Journalists around Arsenal believe the club will formally present Mikel Arteta to the public in a rescheduled press conference on Friday.

Manchester City's Spanish assistant manager Mikel Arteta takes his seat for the UEFA Champions League football Group C match between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England on November 26, 2019. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Manchester City’s Spanish assistant manager Mikel Arteta takes his seat. UEFA Champions League football Group C match between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north-west England on November 26, 2019. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Amid strong speculation linking Arteta to the club’s head coach job, Arsenal initially planned to hold their pre-Everton press conference on Thursday. As usual, a couple of days ahead of the game.

Early in the morning, however, the club confirmed they’d postponed it, moving the press conference to Friday. Charles Watts reports that the plan is to formally announce Arteta in the rescheduled press conference.

This depends on Arsenal actually getting the deal over the line, of course. They still have to sort some details with Manchester City at this stage.

Even if they get the deal done on time and present Arteta in Friday’s press conference, he’ll only watch from the stands on Saturday. Freddie Ljungberg will remain in charge for the actual match.

The press conference should be a lot more interesting post-confirmation though. Ljungberg trying to bat away 100 questions on the status of Arteta’s appointment wasn’t anything to look forward to.

With any luck, we’ll get to hear from the new coach on his plans for Arsenal’s future. This is his first chance to impress the fans and get them all on board.