Darren Bent believes Mikel Arteta should not play Kepa Arrizabalaga for the remainder of Arsenal’s season and insists David Raya should start every game.

After crashing out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 defeat away to Southampton last Saturday, Arsenal are still in with a chance of winning the Premier League and the Champions League this season.

Mikel Arteta’s side currently have a nine-point cushion over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, while the Gunners sealed a 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Sporting CP on Tuesday night.

Arsenal now turn their attention back to the Premier League this weekend as they host Bournemouth in Saturday’s 12:30pm kick-off.

Former Premier League striker Bent has called on Arteta to stick with his trusted players for the remainder of the campaign, and described Gabriel Jesus as a ‘passenger’ in the defeat to Southampton last wekend.

‘It was just worrying, the performance, because there were so many players who I have lauded this season, like [Cristhian] Mosquera, whenever he has come in to play when [William] Saliba has been injured, at times he’s looked really good, he looked like he was nervous against Southampton,’ Bent told talkSPORT.

‘Gabriel [Magalhaes], I don’t know if it was because Saliba wasn’t next to him, he looked a little bit nervous, not like his normal self.

‘Gabriel Jesus… I mean, I don’t know why we keep trying, I could’ve told you, it’s not worked for like three years and yet we’re still… I know you’ve got to give players minutes but that’s not working.

‘As I said, [Max] Dowman was the only one who I thought, ‘he’s got a little bit about him’.

‘Stop playing Kepa. I know it’s not necessarily his fault, but I don’t want to see Kepa again this season.

‘As a back-up, perfect. David Raya, between now and the end of the season, has to play every single minute.

‘Even if Arsenal destroy Sporting in the Champions League, next week I need David Raya in goal. Play him from now in every game until the end of the season.

‘I understand he’s trying to play bodies but these players are letting him down, they keep being given opportunities and they’re not taking them. Gabriel Jesus was like a passenger.’

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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.

Arsenal are sweating on another potential injury blow after Gabriel Magalhaes was forced off in their FA Cup defeat against Southampton.

After Manchester City ended their quadruple bid, the Gunners crashed out of a second competition on Saturday night after a shock defeat at St Mary’s.

Mikel Arteta’s side trailed at half-time after an error from Ben White led to Ross Stewart scoring the opener for the hosts before Viktor Gyokeres levelled the quarter-final tie after 68 minutes with.

Shea Charles scored a winner for Saints five minutes from the final whistle, sparking jubilant celebrations among the home crowd.

It was a woeful night for Arsenal and there will be concern for Gabriel who was forced off with 20 minutes of the game remaining.

The Brazil international was among the clutch of players not involved for their respective nations during the international break but was named in Mikel Arteta’s starting XI at St Mary’s on Saturday night.

His evening came to an end after 73 minutes with the centre-half replaced by Gabriel Saliba. Gabriel was seen sat among the Arsenal subs with his right knee elevated with an ice pack applied.

Speaking after the game, Arteta revealed Gabriel asked to be replaced, describing the situation as ‘not ideal.’

Arteta said in his post-match press conference when asked about the Brazilian: ‘I don’t know. He felt something, we don’t know exactly what it is.

‘But when a player asks to be substituted, it is not ideal.’

Saliba, who replaced his teammate after the knock, was another who missed the international break as he recovered from an ankle issue.

Gabriel missed 10 games earlier in the season with a thigh injury he suffered while on international duty with Brazil last November.

Arsenal will be hoping the issue is not a serious one with a hectic fiixture schedule ahead, back in action away to Sporting CP in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.

Bournemouth visit the Emirates next weekend before Sporting come to town for the return leg.

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Jason Cundy believes Arsenal ‘are not on the same football level’ as Paris Saint-Germain but insists Mikel Arteta’s side can still win the Champions League this season.

Arsenal remain the only unbeaten team in the Champions League this term after their 3-1 aggregate victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the last-16.

The Premier League leaders will now play Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-final with the first leg of their tie against the Portuguese side to be played next Tuesday

PSG, meanwhile, needed to beat Monaco in the playoffs to reach the Champions League last-16 but Luis Enrique’s side impressed in their 8-2 aggregate win over Chelsea last month.

Arsenal’s hopes of winning the quadruple this season ended before the international break with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.

