Mikel Arteta has called on his Arsenal squad to regroup during their warm-weather training break in Dubai and target a trophy-winning end to the season after losing their Carabao Cup semifinal to Newcastle United.
The Gunners were beaten 2-0 at St James’ Park on Wednesday as goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon secured Eddie Howe’s side a 4-0 win on aggregate and a Wembley final against either Liverpool or Tottenham on March 16.
While Newcastle can focus on securing a first major trophy in 56 years, Arsenal have 10 days until their next game and will fly to Dubai on Thursday after a gruelling schedule of 12 games in 41 days.
“We need to swallow this one, it is a tough one,” Arteta said. “We had a lot of expectations. We knew the difficulty of the task because of the result we brought from London. but there is nothing we can do right now.
“What we could do was on the pitch a few minutes ago, now we have to look forward. First of all, I think this is going to be a painful one. While we are in Dubai, recharge and go again because we still have a lot to play [for].”
Arteta confirmed that Gabriel Martinelli will undergo a scan on a potential hamstring injury on Thursday.
The Brazilian was substituted on 37 minutes and Arteta added: “He felt something, I think it was his hamstring and he wasn’t comfortable to continue so we’ll have to do an MRI scan tomorrow to see the extent of the injury.”
