Arsenal were knocked out of a second competition in two games after losing 2-1 at Championship club Southampton on Saturday night.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta admitted his players are in pain and must look themselves in the mirror while Manchester City’s confidence continues to grow in the Premier League title race. On Saturday lunchtime, the Blues continued the momentum from before the international break with a dominant victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Still suffering a hangover from the Wembley defeat last month, the Gunners crashed out of the FA Cup yesterday evening after a 2-1 loss to Southampton. Before the Carabao Cup final defeat to City, Arsenal were chasing the quadruple.

Now, Arteta’s side find themselves battling in just the Premier League and Champions League. Speaking in his post-match press conference, the Arsenal boss refused to use the battle for four trophies as an excuse for the defeat. “No, and I don’t want to put any excuses about the players that are missing or the players that are here with issues,” he said.

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“It’s not the case – let’s look at ourselves in the mirror, accept the situation, and go to Portugal with clarity and look forward to it. I don’t know [if it will be a blessing in disguise].

“We are out, so while we are out we still have that pain, but when that pain goes, we have to use the time we have in the best possible manner to maximise every resource we have to then be better. You have to ‘stop’ when you’re winning, winning, and winning, like we’ve been doing, so that you don’t think you’re better than you are because you’re winning.

“It’s very clear – we’ve talked about it many times – you have to be very stable [in the Premier League], in any competition that you play, and we will continue to do that.” City are now the favourites to win the FA Cup but they still have work to do to win the Premier League.

The Blues sit nine points behind Arsenal in the title race. But they have a game in hand to play against Crystal Palace and will also face the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium on April 19.

City return to league action next Sunday when they visit Chelsea. As for Arsenal, they travel to Sporting on Tuesday night before facing AFC Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium.