Mikel Arteta dead set on completing ‘mission’ of guiding Arsenal past Chelsea

Mikel Arteta said it is his “mission” to knock Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup and deliver Arsenal’s first major trophy in almost six years after last season’s “painful” semi-final exit.

Arteta could be missing four defenders for the opening-leg clash at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera are all certainly out, while there are significant doubts over William Saliba’s fitness.

Arsenal failed to progress to the final of the Carabao Cup last year following an emphatic 4-0 aggregate defeat by Newcastle.

They were also knocked out of the semi-finals of the Champions League and fell short in the title race too. Arteta’s sole silverware as Arsenal manager so far remains the 2020 FA Cup.

However, they head into Wednesday’s first leg still fighting on all four fronts. The Gunners are top of both the Premier League and Champions League, and through to the fourth round of the FA Cup following their 4-1 win at Portsmouth on Sunday.

And Arteta said: “Football gives you another chance. We have been really consistent again in this competition and now we have to knock another big team out to be in the final. That is the mission.

“Hopefully we have learned from last year because it was painful, especially in the manner that the games went, and the amount of chances we missed to go through. So this year we want to be better and more efficient.

“When you get to this stage in the competition, you get to the final, and you get it over the line and win it, it brings a different kind of energy.

“It brings belief and the sense that the objective is very, very close and that is a massive motivation for everybody.”

The absences of Calafiori, Hincapie, Mosquera and potentially Saliba on Wednesday could force Arteta to play a makeshift back four at Stamford Bridge with Christian Norgaard on call to play alongside Gabriel at centre-back.

Leandro Trossard, who has scored seven times this season, is another who may not be fit enough to play.

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last nine matches, but they will face a Chelsea team re-energised by the arrival of new manager Liam Rosenior.

Rosenior oversaw an impressive 5-1 FA Cup win at Charlton in his opening match in charge. However, Wednesday’s test will be his first in front of the Chelsea supporters.

Speaking of his opponent in the dugout on Wednesday, Arteta continued: “I know people have worked with him. I know people that have been close to him in his journey, especially as a coach. And they talk really highly of him. So, I wish him all the best… apart from tomorrow.”