Mikel Arteta Hopes to Add to His Trophy Cabinet

London – When Arsenal walk out beneath the Wembley arch on Sunday, Mikel Arteta will be confronting both a personal drought and a club’s craving for silverware. The Carabao Cup final against Manchester City offers the Gunners their first realistic shot at a major honour since the 2020 FA Cup, the solitary piece of silverware Arteta has captured since taking the managerial reins.

Arsenal’s wait for a headline trophy has stretched to almost six years, a stretch the Spaniard concedes has been difficult to digest. “Obviously the willingness to win has always been there, and that doesn’t change if I win one, two, three or five,” Arteta said. “But, yes, it has been difficult to accept because I want to win every competition that I’m involved in.”

Since guiding Arsenal to FA Cup glory in his debut campaign, Arteta has added only two Community Shields to his haul, a modest return for a coach who has overseen a marked improvement in performances and squad depth. The manager believes the barren run has sharpened his squad’s desire rather than dulled it.

“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,” he explained. “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.”

Sunday’s encounter will be Arteta’s ninth visit to Wembley as either a player or manager, and the record is flawless: nine games, nine victories, dating back to an FA Cup semifinal triumph in 2014 and most recently the 2023 Community Shield win over City. Yet Arteta was quick to dismiss any notion of a psychological edge.

“No, there are no favorites,” he insisted. “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.”

Beyond the pursuit of the cup itself lies a subplot of Premier League significance. Arsenal currently sit nine points clear of City in the table, albeit having played one match more. A victory at Wembley would not alter the title arithmetic, but it could inject pivotal momentum into the run-in, with a trip to the Etihad still looming after the international break.

Arteta framed the challenge in broader terms, acknowledging that sport often demands acceptance of superior opposition on any given day. “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.”

For Arsenal, the chase resumes on Sunday beneath the iconic arch, where a single victory would end years of near-misses and hand Arteta the trophy he hopes will be the first of many.