Cundy maintains Arsenal can still win the Champions League but claims Arteta’s side are ‘nowhere near’ the level PSG have shown.

‘We [the Premier League] are an unbelievable league but the truth of it is the last couple of seasons the league is actually pretty goal,’ Cundy told talkSPORT.

‘I watched PSG [against Chelsea], all jokes aside, that is a football team, a proper football team. Don’t rely on long balls, don’t rely on set-pieces, don’t rely on long throws, they are a proper team.

‘Last season, they were the best side I saw in any competition and they went on to win the Champions League.

‘But that doesn’t necessarily mean to say that Arsenal, who have had their criticism, aren’t capable of going and doing what they’re doing in the Premier League and overpowering teams.

‘I’ve got no love, I hope Arsenal fall at the last every time, but you’ve got to appreciate a good side, you’ve got to appreciate what they do and they do it well, dark arts and all that.

‘I’ve said this, I want my side Chelsea to be more like them. I want to be more like Arsenal. I want the dark arts, go down in the box, throw yourself down, goalkeeper’s holding his head.

‘Arsenal can go on and win this Champions League by being who they are. But if you’re talking about a football club and a football team, PSG have embodied everything, they are just a brilliant team, moving the ball, creativity.

‘Going forward, Barcelona, that’s the beautiful game, the way they move the ball through the thirds, Arsenal are not that team and that’s okay, you don’t have to be like that.

‘What I saw [PSG beating Chelsea] was just an eye opener. They are miles ahead of anything in the Premier League in terms of football, PSG, no team can touch them with the ball at their feet.

‘And Arsenal, as good as they are, they’re not on the same level as a football team as PSG, nowhere near it, but Arsenal can do it in a different way and they’re going to have to find a way.

‘Liverpool have got to find a way. From what I’ve seen of Liverpool this season and PSG in the Champions League, I don’t think they are capable, I genuinely don’t think they are capable of matching PSG because they have got the lot and they are ruthless, utterly ruthless.’

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Arsenal’s dark arts have degenerated to such a point that it’s clear they’re terrified of Premier League rivals Manchester City

You’ve got to feel for Mikel Arteta, haven’t you? If you don’t, you’re an unfeeling monster of Roy Keaneian proportions.

With Arsenal on the cusp of their first Premier League title in over two decades, they’ve been plunged into an injury crisis so grotesquely unlucky it makes Paula Radcliffe being remembered for a mid-race toilet break rather than as a world champion marathon runner feel like a fair shake.

In the space of just a few days, 12 of their senior players have withdrawn from international duty due to injury. Twelve. What an unfortunate sequence of entirely coincidental and definitely-not-convenient events.

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Now, in case it wasn’t clear enough, I’m being as sarcastic as Robert Sanchez is error-prone.

This obviously isn’t an injury crisis; it’s a pathetic, fabricated outbreak of ‘Arteta-itis’ – a rare medical phenomenon where a player is physically incapable of boarding a plane for his country, yet miraculously recovers the second the Emirates Stadium floodlights flick on.

It’s the latest sorry chapter in a season-long manual of ‘dark arts’ s***housery. Arsenal have mutated into an ugly, cynical blob of a football team, Boris Johnsoning their way to success through manufactured chaos and a total disregard for basic integrity.

Whether it’s their borderline pathological set piece fetish, their mid-match wrestling, the incessant time-wasting or the way they Tom Daley themselves to the turf at the slightest breeze, the act is wearing thin.

But this latest stunt – pretending that the bulk of their starting XI has simultaneously morphed into the walking wounded, just as the title race heats up – is a new low, a frantic, desperate scramble for yet another unfair advantage.

Despite having a squad worth £1.2billion, Arsenal’s sudden reliance on soap-opera theatrics paints a stark picture: panic is starting to set in.

The Gunners have been wobbling for months and Arteta is now peering over his shoulder with the same twitchy paranoia of a Chelsea manager after back-to-back defeats, frantically checking to see if his key card still works on the training ground doors.

They know that Manchester City are the ultimate apex predators. They saw what happened in the League Cup final – a performance so timid, so reminiscent of a pampered house cat spending 90 minutes looking for a radiator to hide under, that the trauma has clearly become terminal.

They know that while they’ve been grinding out joyless 1-0 wins and faking cramps to kill the clock, City have the mettle, the experience and the cold-blooded know-how to reel them in.

