Jagoba Arrasate spoke to the media in his pre-match press conference ahead of our hosting of Athletic Club. Find out what he had to say below:
On fitness: The week has gone well and the only two absentees are Takuma and Pichu. The list is 24, we play at home and tomorrow we will make the discard.
On the table: They have been playing in Europe for years now and doing things very well. It's a good game, we're on matchday 11, it's true that it's very early, we have a very good score, both with 17 points and in that respect it's sure to be a nice game. We are two brave teams and it will certainly be nice for the spectators. What we want is to get close to the version we played the other day and if we maintain that level we'll have more chances of winning.
On Ernesto Valverde: I have great respect for him and as well as being a friend, he is one of the best coaches. There is no need for me to praise him here. The numbers are there. He won the cup as you know, he qualified for Europe, the way they play too, they are very recognisable. He is one of the best and tomorrow will be the tenth time we meet and hopefully we can meet more times, it will be a good sign.
On if the cup final influences the game: I think it's more up to you (the press). To start with, we weren't there, we didn't experience all that, so we're not contaminated by it. During the week I've seen people well, normal, they know it's a complicated game. When it comes to analysing Athletic, we haven't used any images from the cup or anything else. In that respect they know that they experienced something historic, with the shame of losing in that penalty shootout but knowing that we are in a good moment and if we are able to repeat what we did the other day we will have a chance of winning.
On the keys to the game: I say it's recognisable because they almost always play the same way. We know what our opponents are going to do but then it's difficult to stop them. They play at a high tempo and it's difficult to keep up for 90 minutes. I think they have good players, they have a collective spirit and they are very well managed. All that mix makes them a very difficult team to beat. We are in a good moment too and we want them to have a difficult game tomorrow
On the starting eleven: As you will understand, I can't give you an answer. We have a clear idea, but you won't see it until tomorrow. We want to get close to what we did the other day, so, knowing that no two games are the same, we want to do things like we did the other day.
On Athletic Club’s forward line: As you rightly say, they are a team that is finding the goal very easily. They have a lot of attacking power as a result of their play. They play with a lot of players close to the box, they occupy the side crosses very well and they play a lot of time in the opposition half. When they are in their own half they are able to steal and pass and they are lethal there too. Whoever they play, they have arguments to score goals. They've even been scoring from set pieces lately.
On Samu Costa: He's a guy who still has a lot of room for improvement, he's very young. The good thing is that he is very receptive, he wants to improve and help the team. The time has come for him to play for the national team, which for him is a step forward and a very powerful stimulus. He knows that everything depends on doing well here. He trains like the best, I'm very calm, I don't know what will happen with his future, but what I do know is that he's helping us and he's going to help us this season for sure.
On defence: The defensive numbers are good and especially the last few home games we have conceded very little to the opposition and that is one of the keys. When you are consistent you kind of hold on to that and from there you can grow. To say that we are good defensively, we also have to pass tomorrow's test. Let's see if we're at that level and tomorrow we can say that defensively we've been good.
On the second half: I don't think it has a footballing reason. The other day in the first half we had 3 very clear chances. At the moment it's more a question of our accuracy than anything else.
