{"id":3254,"date":"2026-04-07T12:45:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=3254"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:45:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:45:26","slug":"arteta-confident-arsenal-can-handle-scrutiny-after-cup-exits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=3254","title":{"rendered":"Arteta confident Arsenal can handle scrutiny after cup exits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_65\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong>Mikel Arteta has said questions will always be asked about Arsenal as his side look to silence their doubters at Sporting.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arsenal travel to Sporting CP for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final this evening. The Gunners head into the game amid criticism, following back-to-back defeats.<\/p>\n<p>Arteta\u2019s side missed the chance to end a six-year wait for silverware after losing the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City before the international break. That defeat was followed by a disappointing FA Cup exit at Championship side Southampton, ending the club\u2019s treble hopes.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal remain well positioned in the Premier League and Champions League, though external doubts have crept in. Asked whether recent results and criticism would \u2018fire up\u2019 his team tonight, Arteta said there will always be scrutiny when you play for a team of Arsenal\u2019s \u2018level\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s in football, from the first game of the season, that\u2019s going to be questioned: What about Arsenal this season? It\u2019s been like this for the last nine months and that\u2019s going to continue, that\u2019s never going to change when you play at this level for this club,\u201d Arteta said at his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arsenal.com\/news\/every-word-artetas-pre-sporting-presser-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pre-match press conference.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be a question mark and that\u2019s it. You have to live the present, you have to deliver it every day. You cannot pick the games, you cannot pick the moments or the actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s every action, every game, every moment. That\u2019s the standard that we set and that\u2019s part of identity and it\u2019s part of this football club.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Read \u2013\u00a0Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich \u2013 Combined XI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>See more \u2013\u00a0Sporting CP vs Arsenal \u2013 Match preview and team news<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Follow the Football Faithful on Social Media:<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FootyFaithful\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thefootballfaithfull\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FootyFaithful_\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCUgN0WQEhxRbfTdlbkEG7zQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mikel Arteta has said questions will always be asked about Arsenal as his side look to silence their doubters at Sporting. Arsenal travel to Sporting CP for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final this evening. The Gunners head into the game amid criticism, following back-to-back defeats. Arteta\u2019s side missed the chance to end [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}