March 23 – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended his choice to pick goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga as starter in the league cup final after the London club’s 2-0 capitulation against Manchester City.
Preferred over David Raya, Arrizabalaga didn’t cover himself in glory as he blundered at the hour mark to allow Nico O’ Reilly to get his first goal of the afternoon. It signalled Arsenal’s collapse and the Man City youngster completed his brace four minutes later to steer Manchester City to victory following a dominant display.
“I have to do what I feel is right, which is honest and which is fair and I think we have an understanding goalkeeper in Kepa,” said Arteta. “He’s 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.
“We are guided by what we’ve seen and what he’s always done in the competition and he helped us to go all the way through here. I believe it’s the right thing to do and that’s it. Errors are part of football and today it happened unfortunately in a crucial moment.”
In their first showpiece final of the season, Arsenal’s dreams of a quadruple were crushed by an imperious Manchester City. The Londoners lacked intensity and energy, were overpowered by Pep Guardiola’s deployment of outright wingers and couldn’t keep up with veteran midfielders Bernardo Silva and Rodri.
Arsenal however remain favourites to win the Premier League, and are in the final stages of the FA Cup and the Champions League. In the Premier League they lead Manchester City by nine points, but Guardiola’s team have a game in hand and will host the London club on April 19 in a crunch game.
Arteta downplayed the impact Sunday’s defeat might have on the rest of Arsenal’s season.
“We played 50 games today, so every time you have a defeat or a draw, if that’s the consequence, you’re not prepared to play 70 games because it’s something that will happen at some point. We haven’t allowed that to happen, we have to prove it, we have to do it again…
“The good thing is that we have a very recent history, how this team has reacted in those moments, and I’m sure we’re going to do it again.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1774276774labto1774276774ofdlr1774276774owedi1774276774sni@i1774276774tnuk.1774276774ardni1774276774mas1774276774