Mikel Arteta makes admission over Arsenal trophy record ahead of Man City clash

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Mikel Arteta admits he has found Arsenal's dearth of silverware difficult to stomach ahead of the club's chance to win their first major trophy since 2020.

The Spaniard, 43, won the FA Cup less than eight months after he was appointed as Arsenal's head coach midway through the 2019-20 campaign. However, while Arteta has gone on to re-establish the Gunners as title contenders during his premiership, further trophies have evaded the former Manchester City coach.

That could all change on Sunday when Arsenal play City in a shootout for the first major trophy of the campaign. They are also nine points clear of Pep Guardiola 's men at the Premier League summit and fans are dreaming of an audacious quadruple with their team in the quarter-finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League .

A glut of trophies would be the perfect tonic for Arteta, who conceded Arsenal's lack of trophies has been tough to accept.

"Obviously the willingness to win has always been there, and that doesn't change if I win one, two, three or five [trophies]," Arteta said on the eve of Sunday's final at Wembley. "But, yes, it has been difficult to accept because I want to win every competition that I'm involved in.

"When you have been in this position and gone years without winning a trophy, obviously it adds more necessity, but also more drive because you really want it.

"And that's something that we have. That is something really important for us and something that we've been trying to achieve for a while and now we have the opportunity to do it.

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"But you also have to understand in sport that sometimes other players and other teams are better than you, and what you have to do is to be able to look in the mirror, give absolutely everything, and be better than them and that's what we are chasing."

Arteta has a perfect record at Wembley as an Arsenal player and manager, winning all eight of his games. The Gunners are the favourites to win Sunday's game after opening up a healthy advantage at the top of the Premier League.

But Arteta insists his 100 per cent Wembley record doesn't mean Arsenal will have the edge over City. "No, there are no favorites," he added. "We have to play in a final to earn that status. But let's keep it that way [his winning streak at Wembley] and hopefully in a few hours we will do the same."

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