Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is determined to maintain faith in cup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Premier League rivals Manchester City.
Kepa Arrizabalaga to start for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final (Image: Arsenal FC, Getty Images)
Kepa Arrizabalaga will start in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester City after Mikel Arteta refused to say who would be the goalkeeper at Wembley earlier this week.
Kepa, 31, was signed in the summer to compete with Arsenal’s first-choice keeper David Raya in the Premier League. The former Chelsea player has started all of the Gunners’ domestic cup games this season, but with silver medals on the line, some are questioning whether Arteta will bring Raya into the squad this weekend.
However, The Athletic reports that this is not the case and that Kepa is expected to start on Sunday as Arsenal aim to win their first major title since 2020.
With Arteta determined to stick with the number two shirt against City, his counterpart Josep Guardiola also decided to play as second-choice keeper at Wembley, confirming James Trafford would start in place of Gianluigi Donnarumma earlier this week.
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Kepa has never won the League Cup, but he has finished runners-up twice with Chelsea. Victory at Wembley on Sunday would see them lift their first domestic trophy since moving to England in 2018.
Arteta is also hoping to end his long wait for a trophy. The Spaniard won the FA Cup seven months after taking over as Arsenal manager in August 2020, but failed to win another silver medal during his spell as Premier.
And while the Gunners may still have a chance of winning a historic quadruple this season, Arteta admitted the lack of trophies since taking over at Arsenal was “hard to accept”.
Kepa is expected to start in Sunday’s final ahead of Arsenal’s regular No. 1 David Raya (Image: Getty Images)
“Obviously we always wanted to win and winning one, two, three or five (trophies) doesn’t change that,” he said before the match. “But certainly, it was difficult for me to accept that because I want to win every competition that I participate in.
“If you’re in this position and you haven’t won a trophy for years, obviously you’re going to have more of a need to win a trophy, but you’re going to be more motivated because you really want it.
“And that’s what we have. It’s something that’s really important to us and something that we’ve been trying to achieve for a while and now we have the opportunity to make it happen.”
“But you also have to understand that in sports, sometimes other players and other teams are better than you. All you have to do is look in the mirror, do your best and be better than them. That’s what we’re striving for.”
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