Arsenal fuelled by Wembley pain as FA Cup takes on added significance | OneFootball

Gunners travel to Southampton desperate to avoid special season veering dangerously off course after Carabao Cup final no-show

Mikel Arteta was a busier man than most of his Arsenal players during the international break.

Less so this time. Gabriel and William Saliba both pulled out of trips to the USA, while Leandro Trossard and Jurrien Timber also did not make it to the departure gate.

As for Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, they popped in for Friday lunch with the England squad and were gone the next day.

Arteta, by contrast, had plenty of analysing and reflecting to do. The international break came straight off the back of Arsenal's Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester City at Wembley.

For probably the first time this season, the Gunners were comfortably second-best and deserved to be beaten.

It was a painfully flat performance, particularly in the second half, and the early days of the international break were full of regret for Arteta.

Mikel Arteta was criticised for mistakes made at Wembley

AFP via Getty Images

"During the first part, it's like a ball of poison that you have in your tummy," Arteta said on Friday, speaking at his first press conference since the final.

"Take that out as quick as possible. How can I use that to make myself better, to make the team better?

"And there is a part that I think has to be there. And I think it's not going to go in the next 30 years. Because when you have the opportunity to win a final in Wembley, you have to get it done."

Arteta and his staff watched the match back in great detail and were "very critical of what we can do better" as a coaching team.

Those learnings will be put into action with the home straight of the season now here and starting with a trip to St Mary's.

Arsenal are away at Southampton on Saturday night in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Win that and they will be back at Wembley later this month.

This competition is bottom on Arsenal's priority list for the rest of the season, with the Premier League and Champions League the biggest prizes on offer.

However, this quarter-final clash has taken on added significance after their Carabao Cup final no-show.

Arsenal must ensure that "poison', as Arteta put it, is played out of their systems. Defeat to Southampton and that display against City becomes more than just an off-day, with the season in danger of staggering off course.

Major silverware is still there to be won and that would be the perfect antidote to help repair the Wembley wounds. With that in mind, Arteta wants the pain of their final defeat to drive Arsenal forward in the final weeks of the season.

Arsenal have responded superbly to setbacks this season

"That has to stay there," Arteta said. "And that's part of who you're going to be in the next few weeks, in the next few months, in the next few years.

“Learn from that and make sure that that fire is still in Wembley, remembering what happened."

Arsenal have responded superbly to setbacks this season. Their three previous defeats in all competitions have been followed by unbeaten runs of 18, 12 and 14 matches, respectively.

If they can do something similar between now and the end of May, the six-year trophy drought will be over and the Carabao Cup final little more than a footnote in the season's story.

Wembley pain will fuel that, if the Arsenal squad take Arteta’s message on board. A win over Southampton will secure a return to the scene of the crime and the chance to start putting things right.