Arsenal Hard to Win Again, Arteta Still Satisfied with English League Cup

JAKARTA - Arsenal is having trouble winning again. In the English League Cup quarterfinal match against Crystal Palace, Wednesday, December 24, 2025 WIB early morning, Arsenal was only able to play a draw 1-1 and finally won 8-7 through a penalty shootout. However, manager Mikel Arteta is still satisfied that the North London club survived in the English third-class competition.

Arteta opened the hope of winning the trophy again. For six years since replacing Unai Emery in 2019, he has only won the FA Cup and twice been the best in the Community Shield.

Now, Arteta is pinning his hopes on winning the trophy and weaving the dream of winning the English Premier League after last winning in 2004. Arsenal is also still in the Champions League and qualified for the last 16 automatically.

The wide-eared trophy remains a dream because Arsenal is the only top team in the English League who has never won.

They are still losing to Aston Villa who once won the Champions Cup (before it was changed to the Champions League). Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest, which was in the lower division for a long time before returning to the Premier League, has even lifted the trophy twice.

Despite having big ambitions to win trophies, Arsenal still has trouble showing sharpness. The match against Palace was the latest proof that the clinical ability has actually decreased. In the last three, Arsenal was really barren even though they always won.

When winning against the bottom of the table, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arteta's team won 2-1.

It's just that the Gunners' two goals were created by Wolves players' suicides. And the goal that determined the victory only came from Yerson Mosquera's suicide just moments before the break.

Likewise in the match against Everton, they only won 1-0. The goal was created from the penalty spot. Finally, Arsenal seemed to be unable to overcome the Palace defense in the London Derby at the Emirates Stadium.

Many opportunities were created through Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus and Eberechi Eze. But all were thwarted by goalkeeper Walter Benitez who played brilliantly.

Arsenal only took the lead after defender Maxence Lacroix made a suicide goal in the 80th minute. The goal started with a header from Riccardo Calafiori who greeted Bukayo Saka's corner and caused a mess in front of Palace's goal.

Defender William Saliba then ran to greet the ball. In a stressful situation, Lacroix who was about to throw the ball made a mistake. The ball instead slid into his own goal.

When the match was expected to be won by Arsenal, Palace captain Marc Guehi managed to defeat goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. The result changed to 1-1 so that the match had to be resolved with a penalty shootout.

Lacroix was again upset because his execution could be thwarted by Kepa. Arsenal also won 8-7 and qualified for the semi-finals to face the next London Derby against Chelsea.

Despite winning, Arteta still felt frustrated with the team's final finish. According to him, Arsenal should have won big and did not need a penalty shootout because they created many opportunities.

"When you see the many opportunities that were created, we should have won by a big score. We showed quality and energy when facing a team that has a very good game organization and rarely concedes," Arteta said as quoted by france24.

"We should have scored three or four goals. Meanwhile, the opponent also rarely gets the chance. And that's what happens when a team with quality actually concedes through a set piece. This is obviously difficult to accept. But we try to stay calm and show the best ability and quality when the penalty shootout," he said again.

Disappointed with the final result because he was unable to win a lot, but Arteta was still satisfied because Arsenal survived in the Carabao Cup.

"When you want to win a trophy, you have to pay attention to every detail. You also have to be able to win in different situations. We won two games that were really difficult," he said.

"I'm happy Kepa made the last save. Praise is also due to the players. They play every three days but can show the level of play as expected," said Arteta.