Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team have the chance to win their first trophy of the season when they head to Wembley on Sunday
Arsenal can win the first of four potential trophies this season when they take on Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. Victory at Wembley would represent a second cup win for Mikel Arteta since he took over in North London - and a first since the 2020 FA Cup final - but the manager has been given plenty to think about in the days leading up to the game.
Opponents City are also the one team who still have a realistic chance of denying Arsenal the Premier League title. There is a nine-point gap between the two sides but Pep Guardiola's side have eight games left to play while Arsenal have just seven.
The Premier League’s top two could also still meet in the FA Cup, where the quarter-final draw has pitted City against Liverpool and Arsenal against Southampton. They can no longer meet in Europe, though, with Arteta’s men staying alive with a 3-1 aggregate win over Bayer Leverkusen but Guardiola’s side eliminated at the hands of Real Madrid.
Both managers will have spent the last few days doing their preparation for Sunday’s match at Wembley but Arteta has been handed some less-than-welcome news. Here are our latest lines from North London.
Arteta’s keeper headache
Former Arsenal star Paul Merson is torn on Mikel Arteta's goalkeeper conundrum ahead of the Carabao Cup final. Kepa Arrizabalaga has started all five games in the competition so far and Arteta needs to decide whether to stick with his cup keeper or bring in first-choice stopper David Raya.
“Kepa has been first-choice in the Carabao Cup and I think they should stick with him,” Merson wrote for Sportskeeda . “It's only fair because he played well and got you to this stage.
“But I must admit, Raya is world-class! The saves he made against Everton and Leverkusen, absolutely phenomenal.
“However, if I were the manager, I would still stick to my principles and choose Kepa as the keeper for the final. He's not let the team down in this competition and deserves to start.”
Merson started Arsenal’s last League Cup final victory, against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993. They have lost the final three times since, including against Manchester City in 2018.
City given fixture list boost
Manchester City have been handed a boost as they look to reel in Arsenal in the final few weeks of the season. Mikel Arteta might have hoped to see the Gunners’ rivals stung by fixture congestion around their game in hand but one potential date has been ruled out.
City will need to find a date to take on Crystal Palace after their meeting was postponed due to the Carabao Cup final. Arsenal’s game against Wolves was brought forward, with that game also initially scheduled for the same weekend as the final, though City couldn’t face Palace at the same time because the Eagles had a Conference League play-off the following day.
Pep Guardiola’s side were eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday, opening up the possibility of playing their rearranged league game at the same time as Arsenal’s European quarter-final. However, Palace’s progress in Europe - they beat AEK Larnaca after extra-time on Thursday - has put paid to that possibility.
This means, as things stand, City only play four times to Arsenal’s six in April and may well wait until May to face Palace. Arsenal and City will face off in a crucial league game on the third weekend of April and the latter could be significantly better-rested by the time the match kicks off.