If the League Cup can offer a change from the league, Arsenal need it more than most. Their plight is so severe that Mikel Arteta, the reigning FA Cup winner, was asked if he considered a permanent break by walking away from a job that appears ever tougher.
"I don't like to think about those steps because then I will be thinking in a negative way," the Spaniard said. He may be no quitter but with Arsenal trapped in 15th and their manager again fielding questions about relegation, the Premier League has brought misery.
But on Tuesday night the League Cup could kickstart a season gone horribly wrong. “This is what we want to use it for, as well as a competition we want to win,” said Arteta. It might bring respite and reminders alike. Arteta’s first flagship win in a one-off occasion came at the expense of his mentor.
Manchester City were defeated 2-0 in July's FA Cup semi-final. A reunion with Pep Guardiola could bring happy memories for Arteta. As a double act, they masterminded a 100-point season and a domestic treble, both historic achievements.
Last week, Guardiola came to the defence of his former assistant. “Arsenal couldn’t have a better manager to lead this club,” he said. “Nobody is better than him. He’s one of the best managers I’ve ever worked with and seen directly.”
Guardiola will hope proof does not come on Tuesday night as he continues his quest to become the first manager to win the League Cup in four successive seasons. He has experienced one Arteta: the second in command.
Arsenal have had two, the manager who has lost seven of his last 10 league games and the one whose record in Cup competitions, counting triumphs on penalties as victories, features 16 wins in 17 matches, some of them elevating expectations along with his reputation. It would be wrong to say he celebrated a year in charge on Sunday – not after defeat to Everton – but he reflected upon it.
“Some really positive highlights, obviously now everything is looking a bit more negative because our form in the Premier League,” he said. It has been a year unlike any other. It is not entirely Arteta’s fault that the job is proving more difficult than he envisaged. Problems have abounded.
“I could not think about some of the challenges we have been through, some internally at the club, some externally with the pandemic, as well some results we've picked up in the Premier League,” Arteta added.
Arsenal’s season has been notable for indiscipline, meaning Granit Xhaka is suspended. Theirs can feel a divided camp but Arteta insisted they are united. “Within the club my feeling is just support, encouragement and total confidence we're going to get through this together,” he said.
He is without his likeliest matchwinner on Tuesday, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose brace defeated City in July, still injured. The grim reality is that Arsenal only have two goals in open play in 10 league games. “Our conversion rate and our finishing quality is what's letting us down at the moment,” Arteta said. An alternative perspective is that Arsenal lack creativity.
Arteta cited statistics from recent games, claiming they showed Arsenal had a 67 per cent chance of winning at Goodison Park on Saturday and just a nine per cent chance of losing. They lost, just as defeats to Burnley and Tottenham apparently came with just three and seven per cent chance of being defeated.
But the most meaningful numbers are in the league table. Relegation is a worry. “When you are in this position and you have the points that we have at the moment, you have to look and be careful,” Arteta said.
