Ali Thameem
For all the talk of a quadruple over the season, Arsenal’s ambition never revolved around winning the Carabao Cup or FA Cup.
Why else would Arteta give David Raya a break and put Kepa Arrizabalaga in front of the goal in both the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City last month, and for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final away to Southampton? Why gamble on the chances of securing two domestic trophies? Unless his entire focus is on the big leagues: The Premier League and The Champions League.
But Arteta was clear in stating before their Wembley meeting that beating City would help Arsenal in pursuit of those higher goals. “Winning always helps. And winning a trophy helps more, for sure,” he said. “It gives you confidence. It gives you the feeling that, when it comes to that moment, you can do it and you have enough resources to achieve what you want.”
The psychological boost from the FA Cup that Arteta hoped for has not materialized, as they bottled the quarterfinals against second-tier Southampton.
Arsenal remain clear favourites to win the first Premier League, nine points clear of second-placed City (albeit having played a game more and with a trip to City awaiting in two weeks’ time), and are strong contenders to win the Champions League, where they now travel to Lisbon to take on Sporting CP in the first leg of a quarter-final on Tuesday. Arteta has described this as “the most beautiful period of the season”.
Arsenal fans have had a painful 26 years, in hopes of that first Premier League championship since 2004. But even a bigger triumph is on the horizon: A Champions League/European Cup for the first time in Arsenal’s history.
As the final weeks of the season emerges, the all-so-familiar signs of a slip up has started to show for the Gunners. There hasn’t been much beauty about Arsenal’s progress lately. It does not help them that City, with the Carabao Cup secured and now through to another FA Cup semi-final, seem to be enjoying themselves for the first time all season.
That showdown in Manchester on April 19 looks to be the pivotal moment of the season. Arteta’s mentor-turned-nemesis Pep Guardiola will return with a furor for the twilight of his long spell City, with an in-form Erling Haaland, who will have regained confidence with that hat-trick in the FA Cup this past weekend.
The weeks that all of us – both fans of Arsenal and its hate-watchers – been waiting for is right here. This season’s endgame will either be what saves Arsenal and its fans from an endless stream of memes and mockery, or one of the biggest slip-ups in club football history.
