5 Premier League players who won’t feature again in 2025-26 after FA Cup disasters | OneFootball

Even with plenty left to play for in the Premier League and the Champions League, some seasons were rendered over on a huge FA Cup weekend.

One Arsenal player definitely won’t play again for another five months, with a team-mate likely to fall by the wayside too.

A West Ham pair will surely not be seen again as their focus shifts solely to Premier League survival, while one Liverpool outcast will pay the price for their Manchester City thrashing.

Kepa

Enduring proof that nominative determinism isn’t necessarily a good thing, Kepa has carved out quite the niche as an unreliable luxury deputy glovesman.

The role he fulfilled on loan at Real Madrid in 2023/24 has prepared the Spaniard exceptionally well for his time at Arsenal, which has comprised ten appearances in his debut campaign.

There will be no more. Even if Kepa had inspired the Gunners to victory in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City and helped them past Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final, he would not have displaced fellow European, under 32, right-footed bilingualist David Raya for the season’s run-in.

His latest disastrous turn at Wembley and a thoroughly unconvincing showing at St Mary’s ensures Kepa will not be seen again until he is dusted off for some Carabao third-round action in September.

Myles Lewis-Skelly

It feels unfair to tar Lewis-Skelly with any adjacent brushes; his mistakes have been far less conspicuous in a difficult second season which can be put down to teenage growing pains at an elite level.

Gabriel Jesus has certainly been far worse when trusted, with Christian Norgaard a non-factor in Arsenal’s campaign.

But Mikel Arteta’s leaning towards a Tony Pulis-style centre-half backline has further marginalised a natural midfielder already learning a new trade at left-back.

Lewis-Skelly has been an unused substitute in Arsenal’s last ten Premier League games, with his single minute across the last-16 tie with Bayer Leverkusen an insight into how much he might expect to play in the Champions League going forward.

Max Kilman

In the summer of 2024, Newcastle made a part-exchange bid for Max Kilman with Elliot Anderson plus cash offered.

Unsettled at the thought of not being the stupidest people in the room, Wolves requested that someone hold their beer while they rejected the move.

Kilman instead became arguably the worst signing in West Ham history, a £40million millstone with five years left on an unfathomable contract.

The centre-half was booed by his own fans during the FA Cup defeat to Leeds in which he conceded a penalty, Nuno Espirito Santo having given Kilman his first appearance since the fourth-round win over Burton Albion in mid-February.

Kilman has played 25 minutes in the Premier League since his last start for the Hammers – a 3-0 defeat to Wolves in early January. If he is called on again at any stage this season, there might well be another mass walk-out at the London Stadium.

Freddie Potts

It doesn’t feel as though that infamous dream dinner party guest list will be able to offer Potts the support he needs in an increasingly desperate first full season as a West Ham first-teamer.

The relative bright spots earlier in the campaign have long since faded, giving way to half-time substitutions on two of his last three Premier League starts, a straight red card against League One Burton and a risible showing against Leeds.

The list of individuals who must shoulder responsibility for this West Ham mess before Potts is absurdly long, but equally this is not really the place for a 22-year-old who would not be in the picture were it not for his academy background.

Federico Chiesa

The Liverpool players who should probably pay for the Manchester City humiliation with their places are unfortunately the two best-paid and most senior squad members, and are thus insulated from an Arne Slot drop.

The Mo Salah farewell tour suffered an atrocious start and the football does appear to have entirely left Virgil van Dijk.

But the most likely outcome is that Chiesa suffers for another Liverpool trophy avenue being closed off.

The Italian has never really commanded the faith of his manager and those Premier League substitute cameos – no player has come off the bench more often in the top flight this season – might well dry up now, with the likelihood of Chiesa being backed to make the difference against PSG about as slim as Liverpool’s chances of not getting battered.