Arteta confident Arsenal can handle scrutiny after cup exits

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The Football Faithful

·7 April 2026

Arteta confident Arsenal can handle scrutiny after cup exits

Mikel Arteta has said questions will always be asked about Arsenal as his side look to silence their doubters at Sporting.

Arsenal travel to Sporting CP for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final this evening. The Gunners head into the game amid criticism, following back-to-back defeats.

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Arteta’s side missed the chance to end a six-year wait for silverware after losing the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City before the international break. That defeat was followed by a disappointing FA Cup exit at Championship side Southampton, ending the club’s treble hopes.

Arsenal remain well positioned in the Premier League and Champions League, though external doubts have crept in. Asked whether recent results and criticism would ‘fire up’ his team tonight, Arteta said there will always be scrutiny when you play for a team of Arsenal’s ‘level’.

“That’s in football, from the first game of the season, that’s going to be questioned: What about Arsenal this season? It’s been like this for the last nine months and that’s going to continue, that’s never going to change when you play at this level for this club,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference.

“There’s always going to be a question mark and that’s it. You have to live the present, you have to deliver it every day. You cannot pick the games, you cannot pick the moments or the actions.

“It’s every action, every game, every moment. That’s the standard that we set and that’s part of identity and it’s part of this football club.”

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