I thought we saw a relatively relaxed Mikel Arteta at his press conference yesterday. I wonder if it was the sun, the fact that he was starting to get over recent disappointments, the tone of the questioning, or maybe it was that he got to deliver good news to the media on Kai Havertz.

Naturally he said that they would be lead by the medical team on whether he could play, but I don’t think you put a player like Kai in front of an open training session if you haven’t done more than enough tests, so I would be surprised if he isn’t in the squad at least for Sunday. He might only be good for 15 minutes, but that’s at least something, a boost for the squad and us as fans. There’s a little part of me that is kinda like “a bit late now, innit?” but I find myself having to check that line of questioning. This guy had a quite serious injury, it’s kept him out for three months and you never know how players’ bodies are going to react to any kind of injury. We’ve heard enough times in our lives that frustrating word ‘setback’ and so to see Havertz take part in training means that he’s almost there and that’s a good ting.

It also means that providing he can get a few minutes, perhaps a few minutes more against Southampton on the final day of the season, he’ll be able to go into the summer in decent shape and ready to kick off pre season when it comes around. Until you see or hear that players are back to full training, at this stage you have to assume that they might miss the beginning of next season, so seeing Havertz over that injury this season, is a bost for the next one.

Rice, Martinelli, Trossard and Timber have apparently all done partial sessions and so Arteta said he wasn’t sure, but I’d be surprised if all four are absent. If they are then we really are in trouble. This feels little like “once more unto the breach” type stuff on Sunday. If we get over the line and even manage to actually win a game of football in the league, then not only is Champions League secured, but second spot is 99% wrapped up too, as only Man City could get to 71 points and we have a nine goal swing in our favour compared to them. So A win on Sunday has a tiny bit of impact, or at least that’s what Arteta will be saying to his lads, I’m sure.

As you’d expect he was very complementary of Newcastle, of Eddie Howe and how he has different approaches in their game (attacking a low block, defending with a low block, transitional football) and I think Arteta will know from a tactical point of view what has to be done on Sunday. But as the man himself said, it’s about being clinical and it feels like with Newcastle over any other team this season (maybe PSG?) we have been guilty of not being clinical on multiple occasions, whilst they have been super clinical. As I mentioned yesterday we’ve pretty much dominated every aspect of the matches we’ve played against them, but they have been lethal in front of goal and we have been profligate. Arteta has on a couple of occasions referenced that in relation to Isaak and if we are on the wrong side of a result on Sunday, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will probably be a similar story he’ll be telling at full time.

That is a natural segue into the prevailing narrative we’ve had this season – that we haven’t got enough up top – which inevitably was referenced of sorts with the discussion around Andrea Berta and how aligned Arteta is with him. He’s hardly going to say “we’re already not speaking to each other” if that was the case, but there was enough in Arteta’s words to suggest this will be a very healthy environment for which the club’s officials are going to challenge themselves to do the best they possibly can this summer. I’ve already spoken about the cashola that the club got from the Champions League run, they’ll get more from the Premier League, those shirts are sexy enough to fly off the shelves and we’ve also got numerous sponsorship deals, so to my mind the money is there, it is just about using it wisely. That happens when you get Sporting Director, Manager, contracts people, intermediaries and agents all lined up. The Zubimendi noises are positive and it sounds like that is happening, unless something comes left of field, but more than anything else it shows the club are willing to act swiftly this summer (assuming it does get over the line quickly). The fact there’s a release clause of around £50million probably makes that a little easier than some deals that might require a little negotiation, but the signs are positive and Arteta seemed to be happy to talk about how everyone is aligned on the ambition, even if everything can’t be done. He said it, but I don’t think there’s a club in the world that get every bit of work done that they want, even the financially doped ones. Take Declan Rice, for example, who was the subject of a City bid but came to us. I remember Rio Ferdinand saying Rice had to go to City, but he came to us – we are super happy about that – and it shows that every club can have its plans derailed by another club. The most important factor is acting swiftly on other options. We didn’t do that in an attacking sense last summer and we ended up with the busted flush that is Raheem Sterling. We cannot make that mistake this summer.

I don’t think we will. I think the club know what they need to do, they do a lot of groundwork on these deals and I think Berta will be working super hard to deliver some early quick wins in his role. So I am optimistic. We just need to get over the line tomorrow with something against Newcastle.

Catch you then.