Mikel Arteta faced the media ahead of Arsenal's clash with Manchester United in the FA Cup. The Gunners can respond to their disappointing Carabao Cup defeat with a win over their old rivals, knocking the current holders out of the competition.

Arsenal will also be playing in their unusual white kit as part of the 'No More Red' campaign. There were questions on this but also a big chunk so focus on transfers, support and talks with the board and what the expectations are for a player.

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

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal January transfer limitations amid calls to spend big

READ MORE: Arsenal press conference - Mikel Arteta on Man Utd injury news, January transfer and more

How important is the FA Cup for you?

Well, [it's] a massive part of our history. We've won it 14 times. It's a competition that is very attached to us and a beautiful game to play in against a massive club and a very special occasion with the number of supporters they are going to bring as well. A very good game.

FA Cup win in 2020 one of your finest days in management so far?

Yes, obviously the memory of winning something, celebrating and sharing it with your people is the ultimate goal. Never forget the process and the people who have won it but overall great memories about the competition.

What have you made of the job Ruben Amorim has done so far?

When you look especially at the big teams and the results he got and how they performed, very impressive. I know him well. I followed him a lot when he was in Portugal and there is a big reason he is where he is at the moment. He fully deserves to be there.

Does it go to show how difficult it is to turn around a club mid-season?

Every manager when he gets appointed is for a reason. The reasons can be different. Sometimes it is just to improve a football team, to get more performance out of certain players and sometimes it is to transform a football club. That is a totally different dimension of a job.

If I have to relate to mine it was more towards that than the previous one that I mentioned.

Trossard made an impact when signed in January. What profile of player do you look to recruit in this window?

First of all, someone who can impact the team. Bringing in bodies doesn't help at all, it is just someone who can immediately impact on performance and bring something we don't have. In this market it is very difficult to achieve.

Frustrated after some games when you haven't scored - do you believe the solution is within or do you need to go into the market?

My players. 100%.

How do you get more put of them when it has become a familiar story?

It depends. If you look at a sample of a game, or two or three, that is a very short sample. You cannot use that. We don't use short samples because they don't correlate to team performance. When you look at a year or two, team performance, the scores, the amount of players that are involved, then there is no discussion. But we have to focus on our players.

Are you having discussions with those above you?

We always have discussions with those with the one above, discussing how we can improve the team. Whether if the market is open or closed because we have to plan for the necessities are right now and what the necessities are medium and long term so those discussions are always open.

If you could bring someone in, is that area a priority?

No, these circumstances changes because we have certain injuries of some big players there’s always a possibility but always if we believes it's somebody who really is going to make us better.

How’s the ball? Another new ball, a special ball?

Why is it so important?

It a different one, but it's also a special ball because Man Utd are the holders so they have a special ball. It might make a difference?

A good difference? In Champions League it’s different, you’re relating to the question I got the other day about the ball and what I said is every ball is different. Champions League ball is different, grip different, fly different, feel different.

That’s it, it's not an excuse it's a reality every pitch is different. Weather conditions change in football that’s the beauty of it. Never an excuse.

Wearing the all-white kit, to support the No More Red campaign, how important is it?

Great because we have so many people putting so much effort for putting their lives to try to improve, to many people’s lives’ quality, creating safe spaces, safe environments and when you get an opportunity to raise that in such a big occasion we have to do it. Well done to the club well done to everybody who is part of it because they put so much into it and the impact is huge.

8000 Man Utd supporters in the stadium, we need the home support?

Yeah, we have to be more noisy, more on the front foot certainly than them. It's a special occasion to create that atmosphere is beautiful, beautiful football atmosphere, let’s make it our own.

How does playing in a different kit to what you’re used to, does it change anything?

It does change, it’s not something that we’re used to it. I think it's for the right reason, for the right motive and lets use it in the right way.

Rotation in the FA Cup is common, particularly with goalkeepers, not saying Sunday but Neto has waited a long time to play, what has his contribution behind the scenes been?

Yeah that’s always when the players are not playing many minutes in his case as well, because he was cup-tied as well for the Carabao Cup, he is doing so well, We will decide what the best option, because the history has changed a lot in the competition when you look at last week and the line-ups are completely different, everybody has to be available and ready to play.

