Mikel Arteta ignored all the warning signs, and it cost Arsenal a trophy

Any talk of a quadruple was squashed over the weekend. No English side can do it now, but Arsenal did very little to help their claim. Mikel Arteta named Kepa Arrizabalaga between the sticks, despite his awful history at Wembley Stadium, and it ultimately cost Arsenal a trophy.

Kepa Arrizabalaga is no stranger to stealing headlines for all the wrong reasons in the League Cup final. He undermined Maurizio Sarri once by refusing to be subbed off, only to lose the game on penalties. He was then brought on in 2022, only to not get close to a single penalty and cost Chelsea the final all over again by kicking the decisive penalty over the bar.

Mikel Arteta should have started David Raya instead

The warning signs were there. Kepa Arrizabalaga helped Arsenal to reach the final, but his history in cup finals speaks for itself. He should have never started the match, and Mikel Arteta learned that the hard way.

Adding to his League Cup Hall of Shame, Kepa put in one of the worst performances from a goalkeeper Arsenal have seen in recent history. He was largely at fault for Nico O'Reilly finishing the job, putting himself in a position that allowed for an open goal.

You can't help but feel like David Raya would never make such mistakes. He's still pretty new to the big-time himself, but Arsenal fans have never felt even half as anxious with Raya between the sticks.

We can't dwell too much on the past, but the game would have had a different feel to it with Raya in goal instead.

Kepa Arrizabalaga was the worst of a bad bunch

Obviously, the blame shouldn't entirely be on Kepa. Sure, he did nothing to keep a clean sheet, but fingers can also be pointed at Arsenal's attack. Players in the front line who fans would have looked towards went missing on the big occasion; unfortunately, that's hardly surprising.

Kepa Arrizabalaga is only in the spotlight because unlike many of his teammates, he actually did something worthy of commentary.

It's just a shame, obviously, that his actions directly impacted Arsenal in their chase for the first silverware of the season. Still, his rebuttal would be if he conceded two, why didn't Arsenal score three? They've shown they're capable of doing so when the stakes are less.

To keep a long story short, Arsenal were woeful, and they didn't play as champions-elect. Arteta made a bold call, and it backfired massively.