Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal to learn from the pain of last season’s League Cup semi-final exit as they prepare to face Chelsea on the road to Wembley.
The Premier League leaders lost 4-0 on aggregate against Newcastle over two legs in the last four in 2024/25, marking their fifth straight season without major silverware.
Arteta’s side will travel to London rivals Chelsea for the semi-final first leg on Wednesday, while holders Newcastle take on Manchester City in the other semi-final clash.
“We’ve been really consistent again in the competition, and now we have to knock another big team out to be in the final,” Arteta told his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“That’s the mission. Hopefully we learn from last year because it was painful,
especially the manner that the games went and the amount of chances that we made not to go through, but hopefully this year we are better and especially more efficient.”
League Cup To End Drought?
City won multiple League Cups during Arteta’s time as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, using it as a springboard for bigger trophies.
When asked whether winning Arsenal’s first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup would ease the pressure on him for the rest of the season, Arteta replied, “When you get to this stage in the competition, you get to the final and you get over the line and win it, it brings energy, it brings belief and the sense that everybody is very important and playing a part of that,” he said.
“I think it’s something when you get there and win it, everybody remembers and if not, nobody does. So once you get there, get the job done.”
Arteta will face new Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior, whom he played against in the 2014 FA Cup final when he captained Arsenal to victory against Hull.
“I’ve seen a few pictures of that, so, that’s the beauty of football, two very different careers, but at the end, facing each other,” he said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
