Every word from Fabian Hurzeler ahead of Arsenal's visit

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Head coach's team will be aiming to get the better of league leaders tomorrow.

2026-03-03T16:00+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler's team have won nine Premier League games so far this campaign. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Fabian Hurzeler discussed Danny Welbeck's contract extension and set-pieces in his press conference ahead of Wednesday's game against Arsenal.

How is Yasin Ayari getting on at the moment?

He trained yesterday, so hopefully he reacts fine to the first training session and then we have another session today. I'm quite confident that he will be an option for tomorrow.

Any other team news?

No, nothing new, nothing big. There are some small issues, so we have to test the players today. We have to see who's a hundred per cent fit for tomorrow. But there’s no new big injury concerns.

Danny Welbeck has had a contract extension. Just how good of a footballer is he? And how long do you think he can keep going for at this level?

Danny Welbeck has scored 87 goals over the course of his Premier League career. 📸 by James Boardman.

I think everything's possible with these types of characters. He's getting better and better. In the last two seasons he scored ten goals in the Premier League, he was never able to do this before. It's because he's playing more minutes and because he has unbelievably good fitness and we have a really good medical department. They work together quite closely. With these types of characters, everything's possible. They're top professionals, they are leaders on and off the pitch. They are great role models for all the young players. So let's see what is possible with them. But overall, we are very happy that he's in our team. Not only is he a great football player, but he's a great person. He's a great connector. Every coach would be happy to have a player like him in their team.

If he were to get into the England squad at the end of the month, that would cap a great period for him wouldn’t it?

Definitely. But I think another German has to make the decision about that! All I can say is that he’s definitely a very important player for us and he would add a huge value for every team, especially when it comes to a World Cup squad where it's about togetherness, where it's about being a group. He's just a great connector and I think he definitely deserves to be there, but in the end they'll make the decisions.

Arsenal next. There’s been a lot of talk about how strong they are from set pieces. Do you have to put more time as a coaching staff into looking at that area specifically, just because they've scored so many this season? Is it heightened when you play a team like that?

Overall it's the same in open play, you stick to your principles. We have a way to defend corners. We have a way to defend throws, we have a way to defend free-kicks. It's very important that you stick to that, that you keep working on your principles because you can always improve these kind of principles. If you always try to jump on one thing to another thing, then the players always have to adapt and they never get this deep understanding of our principles. It's definitely a big strength for Arsenal. They have done set pieces in an aggressive way this season. They have a lot of good takers, a lot of physicality, a lot of good blockers. So it's definitely something that we have to take care of, but we will stick to our principles. We have a big belief in how we defend our corners, our free-kicks, we do it well. Of course there are always some improvements we can make, but overall we have big belief in our set-up and our players. We are convinced that we can defend against them.

Arsenal have slipped up in recent weeks, although they’ve obviously got the two wins recently, but can you use any of that to your advantage?

Mikel Arteta's team are five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

No, I don’t think that they will get nervous or anything else because they're all top professionals. They have world class players, they definitely have the best squad in the league. So we have to have belief in our quality, we know what we're capable of doing against big and top teams. We proved that this season. We had good performances away at Brentford, at home against Nottingham Forest and now we are also ready for this challenge. We know that it'll definitely be a big challenge against the best team in the league but we have also big belief in our quality. We know what our strengths are, we know that we definitely need to have respect for them. But we have also got big confidence going into this game and we go to the Amex Stadium tomorrow trying to win.

Do you feel like you've found a formula at the moment that really works and is that why you've stuck with the same 11?

Yes. Connections always help on the pitch. To have a stable starting 11 always helps. Unfortunately we could only do it once in the season. We won't do it tomorrow, that's what I can say because one or two players might not be recovered for the game tomorrow. We need fresh legs. We need players who can run a lot. We need players who can bring an energy on the pitch because I think that's the main thing for tomorrow. We want to fight and to work hard. We want to win personal duels, we want to maybe be a little bit dirty in the duels. That's important because we want to bring energy to our crowd. We want to bring the supporters immediately behind us. You only get this if you play with intensity, if you press high, if you play with courage in possession, if you attack the box. We don't want to play with fear, we don't want to play with too much respect. We want to stick to our principles and try to get all the whole stadium behind us and then we try to go for it.

You mentioned a couple of players might need some more time to recover. Would one of those maybe be Danny Welbeck?

James Milner has made 655 Premier League appearances. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Yes, I think he might be an option to rotate, yes. Also James Milner. I think he had two really good performances. He invested a lot and in this position we might make a change to give him more time to recover. But he proved again what he's capable of doing at his age. That's very important for me, for us and also for him. There’s now a big competition for who gets into the starting 11. We have a big availability and therefore I'm very pleased with how everything's going.

It's a hundred days to go until the World Cup. Do you think that was in Danny's mind slightly when deciding his future beyond June?

I think it's definitely in every player's mind who has a chance to go to World Cup. I think that's always the biggest dream of every player and especially when you play a season like he’s playing at the moment. Of course there's always hope, there's always a little bit of thinking about that because I know how Danny wants to represent his country, how he loves his country, how he loves to play for England. I hope that he achieves this dream. I hope that he can get there. We try to make it possible together with him. But he needs to focus on the things he can control. Others make the decision. Others choose if he will be in the squad or not. He can only control his performances. He can only try to be the best he can be. The rest he can't influence.

You mentioned that another German makes those decisions. Do you speak to Thomas Tuchel much? Has he visited you here?

