Arteta encourages Arsenal to draw lessons from League Cup setback before Chelsea semi-final

Mikel Arteta is encouraging Arsenal to draw lessons from the hurt of their League Cup semi-final defeat last season as they gear up to play Chelsea on the path to Wembley.

The current Premier League frontrunners suffered a 4-0 aggregate loss to Newcastle across two legs in the 2024/25 semi-finals, marking a fifth consecutive campaign without any major trophies.

Arteta's squad heads to their London competitors Chelsea for the semi-final opening match on Wednesday, while the title holders Newcastle meet Manchester City in the opposite semi-final encounter.

"We've been really consistent again in the competition, and now we have to knock another big team out to be in the final," Arteta told his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

"That's the mission. Hopefully we learn from last year because it was painful, especially the manner that the games went and the amount of chances that we made not to go through, but hopefully this year we are better and especially more efficient."

Manchester City claimed various League Cup victories throughout Arteta's time as assistant to Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, building on them to secure larger accolades.

Arteta received questions about whether securing Arsenal's initial trophy since the 2020 FA Cup success might lighten the load on him for the season's remaining fixtures.

"When you get to this stage in the competition, you get to the final and you get over the line and win it, it brings energy, it brings belief and the sense that everybody is very important and playing a part of that," he said.

"I think it's something when you get there and win it, everybody remembers and if not, nobody does. So once you get there, get the job done."

Arteta prepares to match skills with Chelsea's fresh head coach Liam Rosenior, whom he opposed on the field in the 2014 FA Cup final as Arsenal's captain leading them to triumph over Hull.

"I've seen a few pictures of that, so, that's the beauty of football, two very different careers, but at the end, facing each other," he said.