Mikel Arteta said he would repeat the decision to start Kepa Arrizabalaga in the 2026 Carabao Cup final, even after Arsenal lost the showpiece at Wembley to Manchester City following a costly error from the stand-in. The mistake allowed O\u2019Reilly\u2019s second of the afternoon and, while the goal was described as a collective failing, much of the disappointment was directed at the luckless stand-in.<\/p>\n
Arteta defended the choice as one of principle. \u201cI have to do what I feel is right, which is honest and which is fair,\u201d he told assembled media after the final whistle. \u201cI think we have an outstanding goalkeeper in Kepa. He\u2019s played all the [games in the] competition and I think it would have been very unfair for him and for the team to do something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Questions were raised about whether cup involvement had been part of the agreement that brought Arrizabalaga from Chelsea to Arsenal. The manager was clear that no promises were made. \u201cI can never promise a player to play certain competitions,\u201d Arteta insisted, \u201cthey have to earn it and do enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are guided by what we see. What he\u2019s done in the competition, and how he helped us to get us to the final, I believe it was the right thing to do. Errors are part of football, and unfortunately it happened in a crucial moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arteta reiterated his stance to broadcasters. \u201cI would do it again,\u201d he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
The use of different goalkeepers for different competitions has a long history in English football. As early as 1888\u201389, Preston North End employed James Trainer for the league while Dr. Bob Mills-Roberts was selected for the FA Cup; Mills-Roberts kept his place for the FA Cup final and kept a clean sheet in a 3\u20130 win. History has not always been so kind to the substitute.<\/p>\n
Pep Guardiola benefited from his decision to trust James Trafford against Arsenal on Sunday. Gianluigi Donnarumma\u2019s understudy made three fine saves to keep City in the tie earlier in the first half. \u201cPlayers can be happy, unhappy. It is what it is,\u201d Guardiola shrugged after announcing his decision ahead of kickoff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta would start Kepa again after the 2026 Carabao Cup final despite the Wembley mistake. vs City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1067,238],"tags":[1505,1305,1066],"class_list":["post-9450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-carabao-cup","category-manchester-city","tag-accountability","tag-bench-selection","tag-carabao-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}