Albert Stuivenberg is in charge of the Arsenal technical staff in Saturday’s top match against Manchester City. The assistant coach replaces Mikel Arteta, who has to watch from home due to a corona infection. Although the head coach will be in contact with his assistants, he also wants important decisions to be made on the spot. Arteta finds it difficult not to be there, he says at a digital press conference.
On Wednesday it was announced that Arteta had tested positive. In March 2020 he also contracted the corona virus; at the time he was one of the first in English football to have the virus among the members. “I’ve had a few rough days, but I’m better now. I’ve been through this before. The team is doing well. We tested the players and we have no new cases,” says Arteta. In recent weeks, Calum Chambers, Cédric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles tested positive. Because there have been no new cases, the duel with Manchester City seems to be able to continue.
“Albert is in charge, along with the rest of the coaching staff, depending on which trainers are available,” the Spaniard continues. “We’ve had a lot of personnel problems in the coaching staff lately, but everyone is going to try to help us as much as possible. We will be in contact during the game, but I want to give them the opportunity and the freedom to make their own decisions on the field touchline standing, close to the players, is quite different from watching the game from home. At certain times I will provide support, but they have to take care of the momentum and communication with the players themselves.”
Arteta has never experienced that he had to miss a match as a trainer. “But the situation is as it is. The lack of opportunities will feel frustrating to me. I had to miss the training sessions and not have the preparation I wanted.” For example, he couldn’t make the players feel like he’s ‘beside them’, which he normally finds very important. “This is a different experience, but we have to learn to deal with it. We have tried to prepare ourselves in the best possible way for tomorrow’s game. It will be a strange sensation. I will have to find a large room so I can go around I’m not going to be able to sit on the couch.”
Arsenal are in fourth place in the Premier League with 35 points. The home game against league leaders Manchester City is ‘very important’, says Arteta. “It’s very frustrating not being able to be there, but I’m going to do my best from here. We’ve prepared every possible scenario. We know what to do and it’s up to the players to execute it.” Arteta also has full confidence in Stuivenberg, who has been working as an assistant at Arsenal since 2019. In the past, he was head coach of the Dutch Juniors and KRC Genk, while he acted as an assistant to Wales and Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United.
“I got to know him a few years ago through another trainer,” Arteta says. “Of course I already knew him through his reputation and the people he worked with. We have a very good relationship and have the same beliefs. We have the same vision of the game. He is more than capable and he has been head coach before, so I’m confident.”