Mikel Arteta lays down trophy challenge for Arsenal players ahead of Newcastle semi-final clash in Carabao Cup | OneFootball

Gunners still competing on four fronts heading into second half of the season

Simon Collings @sr_collingsjust now

Mikel Arteta has challenged his Arsenal players to make more memories this season by winning the Carabao Cup.

Arsenal lifted the FA Cup in 2020 during Arteta’s first season in charge but since then they have just won the Community Shield twice.

Arteta is hungry for more silverware and has urged his players to seize the opportunity ahead of them.

“It’s the icing on the cake,” he said. “We work every single day to achieve that, to bring joy to our people.

“And there is not a single moment that stands out more than when you have that cup, and you are offering that cup to the supporters, and you are sharing it with the people you work with every day.

The Carabao Cup can often be overlooked by clubs, who use it as a chance to rest players during a busy season.

But Arteta said: “They (the domestic cups) mean a lot to all of us.

“You see a lot of clubs and how they prepare and how they decide line-ups and there is a lot of talk about the cups and how it is right now.

“It’s very different because we know to win any trophy in this environment, especially in this country, is extremely difficult.”

Arsenal are still in the hunt for all four trophies season as they are second in the Premier League and on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

They are also in the third round of the FA Cup and will host Manchester United this Sunday.

“It’s something that we discussed and were very clear - we want to win every competition,” said Arteta.

“We are here and we have a squad and we have levels that requires that we approach every game in that way. We started game by game - now we are in the semi-finals and we want to make it happen.”