Arteta is panicking because he knows his side have stopped outplaying people. Instead, they’ve retreated into a shell of risk-averse, soul-crushing pragmatism – a tactic that might get a few points on the board but that’s also crushing their confidence.

When you’re truly the best in the land, you don’t need to cynically bubble wrap your players. You don’t need to turn every corner into a 20-man pile-up and every throw-in into a stoppage long enough for the fans to nip out for a p*ss. You play. You dominate. You succeed.

By ordering a squad-wide withdrawal from international duty, Arteta is showing a chronic lack of faith in his players. He’s so spooked by the sight of City in the rear-view mirror that he’s effectively put his team on ‘airplane mode’ until he feels safe again. It’s the ultimate admission of weakness.

It’s a stomach-churning watch – a giant middle finger to the fans who pay hard-earned money for international tickets and, frankly, it’s cheapening the Premier League crown. The champions of England should never hide in the shadows or resort to such basement-level tactics.

If Arsenal do manage to crawl over the line this season, it won’t be remembered as a triumph of football. It will be remembered as the year the “dark arts” won – a hollow victory built on a foundation of tactical cowardice.

If they don’t win it – after deploying the sort of sneaky, underhanded tactics that would make late-night texts from John Terry to your missus look above board – then it will have to go down as the mother of all Premier League bottlejobs.

Arteta clearly doesn’t believe he can win a fair fight against Man City anymore. He might as well peel the bandages off those injured stars of his and fashion a giant white flag out of them.

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Arsenal currently lead the way in the fight for the Premier League title with the chasing Manchester City their last true competition

Arsenal have just seven league games left this season as they remain frontrunners for the Premier League title. Manchester City are still in the fight but face a tougher run of games.

Mikel Arteta’s side have become accustomed to playing second fiddle in the top flight, finishing as runners-up in each of the last three campaigns. But this term, they have one hand on the trophy and are nine points clear at the summit.

Pep Guardiola’s City are their only remaining rivals and they sit in second place with a game in hand. They bested the Gunners in the Carabao Cup final 2-0 to extinguish any hopes of an Arsenal quadruple.

Both sides will do battle once again during the Premier League run-in, but one faces an easier path to glory. The Manchester Evening News evaluates which of Arsenal and City have been handed the more difficult final few fixtures.

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If we use the Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) which Fantasy Premier League players utilise, it is clear which of the two title contenders has an easier end to the season. This rating ranges from 1 to 5, with the higher number indicating a more difficult game.

League leaders Arsenal host Bournemouth next and this clash holds an FDR of 3. Then, City away (5) is on the agenda. They then welcome Newcastle United (3) to the Emirates followed by another home match against Fulham (2).

The Gunners end their campaign with a trip to West Ham (2), a home fixture against Burnley (1) and a journey to Crystal Palace (3). City on the other hand, not only have an extra game to play but have been bestowed with tougher matches.

Guardiola’s men return from the international break to visit Chelsea (4) and then host Arsenal (4). They later travel to Burnley (2) and Everton (3).

City will go on to host Brentford (3) before an away clash with Bournemouth (3) and a home battle with Aston Villa (3) and there is still the game against Palace (3) at the Etihad to be rearranged.

With City playing an extra match, we can look at the averages of these last fixtures and determine that they have a harder run-in. Arsenal’s average FDR is 2.7, while City’s is 3.1. Despite getting the better of their title rivals in the Carabao Cup, manager Guardiola does not think that trophy success will have any impact on the league scrap.

He said after victory at Wembley: “I would like to be nine points in front of Arsenal, but I don’t know if I’d change a trophy to fight for the Premier League.

“I don’t think it will have an impact, different competition and they will be more concerned when they come to the Etihad. That title will help us a lot for the [FA Cup] quarter-final against Liverpool at home with our people.

“Today all our side was fully Blue, I’m so happy being together and celebrating. Maybe it will help us for that game but the Premier League is in their hands, they punished us a lot.”

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Theo Walcott ‘hopes’ Arsenal midfielder Max Dowman is not called up by Thomas Tuchel for England’s World Cup campaign this summer.

Dowman is widely regarded as one of the best young prospects in English football and earlier this month, the 16-year-old became the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer with a brilliant solo effort to secure Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Everton.