Small sample size referenced earlier, this season 13 of 30 games you’ve scored one or less, it feels like a problem bigger than a small sample?

We were the team that scored more goals in the calendar year than any other team, I don’t think that’s a problem.

One of the players, Martin Odegaard has been so consistent; he's scored once, why do think those goals have dried up a little?

Because there are moments sometimes, probably sustaining and again when you go to probability and when you go to samples, sustaining an attacking midfielder scoring 15 goals like he did two years ago it doesn’t happen because it hasn’t happened in 50 years.

Even they’re aware of that, on the other side of the coin. So he’s trying, he’s trying very high, he had some big chances. Missed some opportunities, just help him and make sure he is comfortable enough to take the shot when he needs to do that because he’s so good at it.

Is Odegaard’s drop perhaps in part to do with Saka’s absence as they had such a strong partnership.

It can be an element of that, obviously, he’s come from an injury and the first maybe week or two you have that extra energy and then you play every three days, he was ill for over a week you know, so that plays a part. There are a lot of circumstances but it is inevitable to think when you have such a chemistry with that player and you’re not next to each other that you’re going to notice something that is different.

Most signings have been versatile, when you look at a forward, do you now want a specialist?

Well in the front position in comparison to what other clubs have done and the spending that we have there, we are very far from it, for very different reasons. First of all because we already have very good players and because we have many necessities in the squad to achieve in that period.

Spending has been focused on the back line, are you aware of that and will that now change?

Yeah very aware because we have certain limitations and we have a lot of gaps and a lot of things to cover to become the team that we want and then the availability of those players, even if you want them and sometimes it's not possible.

When you won the FA Cup, as an experience with no fans that day, what as it like?

I was so happy, so proud because it was a really tough period emotionally as well. And experience because to take your first managerial job here, in the middle of the season, then go home for two and a half months then start competing again in those circumstances it was tricky but I was so happy and it was a long time ago that we didn’t win a trophy and we want to replicate the same and share it with other people.

Does that experience of it empty does that motivate you?

That’s what we want and we had some taste, it's not the same when we won the Community Shield some times, but we want the big ones and we want the big ones in front of our crowd.

Amorim has come in at a similar time, how hard did you find that with what you wanted to do?

Well Ruben has a lot more experience than I had at the time as well, so he’s in a better place and there’s no Covid. So I think he’s got better options in that case, it is tough because you need time to implement your ideas especially your way of playing and explaining that and when you have that many games it's tricky so I understand that.

Do you notice different things in United since the last time you played them?

Yeah it's true, they play a bit different with the personnel that they use with the certain players, the characteristic of the players at the end dictates what they do, whether they have more threat on the ball side, two feet, in behind because that’s what determines the behaviour of a team, it is different the last few weeks to when we played them here at home so im expecting a few different things.

Ian Wright said you need help because if it carries on like this you won’t score. Your response?

I have so much support from the board. I continue to have it, and we are all seeking and willing to do the same thing, which is to win the maximum amount of football matches in the way that we want to play, to achieve the goals we want, which is to win trophies. That support continues to be there, but we have our limitations.

Dealing with the external noise?

That is the job, to have their opinion, and to put them out there and present them, and to give the right options to do that so for me it is not a problem at all.

In Spanish, translated.

On Sunday the team is going to be dressed all in white for the 'No More Red' campaign, which is a really important cause, how do you prepare the players for such an important cause and the attention of this match?

Well, the players are accustomed to play big matches and this is a big match in a competition which is really really linked to the history of our club because we have won it 14 times and with a lot of illusion.

And with the younger players who might be playing for this campaign, how do you help make sure they are prepared for this campaign on Sunday for a club which they have so much love for and the attention the cause brings to the whole community?

I think that we have a great communication within the club to explain to the players everything that we do with our community, all the help that we try to provide, the impact it has on them because all the players need to be involved because and the end, they are also the ones who can reach a lot of people who are in need of the help. I think that they [players] are happy that we can do that [help them] and Sunday will be a beautiful day.

What is your vision for winning the FA Cup 2025, what do you need to do?

Prepare very well and win on Sunday, there’s nothing else. It's’ match to match, we have to be better the rival, and to be concentrated on the present and what happens after will be on merit for what we have done on this journey.