Mikel Arteta said he has “full faith” in his squad and believes winning the Carabao Cup will create a snowball effect for further success ahead of Arsenal’s quarter-final tie against Crystal Palace.
The misfiring Gunners have slipped to third in the Premier League following back-to-back draws – with a smattering of boos greeting the final whistle following Saturday’s stalemate against Everton at the Emirates.
After their opening 16 games in the league, Arsenal’s tally of 30 points is six worse than last season and 10 less than they managed in the campaign before.
Kai Havertz has just one league strike in the past two months, while Gabriel Jesus has not scored in the top flight since January. The Gunners have also failed to score a goal in open play in their previous three league outings.
🗞️ Tomorrow's opposition🗞️ Balance of team selection🗞️ Building momentum
Every word from Mikel Arteta's pre-Crystal Palace presser 👇
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 17, 2024
But when it was put to Arteta that the club might need to invest in a striker when the transfer window opens next month, he replied: “I fully trust the squad and our players. The amount we generate in the match, and how little we concede, I fully trust my players.
“That’s always the narrative (that Arsenal are too reliant on set-pieces). When you score five goals and another five and three you’re not going to talk about it.
“If you concede, it’s ‘you don’t have many clean sheets’. That’s normal. For us it doesn’t change. We want to improve regardless of if we score three or five.”
Arteta will celebrate his five-year anniversary at Arsenal on Friday. Under the Spaniard’s tenure, the club have emerged as Championship contenders – finishing runner-up to Manchester City for the past two seasons.
However, Arteta has overseen just one trophy – the FA Cup in 2020 – and they are six points behind Liverpool in the race for the title having played one match more than Arne Slot’s side.
But Arteta believes success in the Carabao Cup could serve as a springboard to winning their first league title in two decades.
He added: “It (winning a trophy) is really helpful because it brings belief, trust, positive energy, touching the cup, and being in the semi-final and beating somebody in the final.
“It creates that energy and the right path to go and do something else, particularly because of the timing and when the competition is played in this country, it gets that momentum going.
“I fully believe in that, the fact that you are winning and you get into the next round and it creates something different around the team and that is why these kind of games are so important.
“We want to win and we will do everything we can to win it. The pressure is about being at a big club or winning the major trophies, and this is what we want to do.”
Arteta revealed he will continue to be without Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko but Declan Rice, who was substituted in Arsenal’s goalless draw against the Toffees, will be available.