Former Chelsea and England captain John Terry has likened Downman to Lionel Messi, while Tuchel has refused to rule out the prospect of including the uncapped midfielder in his World Cup squad.

‘I think he is at the moment competing and obviously a fantastic talent and an outstanding talent and at his age there cannot be a doubt about it,’ Tuchel said of Dowman last week.

‘Everyone who tells me about Max praises him and is full of compliments about him. The reality at the moment is also that he competes for minutes, he is not a regular starter for Arsenal.

‘He’s in a fantastic environment, the best possible environment. In a competitive and stable club. In a club where teamwork is the number one rule. He’s learning from the very best, in the very best environment.

‘With these young guys, of course we know all these players. We see them as you do as well. At the moment I think he is in a good place to fight for his minutes at Arsenal. We always have the chance to call him, maybe, up for the World Cup.’

Walcott was in a similar position in 2006 when he was called up by Sven-Goran Eriksson for England’s World Cup campaign at the age of 17 and with no playing time in the Premier League.

Former Arsenal forward Walcott insists he would advise Dowman not to rush his senior debut for England and believes Arsenal are doing the right thing by ‘protecting’ the 16-year-old.

‘I hope he doesn’t go,’ Walcott said in an interview with The Mirror.

‘I don’t mean it in a horrible way because if I could go back in time, I would change things. I would say to myself, ‘no, no, don’t do it’, but then try telling that to a 17-year-old.

‘I do still see him and me differently as he’s playing in the Premier League but he needs to grow at his own pace, especially on the emotional side because he’s a young adult.

‘I had to grow up very fast but this team is still young and not as experienced. He’s being protected, which is important, whereas I had to get thrown in to talk to you lot [the media].

‘In time he will go, yes, but I don’t think this is the time and I think there are better players who arguably deserve to be there ahead of him.

‘He will eventually get there but England have wide players doing really well, there’s Bukayo [Saka], [Noni] Madueke, Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes on the other side.’

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Wayne Rooney has downplayed the importance of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City on the Premier League title race.

Man City secured the first piece of silverware of the season courtesy of a 2-0 win over Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday.

The Gunners were hoping to lift their first major trophy since 2020 but were undone by Nico O’Reilly’s quickfire second-half brace.

Speaking after the final, Gary Neville suggested Man City had ‘landed a psychological blow’ on Arsenal as they attempt to reel in the Premier League leaders.

Arsenal boast a nine-point lead at the top of the table but are aware City have a game in hand and a home match against them to close the gap.

Rooney doubts the Carabao Cup final will have a huge impact on the title race, however, and is still backing Arsenal to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time in 22 years.

Asked how big an impact Man City’s win will have on the title race, Rooney said on his BBC podcast: ‘I don’t think it will.

‘Arsenal are still in a very good position, as good a position as you can be at this stage of the season.

‘For Man City to catch them I think they have to win every game and Arsenal drop seven points. City will need to beat them at home as well.

‘So I think it’s a tough ask. You never know but I just think Arsenal need to dust themselves down and move on from this quickly.

‘I’m sure they will go back to winning games and see the title out. I just think Arsenal are too good, too efficient and too strong defensively to let it slip from here.’

Asked whether he felt Arsenal could ‘bottle’ the Premier League title, the Manchester United and England legend added: ‘I think this team is different. From all the things I have seen, they look mentally stronger.’

Jamie Carragher also still expects Arsenal to beat Manchester City to the Premier League title despite the Carabao Cup final blow.

Mikel Arteta made a mistake not replacing Piero Hincapie at half-time in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City, according to Micah Richards.

A second-half brace from Nico O’Reilly sealed a 2-0 victory for City at Wembley on Sunday, dashing Arsenal’s hopes of winning an unprecedented quadruple this season.

With Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly named among the subs, Hincapie started at left-back, placing him up against Antoine Semenyo in City’s attack.

While it was a foul on Matheus Nunes that led to his first-half booking, Semenyo tormented the Ecuador international in the opening period, repeatedly beating him down the right flank to create City’s best openings.

It continued in the second-half with Semenyo providing the cross that led to O’Rielly’s opening goal after Kepa Arrizabalaga spilled his cross.

The former Bournemouth star noted post-match Hincapie’s booking had the Arsenal star ‘backing off’ and ‘gave me the opportunity to drive at him’.

