What next for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal after Carabao Cup semi-final humiliation? | OneFootball

While Newcastle United fans scrambled for trains, tickets and hotels around London for next month’s League Cup final through blissfully blurry vision, wide-eyed Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was leading his side on to an Emirates flight to Dubai for a much-needed warm weather winter training break.

If only he had a new star striker to help settle in. The transfer window has shut with Arteta’s paper thin squad left to cover the cracks, albeit only hairline ones.

They ventured north to overturn a self-inflicted two-goal first-leg deficit with the same lineup that hit five goals past Manchester City barely 48 hours before, but they played like a different side; how tired and uncertain Arsenal looked at St James’s Park .

Arteta’s priority in the magical middle east, a winter venue that has served so well to recharge his squad in recent seasons, will be to regroup for the two-pronged task of catching Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table and more knockout football in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The fact they did not sign a striker with Bukayo Saka already sidelined before in-form forward Gabriel Jesus was ruled out for the season a few days later should remain a concern. And what looked to be a hamstring injury for Gabriel Martinelli in the defeat to Newcastle will only add to those worries.

If they hit all their targets in the summer and sweep all before them next season they might yet have the last laugh.

But few fans will be thinking about next season at the start of February. They are mindful the reason they can afford a week of exotic sun while their rivals remain at the grizzled grindstone of domestic and European football is because they faltered so badly in front of goal in the FA Cup at home to a mediocre Manchester United.

Had they won at Newcastle and got back at Wembley for the first time since winning the FA Cup final in 2020 they would have had around a 50-50 chance of winning on the day. Their statistical chances of winning another trophy this season are severely slimmer. That is the enormous gamble Arsenal have taken when they ostensibly still have so much to play for.

Maybe the Arsenal money men are keeping their powder dry as they follow the data. They are on their longest run without defeat under Arteta in the league – unbeaten in 14 matches. Even so, they have only a 9.8% chance of winning the title according to the regularly reliable Opta supercomputer.

Arsenal supporters will argue they should have found a way to strengthen even just by boosting the squad depth with foreign loan signings. They will have the best part of £200m to spend this summer, allowing for some sales too. A good quarter of that is already earmarked for Spanish midfielder Martin Zubimendi.

If it takes the rest or more to get Alexander Isak away from Newcastle it will be a huge two steps forward. Only the need to comply with financial regulations could feasibly led to Newcastle selling their super Swede, but Arsenal will try. Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko will be targeted too.

In the meantime, Arteta will be hoping some sunshine and over-priced salty steak will keep his side competitive for the remainder of this season. It is, after all, just a few days since they swept aside City and produced their peak performance of the season.

There is no appetite to change manager at Arsenal and nor should there be. Talisman Bukayo Saka is going to Dubai and will be playing next month, key defender Ben White too and in teenagers Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri they have two of the best young players in the Premier League.

After humiliating nights such as this, that will be hard for the youngsters and club’s supporters to see, but it is what Arteta should focus on after applying a good dose of suncream.