Why Arsenal Need to Win the Carabao Cup | OneFootball

After consecutive Premier League title challenges, reaching the Champions League quarterfinals and years of early domestic cup exits, Mikel Arteta and Arsenal need to win another trophy.

Winning the 2019–20 FA Cup in his first six months in charge bought the Spaniard time. Some would say too much time after back-to-back eighth place finishes in the Premier League and early Europa League exits. The narrative around Arteta, and in addition managers holistically in the Premier League, has changed after pushing Manchester City to the limit. Give managers the time to build their squads, implement their systems and reap the rewards of that.

That's not to say every club is now giving first time managers the time to struggle, even in the wake of winning trophies—see Erik ten Hag and Manchester United—but Arteta has more credit in the bank now than he did ever after winning the FA Cup.

Part of that is playing exciting soccer, part of that is challenging for league titles, but that credit can go away as quickly as it was built up. Especially when you trail a Liverpool side with a new manager and a game in hand by six points nearly halfway through the Premier League campaign.

Surface level context paints a worrying picture. Supporters yearning for a trophy will understand the injury and suspension issues the team has dealt with so far this season. But, the goal each year is simple, especially for a club like Arsenal: win trophies. No better way to quell early season concerns than by winning the Carabao Cup.

The time has come, and some will say the time has already come and arguably passed, for Arteta's Arsenal to lift trophies. A team this far into a process will only be given so much time. Not necessarily by the powers that be at a club, but by supporters buying into said process. It doesn't matter that the Carabao Cup might be looked at as a lesser trophy compared to the Champions League, a competition Arsenal has never won, or the FA Cup, a competition Arsenal has won the most.

A trophy is a trophy. And right now that's exactly what Mikel Arteta needs: a trophy.

Arteta's deepest run in the Carabao Cup came in the 2021–22 campaign, notably the year of the All or Nothing Amazon docuseries. Arsenal lost to Liverpool over two legs, but understandably so considering the juggernaut that was Jürgen Klopp's Reds.

Arsenal's had a favorable run so far defeating Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. Of the quarterfinal matches, Arsenal's matchup against Crystal Palace on paper is a favorable opportunity to reach the final four.

If the Gunners do advance, the field will likely include Liverpool, and one of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. Every other top six side will have been eliminated from the competition. This is a competition Arteta cannot let go to waste if he wants his side to take the next step. Making the semifinals gives the team leeway to manage advancing to the final over two legs. Then, anything can happen at Wembley Stadium.

The Carabao Cup needs to be a signifier toward eventually getting over the hurdle in the league, and potentially Europe. Pep Guardiola, for years, collected Carabao Cups like they were trading cards with Manchester City.

Arteta already has shown he can install exciting tactics and develop players like Bukayo Saka, but he needs to prove he can collect trophies each season.

Winning the Carabao Cup this year is the first step in the next evolution of Arteta's Arsenal.