Mikel Arteta Reveals Mental Toll of Arsenal’s Trophy Drought Before Carabao Cup Final

The Gunners are hoping to win their first piece of major silverware since 2020.

Mikel Arteta hopes to add to his trophy cabinet. | Visionhaus/Getty Images

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted struggling to deal with his side’s struggles when it comes to winning trophies over the years as they prepare for their first shot of silverware of the season.

The Gunners head to Wembley on Sunday for a meeting with Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, just under six years after they last lifted a major trophy. Arteta won the FA Cup at the end of his first season in charge but, despite building a stronger team in the years that have passed, has only added two Community Shields to his record.

“Obviously the willingness to win has always been there, and that doesn’t change if I win one, two, three or five [trophies],” Arteta reflected. “But, yes, it has been difficult to accept because I want to win every competition that I’m involved in.

“When you have been in this position and gone years without winning a trophy, obviously it adds more necessity, but also more drive because you really want it.

“And that's something that we have. That is something really important for us and something that we’ve been trying to achieve for a while and now we have the opportunity to do it.

“But you also have to understand in sport that sometimes other players and other teams are better than you, and what you have to do is to be able to look in the mirror, give absolutely everything, and be better than them and that’s what we are chasing.”

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Arteta’s Wembley Record Offers Arsenal Hope

The 2020 FA Cup final was Arteta’s last major trophy. | Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Sunday’s trip to Wembley will be the ninth time Arteta has visited England’s home stadium across his careers as both a player and manager.

The Arsenal boss boasts a perfect record at the stadium, having first won in the FA Cup semifinals back in 2014 and most recently seeing off City in the Community Shield in 2023, but Arteta insisted that record will not offer his side any advantage on Sunday.

“No, there are no favorites,” he stressed. “We have to play in a final to earn that status. But let’s keep [his perfect record] that way and hopefully in a few hours we will do the same.”

Alongside the battle for the Carabao Cup is the mental challenge that comes with facing their closest competitors for the Premier League title at this late stage of the season.

Arsenal sit nine points clear of City in the domestic standings, having played one game more than Pep Guardiola’s side and still to travel to the Etihad after the international break. The result of the Carabao Cup final will not change anything in that regard, but Sunday’s victor will hope to benefit from a big confidence boost at such a crucial point of the season.

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