FA Cup semifinal
Arsenal reach the FA Cup Final after beating Manchester City 2-0 thanks to two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. One goal from each half got the best of the defending Cup champions, Man City. For Pep Guardiola’s men this season has not been successful. The Citizens lost the Premier League title to Liverpool and now lost their Cup title. Only one competition is left for a chance to lift a trophy late August with the UEFA Champions League. But first, they will have to go through the Real Madrid obstacle leading 2-1 after the first tie.
Chelsea or Manchester United
Battling for the top 4 spots in the league, Chelsea and Manchester United are set to face off to determine Arsenal’s opponents at Wembley on Saturday August 1. For coach Arteta who joined Arsenal from Manchester City it must be a great feeling. He was able to beat his mentor Pep Guardiola for the first time as head coach.
Coach Arteta on the win:
“We are really happy for what happened in the last four or five days, to beat probably the best two teams in Europe is not an easy thing to do.” During the week Arsenal beat the Premier League champions Liverpool 2-1.
A lot of credit goes to the players for what they are doing and the performances and the level of fight and decision-making they are showing on the pitch.
Manchester United or Chelsea
“I’m going to watch the game tomorrow and use that game to get something out of it” said the coach. “I don’t know, it’s not our decision. We’ve done what we had to do today and now we need to prepare for the final against one of those opponents.
The chemistry we are generating between them is fantastic and the way they are fighting for each other too. At the moment I have the feeling that I can play any of those players and they are going to respond and they are going to perform.
We changed a few players from when we played on Wednesday and when we played today, and look at the way that they are performing.
First FA Cup loss in two and a half years
Coach Guardiola bemoans the loss and how the team must respond.
“We didn’t play good, we are human beings. The opponent played good, sometimes it happens.
The only regret is that we didn’t play the first half like we played the second one. We had to change the set-up but we couldn’t do it.
“But the situation is in the first half we struggled to play. That’s why we lost the game. If you play the first half the way we did in second, maybe it would have been different. But we couldn’t do it.”
