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Arsenal chief Mikel Arteta has a chaotic couple of weeks on his hands as the north Londoners face a critical juncture in their campaign. And it looks like the upcoming gauntlet just got even more difficult following a key update ahead of the League Cup final.

The Spaniard is looking to land his side a spot in the Champions League quarter-finals while keeping their noses in front atop the Premier League . Arsenal are also a fortnight out from their League Cup final showdown with Manchester City , with an FA Cup quarter-final to come in early April after edging Mansfield in the fifth round .

It presents the kind of conundrums every elite team dreams of juggling but the will nonetheless be difficult to overcome. Fans and pundits alike have been casting their predictions for months as to how prosperous Arsenal will prove this season, and the next four weeks will go a long way to deciding those prospects.

One Premier League rival appears to be of the belief the advantage lies with City as far as he's seen this season. Mirror Football discusses the latest happenings around the Emirates as Arsenal prepare to visit Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.

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Arsenal fans would have been forgiven feeling a surge of optimism when Pep Guardiola received his sixth booking of the season in a 3-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday. Coaches incur a three-match ban for every three yellow cards they receive in England, while the sixth usually results in a two-match ban.

Under normal circumstances, this would mean Arteta's former City boss would be relegated to the stands for both next weekend's league game against West Ham (March 14) and the League Cup final (March 22). However, Guardiola will benefit from a loophole to ensure he can have as much influence at Wembley as possible in a couple of weeks.

FA guidelines stipulate that "play-off matches [semi-finals and finals] in the EFL and National League System, as well as finals of the Emirates FA Cup, EFL Cup, EFL Trophy are exempt from any automatic touchline ban for the accumulation of cautions by technical area occupants."

Guardiola was shown a sixth yellow of the season after shouting at fourth official Lewis Smith when he believed Kieran Trippier had fouled Jeremy Doku. He'll be free to take on Real Madrid in their upcoming last-16 clash in the Champions League, choosing to look on the bright side of the situation.

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Speaking after his booking at St. James' Park on Saturday, Guardiola joked: "I will tell you something - we have all the records in this country, all of them, despite everything. We have the record of the manager with the most yellow cards. I want all records and now I have it.

"Two-game ban now and I will go on holidays the next two games. There are things after 10 years I cannot understand. Review the action. Of course I'm going to defend Doku and all my teams."

If Arteta had any feelings of doubt as to whether he can get the better of Guardiola on multiple fronts, Eddie Howe hasn't helped matters. That's after the Newcastle boss tipped City as the most talented outfit he's faced this season.

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In the wake of Saturday's cup loss to Guardiola's men, Howe backed City as the best side in the land. Not that it would be enough to sow doubt among the Arsenal camp, but it's a further sign that City are by no means going away on the title front as they start to develop a head of steam at a vital point in the campaign.

"I think that they [City] made changes to their team, but I think you see the strength in depth that they have and they possess," he said following Saturday's 3-1 FA Cup defeat. "I think that was probably a step too far for us today against them when they’re in that mood, I thought they were excellent and we fell away in the game.

"We seemed to lose our energy, but they do that to you because they keep the ball so well. They make you run, they make you chase, then you’re tired and you make another technical mistake and you’re chasing again.

"They’ve done that for years. That’s why, for me, they’ve been the best team that we’ve continually faced, and today I thought they were in a really good place and we just fell out of energy."