CM Story - The Story of Josh McEwen

Chelsea (4-2-1-3): Jorgensen, Carvajal, Chalobah, Sarr, Hato (Off 89), Caicedo, Fernandez, Palmer (Off 89), Paez (Off 89), Delap, Garnacho 

Subs: Penders, Colwill (On 89), Santos, Joao Pedro, Fofana, Neto, Griezmann (On 89), Alvarado (On 89), Badiashile 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Gabriel, Saliba, Pienczak (Off 76), Bouaddi (Off 76), Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres (Off 68), Nwaneri (Off 68) 

Subs: Kepa, Kiwior (On 76), Mosquera, Eze, Trossard (On 68), Martinelli, Norgaard, Jesus (On 68), Zubimendi (On 76) 

Q: Patrick a huge win for your side today that ramps up the pressure on Josh McEwen. Would a return to Arsenal be of interest to yourself? 

Patrick Vieira “I don’t think about this, Josh is the Arsenal manager I think he has done a good job in getting them into a strong position to qualify for the Champions League compared to the position they were in before he took over but I don’t think about Arsenal the project at Chelsea is my focus our season hasn’t been good enough and we want to finish the season strong and finish as high as possible to give us a chance at trying to sneak a European place which is on the table. Today was the best we have played for some time we controlled a lot of the game and I thought we deserved to win for the start we made.” 

Q: Josh if you finish top four will that be enough do you think to keep you in your job? 

Josh McEwen “I think so, the plan when I joined was on finishing top four to anybody that thought we would just win every game and win the league from the position and condition the team was in is unrealistic but the lads have fought hard to put us in a strong position we need one win to wrap it up and then we will see what the summer holds. We have three games left my focus is on winning them if the board make a decision after this to part ways then that is upto them but the conversations I’ve had are all positive so I don’t believe what is being written.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Gabriel, Saliba, Pienczak, Bouaddi (Off 61), Rice, Odegaard, Saka (Off 68), Jesus (Off 61), Eze 

Subs: Kepa, Kiwior, Mosquera, Nwaneri (On 68), Trossard, Martinelli, Norgaard, Gyokeres (On 61), Zubimendi (On 61) 

Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Palmer, O’Shea, Greaves, Baggott, Davis, Matusiwa, Nunez, Egeli, Clarke, Szmodics (Off 88), Abraham 

Subs: Andrew, Aradj, Ogbene, Hirst (On 88), Young, McAteer, Al Hamadi, Philogene, Clarke 

Q: Josh after the defeat last week and all the talk that has been in the papers about you how important was that win? 

Josh McEwen “It was very important to win the game because this ensures that Champions League football will be at the Emirates next season. It wasn’t our best performance in the first half we know that but the team reacted well with Viktor (Gyokeres) and Ethan (Nwaneri) both coming off the bench to score the goals and overall I think we deserved the win. It has been a tough season but we will fight for the next two games to try and win finish the season strong and then the planning starts for next season and hopefully ending this clubs drought in terms of trophies particularly the Premier League title.” 

Q: Brian you hit the post twice once at 0-0 and once at 1-0 how crucial could those unlucky moments be in your season? 

Brian **bleep**an “Lets be honest they could be the difference between us playing Premier League football and Championship football next season. We deserved something from the game the performance was nearly perfect from my lads but we’ve come undone to two goals that were probably avoidable but the talent they have those fine margins will cost you and today we’ve left empty handed but on another day we could have left with one or even three points it just hurts because of how hard the lads tried.” 

Brighton (4-3-1-2): Verbruggen, Zague, van Hecke, Orozco Chiquete, Angelino, O’Riley, Ayari, Yalcouye (Off 52), Rutter, Konate, Tzimas 

Subs: Beadle, Cashin, Wieffer (On 52), Welbeck, Webster, Buonanotte, O’Mahony, Osman, De Cuyper 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Gabriel, Mosquera, Kiwior, Zubimendi, Rice, Eze, Martinelli, Jesus, Trossard 

Subs: Kepa, Pienczak, Saliba, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Saka, Norgaard, Gyokeres, Bouaddi 

Q: Stanley a backs to the wall performance after your early goal. You went behind but how pleased are you with that late goal? 

Stanley Herbert “Yeah delighted we showed real spirit to fight back and get the goal, we played a really tough opponent and I thought that the way we kept fighting obviously Verbruggen has made some top saves but thats what you have a top keeper for and in the end we’ve managed to get a point. We’ve got one game left with Nottingham Forest and our aim is to win that match and finish as high as possible.” 

Q: Josh two points dropped at the end. You made a lot of changes to your team is that a decision you regret now? 

Josh McEwen “No definitely not. We dominated a large period of the game and deserved to win. We should have done better for the second goal for sure and the first was a couple of experienced players making mistakes but we have a tough game next week at the Emirates if we lose Tottenham can win the title and we can’t allow that to happen at home so we will work hard this week to prepare and we will try and stop them winning their first Premier League title.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Gabriel, Saliba, Pienczak, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres, Nwaneri 

Subs: Kepa, Mosquera, Kiwior, Eze, Trossard, Martinelli, Norgaard, Jesus, Bouaddi 

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-1-3): Vicario, Spenca, Romero, Danso, Brown, Sarr, Bentancur, Simons (Off 85), Kudus, Tel, Odobert 

Subs: Kinsky, Phillips, Kulusevski (On 85), Richarlison, Vuskovic, Maddison, Velez, Moore, Dragusin 

Q: Josh a draw to end what has been a disappointing campaign for Arsenal fans. With the season over how likely do you think it is that you will be in the dugout for Arsenal next season? 

Josh McEwen “Of course it hasn’t been a great campaign for Arsenal we know this but I came in when the team was in a position where they might not even be in the champions League and we qualified with games to spare so I think I showed my quality. I think that I will be here I hope I will be here all the conversations with the players with the board they are all positive so I think it can be a good season for us next season with the right investment we will hopefully be fighting to win the league this time next season and we will hopefully be celebrating.” 

Q: Mikel you have fallen short of the title by just four points how are you feeling right now? 

Mikel Arteta “We are disappointed because we fought so hard all season to try to win the title and to miss out on the last game really hurts but I think this team showed their quality and we will be stronger next season I am sure of that. Today the first half we were caught a little off guard by how reserved they were we thought they would come at us more and try to win but they were happy with a draw to stop us having any chance. The second half we created some chances but David Raya made some good saves and we couldn’t get the goal but it wouldn’t have been enough anyway with City winning.”