Mikel Arteta Reveals His Biggest Regret of the Season That Cost Arsenal

Mikel Arteta’s costly decision this season may have played a crucial role in Arsenal’s struggles—could things have turned out differently?

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted to one decision he deeply regrets this season—one that he believes played a significant role in derailing the club’s Premier League title hopes, Arteta’s costly decision. After finishing second behind Manchester City in the last two seasons, many believed this could finally be Arsenal’s year. However, Liverpool secured the title with four games to spare, leaving Arteta reflecting on what went wrong.

In a candid conversation on the Men in Blazers podcast, Arteta revealed that his biggest regret was not substituting Gabriel Jesus earlier in Arsenal’s FA Cup clash against Manchester United in January. The Brazilian striker had been in red-hot form, scoring six goals in as many games, but suffered a season-ending knee injury during the match. Arteta admitted that, in hindsight, he wishes he had taken Jesus off before the injury occurred, as it left Arsenal without a recognized striker for the remainder of the season.

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The injury crisis worsened just a month later when Kai Havertz tore his hamstring during a training camp in Dubai, further depleting Arsenal’s attacking options. With no reinforcements brought in during the January transfer window, Arteta was forced to push Mikel Merino into a more advanced role. While Merino managed to score six goals following his positional shift, Arsenal struggled to find the back of the net consistently, particularly in their recent 1-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Arteta acknowledged that injuries are an unfortunate part of football, but he couldn’t help but wonder how different Arsenal’s season might have been had he made a different decision in that FA Cup match. “If I could pause the game and say, ‘Gabriel Jesus, we brought you back to life, you’re doing incredibly well, but you’re about to get injured,’ I would have swapped him out immediately,” Arteta said.