Arteta appeared to be considering replacing his summer signing early on with Calafiori spotted warming up midway through the first-half. The change did not come until after 65 minutes however with the damage already done.

Former City star Richards identified Hincapie’s reluctance to get tight on his man as a result of that first-half booking as a real problem, believing he should have been replaced at the break.

‘You need to get tighter, and he could have got tighter if he wasn’t on that yellow card,’ Richards said.

‘That’s the difference and that is why I think Arteta should have made the change at half time because when you are defending on a yellow card, you defend differently especially when you are up against someone like Semenyo on that right hand side.’

Arsenal 0-2 Man City – Metro at the Match

Manchester City have secured the first silverware of the season after Arsenal failed to deliver at Wembley.

The quadruple dream is over and the Gunners must now pick up the pieces after a sobering setback.

For City, it has breathed life into their campaign after a dismal Champions League exit this week.

Kepa gamble backfires spectacularly

Mikel Arteta decided to keep faith in Kepa Arrizabalaga after starting the Spaniard in each round of the competition leading up to the final at Wembley today.

Pep Guardiola did likewise with James Trafford, but it was Arsenal who paid the price for dropping one of their best players. From the moment the second-half kicked off, Kepa dallied on the ball, inviting the pressure that would inevitably swarm all over the Gunners and trigger their downfall.

Raya has been spectacular this season, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League by some margin and in sublime form. Had he started, Sunday may have been a very different story.

Old Arsenal fears reignited

We have seen Arsenal collapse in the past. Past failures have so often been used as a stick to beat them with but things have felt different this season.

Victory today would have gone some way in erasing the lingering fears over another derailment . But defeat at Wembley could serve as a catalyst for something much bleaker.

Arsenal are still fighting on three fronts, in control of the Premier League title race and well-placed to continue marching on in Europe. But the effects of today could be season-altering. The woeful second-half showing was as bad as anything served up by them this term on the stage where they needed to be their best.

O’Reilly steps up

City needed a hero at Wembley and they found a home-grown one. With Phil Foden only coming on as an injury time substitute, left-back O’Reilly stepped up as City’s savour with two headers to save their season.

City were fantastic in the second period to a man and fed off Arsenal’s apprehension but it was the 21-year-old set the standard when they needed inspiration.  

Tony Mogan, live sports editor

City signed Semenyo for an initial £62million in the January transfer window with the Ghana international an instant hit in Manchester with seven goals to his name.

After clinching his first trophy with the club, he told Sky Sports: ‘It feels like a fairy tale to be honest.

‘But I’ve got a lot more to show. I want to play out wide, I want to play as a No9, I want to show how versatile I am and the help the team as much as I can.

‘I’m enjoying my football and it can only get better.

‘For me, it’s so personal, I’ve never won a trophy before. Give God all the glory.’

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Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final thanks to a Nico O’Reilly brace.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has insisted his side will use the defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final as fuel for the remainder of the season. The Blues were good value for the win at Wembley Stadium having dominated the second half after an even first 45 minutes.

Kepa Arrizabalaga’s mistake on the hour mark gave City the lead as he fumbled Rayan Cherki’s cross for Nico O’Reilly to head home. Moments later, the Blues added a second when Matheus Nunes’ cross was powered in by O’Reilly. When asked for his thoughts after the match, Arteta insisted his team would use the defeat as motivation.

“Very sad, a hard one to take. We know for our supporters how much it means to them,” he said. “We’re going to use it as fire in the belly. We’ll manage the energy in the right way. We’ll go through the pain and disappointment; it’s part of football.

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“We played 50 games before today? Every time we have a draw or a defeat, we have to prove it, we have to do it again. We have a recent history of how this team has responded in these moments.”

City and Arsenal are battling it out at the top of the Premier League with the Gunners boasting a nine-point advantage. However, the Blues have a game in hand over Arteta’s men and still have to face them at the Etihad Stadium next month.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Pep Guardiola insisted he would rather be in Arsenal’s position in the Premier League and played down talk of whether the Carabao Cup win could have an impact on the title race. “I would love to be nine points in front, to be honest. It’s in their hands,” he explained.

“We need time, an incredible break. I am exhausted and after we see step by step.”

When City return from the international break, they will face Liverpool in the FA Cup. The Blues then return to Premier League action on April 12 at Chelsea.