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Speaking after bowing out of the FA Cup, Mikel Arteta has blamed exhaustion for Arsenal losing to Newcastle United.
Well, that's it. The EFL Cup is finished, at least for another year. While Arsenal fans will be hate-watching tonight's fixture and hoping that Liverpool claw back, there won't be any more involvement from Arsenal this season.
From the fans, there will be plenty of excuses. Perhaps the players didn't want the EFL Cup as much as other competitions or perhaps Newcastle were just the better team, in both legs.
Either way, all the attention will be on one man and one man only; Mikel Arteta. Most Arsenal fans love him but most rival fans despise him. In my opnion, this is the epitome of a great manager.
Love him or hate him, the entire football world awaits his response after eventful moments. Most notably, rival fans await his response after a loss. Well, they are in luck.
Mikel Arteta pinpoints the sole reason why Arsenal lost to Newcastle
Speaking after the match, Mikel Arteta blamed the physical exhaustion of his players, after playing many games in a tight period of time, for losing against Newcastle United.
In his own words, Arteta said: "Physically we were tired and you know we played so many games, we played so many games every three days, and we knew that this was going to be a really high-intensity one."
However, alongside the physical impact, it was the mental exhaustion which also played a role in Arsenal losing to Newcastle. This message was also relayed by Mikel Arteta, who said:
"I think emotionally as well, it was a very different game that we needed to get there to believe right until the end that we could do it, and before that the game got away from us."
It doesn't take a genius to recognise that the Arsenal players were exhausted. This is understandable, given the three-day break between that match against Man City and the semifinal against Newcastle.
However, it is not only down to exhaustion. We'd be remiss not to admit that the Newcastle players wanted it more, in both legs. Arsenal needed to prove a point last night but instead, they only proved the difference in passion between them and Newcastle.
I know, I know. It sounds stupid and unselfish to question the passion of Arsenal players after what happened at the weekend. However, this is a sport which so quickly forgets. You are only as good as your last game, after all.