Mikel Arteta’s frosty response to Pep Guardiola ahead of Carabao Cup final | Football | Sport
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta delivered a frosty response upon learning that James Trafford would be starting for Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. Pep Guardiola‘s backup goalkeeper has featured in all of City’s cup fixtures this campaign, and it has been announced that this pattern will continue at Wembley.
Comparable measures have been implemented by Arteta with Kepa Arrizabalaga but he declined to confirm that the Spaniard would be between the posts for the final. On Friday afternoon, he stated: “We’ll see [if he starts]. However, it’s tomorrow when I make the decision.” When it was highlighted to him that Guardiola disclosed in his press conference that Trafford would be in City’s starting XI, Arteta merely responded: “Good for him.”
Goalkeeper matters and Guardiola discussion occupied a substantial portion of Arteta’s press conference with the Gunners manager confirming he has not communicated with his former City colleague in some time but will do so on Sunday.
He also outlined the rationale behind reserve shot-stoppers playing the bulk of cup matches even when it concerns finals.
Arteta stated: “They are very special because they are always different. And they are different; it’s a position that is very specific.
“There is a lot of history about that as well that is very related to how people have made decisions in the past and when something different happens it sounds different at least. But we don’t know how it’s going to be in 10 or 20 years’ time.”
Beyond this weekend’s showpiece, there is a broader contest between the two as they battle for the Premier League title.
Arsenal presently hold a nine-point advantage at the summit but City have a game in hand and also host the leaders at Etihad Stadium in mid-April.
The final international break of the campaign arrives before then, along with additional knockout fixtures for both clubs.
Two Champions League quarter-final legs against Sporting and an FA Cup quarter-final away to Southampton sees Arsenal face five matches in merely 15 days with league encounters against City and Bournemouth included in that schedule.
Guardiola has only two fixtures to consider over that spell following City’s elimination from Europe at the hands of Real Madrid. They do face Liverpool in an FA Cup quarter-final, however.
Crystal Palace’s advancement into the last eight of the Conference League also affects both sides with no obvious midweek slot available for their visit to City that was originally scheduled for the Carabao Cup final weekend.
As a result, City will maintain their game in hand over Arsenal for the forthcoming weeks as Arteta’s team have already played their fixture scheduled for this weekend. That was the 2-2 stalemate against Wolves from mid-February, which coincided with the European play-off round.
