Mikel Arteta has spoken about embracing the opportunity of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
At the same stage of the competition, **Arsenal**lost 4-0 across two legs to eventual winners Newcastle United. The Gunners are going for their first major honour since 2020 to crown their development under the manager, and he is eager for his players to prove what they have learned against Chelsea.
“Football gives you another chance, we’ve been really consistent again in the competition and now we have to knock another big team out of the competition to be in the final and that’s the mission.
“Hopefully we’ll learn from last year because it was painful, especially in 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 hopefully 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. It gives you the sense that the objective is very, very close and that’s a massive motivation for everybody. We know we are two games away from playing a final. We have to go game-by-game and the first one is Stamford Bridge.*
“I know that to do that you have to be better than the opposition tomorrow and that’s what we have to do. The rest is not in our control, so we have prepared the game really well. The boys are really motivated and at it because we can sense that that’s where we want to be and we have to make another step in order to achieve what we want and that’s the objective tomorrow.
“As I said before when you get to this stage in the competition, you get to the final and you get over the line and win it, it brings energy, it brings belief and the sense that everybody is very important and playing part of that, so yeah, I think it’s something, when you get there and win it, everybody remembers and if not, nobody does. So, once you get there, get the job done.”