Mikel Arteta wants the Gunners to take the EFL Cup seriously.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits his players would have to be “very arrogant” to turn their noses up at the EFL Cup. The Gunners travel to West Ham on Wednesday in the fourth round of a competition that they have not won in 30 years.
Last season, they were beaten by Brighton in the third round. Mikel Arteta wants the Gunners to take the EFL Cup seriously despite their loftier trophy ambitions this season.
Arsenal manager said, “I don’t know if we can convince them. If you ask about what the priority would be, it wouldn’t be the Carabao Cup for sure.
“For us it’s more internally how we use it. The amount of work we put in ourselves and how we approach every single game playing for Arsenal Football Club. You cannot approach it in any different way because that’s not respecting the game.”
“I don’t think the players think like that,” he added, when asked whether players, too, saw the benefit that an early exit could have in decongesting the fixture list.
“I think they get really upset when they lose. After you are out you try to look at the bigger picture and say, ‘ Ok, now we’re going to use it in a different way.’ But if you ask someone what they want to do tomorrow, for sure they want to win the game.”
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