Thomas Tuchel maybe tempted to recall Danny Welbeck to the England squad following his goalscoring exploits in recent seasons. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

I think he's quite busy. So we are in touch and I know that if I have questions, need advice, need a talk, he always will be available. But I think as England head coach preparing for the World Cup, he will be very busy and therefore he isn't able to visit our training ground yet. But I know that he watches our games, he has to watch a lot of games and therefore he's in preparation mode and I don't want to disturb him.

Arsenal have scored a lot of their goals from set pieces. Earlier in the season you said that they were match winning and game changers. Why do you think there's this kind of a negative spin on set pieces now?

I think because it disturbs the rhythm of the game and there are no clear rules anymore – how much time you can spend taking a corner, how much time you can spend setting up for a throw in. Sometimes the referee whistles and it's a foul. Sometimes the referee doesn't think it’s a foul or doesn't whistle. That's why we have this topic at the moment. But for me, the main topic is a clear rule on how much time you can waste for a corner, for throw ins, for free-kicks, because when Arsenal has a corner and they're leading sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner.

Therefore I think we have to make clear rules, because then in the end we have a net game time of 50 minutes instead of 65 minutes. The game is changing so much. I have the opinion that every supporter pays a lot of money to go to watch our games. They should see the same net game time because they pay a lot of money. They want to see a football event and they don't want to see maybe 50 minutes.

But I think we won't change these rules immediately. We know how important set pieces are – they can be a game changer. We have to use it as well. We have to be very efficient in scoring goals. We have to be more efficient in creating chances after corners and free kicks and always try to defend them well because at the moment it's a big trend in the league and we definitely need to adapt and adjust to it.

If Arsenal drop points, it’s usually when they're playing away. Does that give you a bit more confidence for the game?

We always have the confidence to win a Premier League game. We know we have to set the standards very high. We know we have to push our limits tomorrow because we face the best team in the league. We know what they're capable of doing. We know that in every phase they are top and they defend well as a team. They have a really good style of play in open play and in possession. They're good in set pieces. They have the quality to make good transition moments. So I think they are the full package of a top team. We know we have to reach our highest limits, but together with our fans we can create an energy, we can create something where we are capable of beating them. That's our responsibility to get into this kind of flow and try to make it happen.

You've won a league title as a manager. Obviously Mikel Arteta is trying to do that with Arsenal. Not in terms of advice for him, but in the final few stages and weeks of the season, what does it take to get that line?

Fabian Hurzeler led former club St. Pauli to the Bundesliga.2 title prior to joining Albion. 📸 by St. Pauli.

I think I'm not in a place to give Mikel Arteta advice on how to win a title! He's maybe the best, together with Pep Guardiola, manager in the league and one of the best managers in the world. I'm sure he knows exactly what he's got to do to win a title this season. I was in a different place, it was the second division in Germany. But what I know is that definitely the mind plays a big part in these kind of weeks because the mind is something that I think we underestimate. We always see the player, but we never see the doubts, the fears, the thoughts they have in their mind. So when I was in the situation with my team, I think we worked a lot on getting the mind into the right place, getting the players into the right mood before the game, getting the right understanding on why we play football. So that's how we dealt with it. But overall, I think Mikel Arteta will find good solutions. Hopefully not tomorrow, but he seems to be on the right way and let's see what happens.

Yankuba Minteh hasn’t started a game this calendar year. What do you need to see from him to get that opportunity?

It's about competition and the players available. Diego Gomez is doing really well on the right side. He's scoring goals. He's attacking the box. That's what I demand from the wingers – to create chances, to be alive at the second post, to defend together with your teammates. We know that Yankuba Minteh has already proved that this season, we know that he can be a very important player for us. He has an element we don't have anywhere else in our squad. He has a physicality that is outstanding. But now it's about him accepting the situation and understanding what he needs to do to get back.

We are in an exchange with him, we show the players who are not starting what they need to do to get back. Most of the times it's quite simple. It's hard work. It's showing it in every training session. It's showing no matter how many game minutes you get – two minutes, three minutes, 20 minutes, to show that 'I want to get back in the team, it was the wrong decision from you gaffer to put me on the bench’. That's the attitude the players need to have. But it's more they have to take responsibility. They have to accept the situation like it is and try to get out of it together.

With the options you have at the moment, are you having more regular conversations at the moment with those players not in the starting 11?

Yes. I think we can emphasise our last performance showed what a winger needs to do, what we demand from a winger. You can show every player who's an option to play as a winger and say ‘that's what I need from you, that's how you can help the team. These are the principles you need to stick to and that's how you need to work for the team. And if you're doing this, then you can play for the team. If you're not capable of doing this at the moment, then it's difficult for you to get game minutes’. We try to emphasise that with really good moments, especially from the last few performances. Diego Gomez scoring a goal - why is he scoring a goal? Kaoru Mitoma created more chances – why is he creating more chances? So we try to really emphasise the positive actions and to figure out why they're in the situations. How can we help the others players to get into these kind of situations? So it's really sometimes in a group meeting where we show every player, these are the demands we have for you, and now everyone has to take ownership. On the other side it's also about mental support because some of the players haven’t often been in these kind of situations, the young players coming from different cultures. I know that it's not easy to be on the bench and to not play. So we have to also be there for them. It needs to be a good mix between caring and challenging. That's what we try to do. Every player who's sitting on the bench – Minteh, Rutter – we know what they're capable of doing. We know their quality and what they will play a big part in the final part of the season for us.

You’ve got four out of the top six to play at home in your final five home games. How much do you relish those games knowing some of the records you've had against those teams previously?

We know every game is an opportunity and no matter who we play against we have to reach our highest limits, especially against the top teams. You need to be very good in the small margins because the small margins will make a big difference in these types of games. We always have the belief, we always have the quality to beat these teams, especially together with our supporters at home. We can create a good energy and that's what we try to do in all these kinds of games.