23/03/2026 – Man City 2-0 Arsenal “A Cup Lost, A Title Still to Win”

That was the reality check I for one didn’t see coming. I left completely Wembley completely zapped, it was a performance I haven’t seen in years, one ridden with nerves and void of ideas. The easy thing to pick out is Arteta’s choice of goalkeeper, which quite clearly in hindsight didn’t go to plan. I’ve seen the media outpouring today questioning Arteta’s decision but also Kepa’s competence. I was always of the impression that Kepa would start the final, in fact I believe it is a contractual obligation on our part, you have to remember that Kepa was first choice at Bournemouth last season and has proved his ability previously. However, Kepa also has a terrible track record in finals and in big pressure moments, I think playing Kepa was the right choice, but he has ultimately cost us the trophy. It wasn’t just his performance that wasn’t up to scratch, the whole team didn’t show up, there was nobody who took the game by the scruff of the neck and to be honest City made pretty easy work of us. We started the game strongly, but it was Trafford who came up trumps for City, a triple save and that was the extent of our attacking intent. From that moment on, the game was played at City’s pace and tempo, and we barely laid a glove on them. Despite struggling for attacking output City didn’t cause us much trouble for the first 50 minutes of the game but once Kepa gifted them the first goal the stuffing was knocked out of us and it instantly looked as if any chance we had disappeared. It only took City four minutes to kill us off with a second goal, something we have struggled to do all season. The quick one-two punch highlighted the winning mentality Pep has instilled in his side, they had been in this position many times and it showed, we looked out of our depth.

It was a tough watch and any even tougher result but there are now two options, either we reset over the international break and use this wakeup call as motivation to get over the finish line in the league, or we falter as we’ve done before and come up short yet again. It could be perfect timing for us, with a break in the league until we face Bournemouth in a few weeks, we really need to get going again and use this loss as fuel. We have stopped five players from going on international break so we can hope that is enough to ensure they are fit for the Premier League return. It is confirmed Eze will be out for 6-8 weeks with a calf injury but with Odegaard returning soon it shouldn’t hinder us too much. The injuries and selection are no excuse for the loss, but we must make sure it doesn’t happen again. We still sit in the driving seat and have a great opportunity to achieve something special. We have to put this result behind us and crack on, I don’t know a single fan who wouldn’t give up the trophy this weekend for the title in May, and if that loss is what it takes to ensure we have enough to make it to the end, then its well worth it. City will have their tails up no doubt, but we can only focus on ourselves and if we do, I think we can go on to get the job done. By no means is this title race over, but it’s ours to lose. We are back with a FA Cup game away in Southampton, the perfect chance to bounce back before Sporting and Bournemouth. COYG!

The Northbank Blogger.

Player Ratings:

Kepa 2/10

White 4/10

Gabriel 6/10

Saliba 6/10

Hincapie 4/10

Zubimendi 5/10

Rice 4/10

Havertz 3/10

Saka 4/10

Gyokores 3/10

Trossard 3/10