we are deep on first, second and final third shape. But at the end, these players give you other options, other qualities, other connections and we certainly are going to use the qualities of Ben.

Just to ask you about the sporting director. I think when we spoke to you at the start of this month you were sort of hopeful there was going to be a conclusion soon. Just what's the sort of progress on that? How is it going?

That's a question for the club. I mean they are in the position to give better answers in terms of timing and selection and all that.

Obviously, you've got Jason in there now who's working in the interim. I think some supporters are concerned if it's a very big summer in terms of contract renewals, transfers, that there hasn't been anything sort of permanently announced. What would your message be to those supporters?

The club is doing the process that we believe is the best to try to find the person that is the best one for the moment that Arsenal is right now and that's what the club is trying to do.

I just wanted to ask you about Martin's form. He obviously had that big injury at the start of the season and he came back in amazing shape. It was remarkable really. But he's found it difficult it seems to sustain that level of performance. Do you think that injury has had an ongoing impact on his season?

We don't know. Probably the answer would be no because he came back in such a strong way and performing at a very, very high level. And then just sustaining that over a period of time, like we ask the players to do constantly, especially the creative players, is very difficult. His attitude, how willing he is, the other day with ten men, how he takes responsibility and how he wants to drive the team is remarkable and that's what I demand the players, that we need to continue to make things happen and Martin certainly is trying more than anybody else.

And obviously there's been a bit of a change in his output in terms of goals particularly. Is that indicative? Has his role changed at all? Is he playing in deeper areas or has that just had a variance over the season?

No, his numbers are very similar in terms of what we expect and the expected goals and areas that he's hitting. Maybe the efficiency has dropped a little bit. There were some penalties there as well that he scored in the past, that's another factor. But we want to increase the levels of the scoring records of every individual and Martin is one of them.

There a lot of talk about the league table and Liverpool are too far ahead of Arsenal, how do you feel about discussions so early on ruling Arsenal out of the title race? [Translated from Spanish]

It’s been 3 days and the perception is different, when we have won, they've tied, later we lose and they win and it continues to change. This is really long, we are there [title race], obviously, this weekend's game was a hard blow, but we have to get back up, we have to continue.

And how do you pick yourselves back up? How do you and the players keep your head in the competition? [Translated from Spanish]

The same way as when I won the day before.

Tomorrow your facing a strong Nottingham Forest side, what are you expecting from them in Nottingham? [Translated from Spanish]

A really difficult match. It’s incredible what they are doing, the season they having and the consistency they are demonstrating to be where they are and taking huge steps compared to where they were last season, so it’s going to be a very difficult match.