By ISAAN KHAN
Published: 10:05 EST, 13 January 2026 | Updated: 10:05 EST, 13 January 2026
Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal side are on a mission to beat Chelsea and lift the Carabao Cup after a ‘painful’ exit last season which has prolonged the club's trophy drought.
The Gunners were knocked out by Newcastle in the previous campaign at the semis stage after a 4-0 aggregate defeat across two legs.
It has left Arteta motivated to win a first trophy since his FA Cup triumph in 2020. They first have to get past Liam Rosenior’s Blues, who host their London rivals on Wednesday.
When asked about improving on last year's meek display against Newcastle, he said: ‘That's the mission. Hopefully we'll learn from last year because it was painful, especially the manner that the games went and the amount of chances that we missed not to go through.
‘But hopefully this year we are better and especially more efficient. The more you are involved in these kind of games, the better because it gives you a nudge. It brings the team a different kind of energy and it gives you the sense that the objective is very, very close and that's a massive motivation for everybody. We know that we are two games away from playing a final.
‘We have to go game by game, and the first one is Stamford Bridge, and we know we have a really tough opponent in front.’
Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal side are on a mission to beat Chelsea and lift the Carabao Cup after a ‘painful’ exit last season which has prolonged the club's trophy drought
Arsenal will have to navigate a series of injuries which are once again biting the backline.
William Saliba is a doubt, while Piero Hincapie (groin), Riccardo Calafiori (muscular) and Cristhian Mosquera (ankle) are unavailable.
From the attackers, Leandro Trossard is a doubt and Max Dowman (ankle) is ‘a few weeks away’.