Our hopes of going all the way in the Carabao Cup this year are over, after a disappointing defeat to Liverpool in the second leg of the semi-final at Emirates Stadium.
Diogo Jota scored either side of the interval for a 2-0 aggregate defeat, after a hard fought goalless draw at Anfield last week.
And there was further frustration late on when Thomas Partey - only recently on the pitch as a substitute after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations - was shown a red card, ruling him out of Sunday's game with Burnley.
Here's what Mikel Arteta had to say in his post-match press conference.
on the defeat…
It's very disappointing because obviously when you have the final there, one game away, you have a level of excitement and you are really looking forward to it. We did everything we could to put a competitive team out. I think we had our moments in the game against a top side. In the first half certainly when we had our chances, we hit the bar, and we have to score. In the second half at the beginning it was the same thing. When that happens, that's the difference. The first time they go through our halfway line, they scored a goal, with a bit of luck. That changes the tie and the second time yes, we gave the ball in a dangerous area after just regaining the ball. And when they attack your space between the centre back and full back with one pass, it's extremely dangerous because they have the quality to finish the game off.
on Tomiyasu's defending for the first goal…
He slipped. He was trying to block the ball and he almost had the ball, but he slipped and after that the ball goes through his legs, he [Jota] miskicks the ball and it goes the other way from the keeper. So I think it was difficult to prevent that.
on Thomas Partey's red card…
It is a big loss and we have to learn from that. We have played the last three games with ten men and against top sides you can't do that because we are completely exposed. It's difficult enough to beat them, but with ten men it becomes a real challenge and it's not what we need with the amount of players we have out, not to have him available.
on how big an issue the red cards are..
It is because it's happened for different reasons. We have to eradicate that completely. We want to be competitive, we want to be winning matches and having a good sequence of matches again, we have to stay with 11 players.
on how this result affects the mood around the club…
I am extremely proud of how our supporters have tried to help the team, the momentum that we have created. Because I know what those players have done to play to tonight - five or six of them haven’t had any training sessions - and they were still willing to compete, and the way they competed against this team is in my opinion remarkable. So I will try to use that in a positive way, to use it towards Sunday.
on whether it tells us we have a way to go to compete against teams like Liverpool…
Yes because you need to have a squad of 20 or 22 outfield top players, and to do that it takes time.
on Tomiyasu’s form and whether he’s lacking match fitness…
Well, he’s done incredibly. We didn’t want to play him, we had to push him because Cedric and Callum were out and we didn’t have any full backs. The moment that he knew that he knew that he said that he would play. He didn’t have any training sessions with us, and still was willing play and compete the way he has done today. So I am extremely proud and grateful for the players that we have.
on our disciplinary record…
It worries me because it’s a massive favour in these four matches, and we’ve seen that we have lost matches - when we played Man City here and tonight - and that’s a big reason for it. So we have to eradicate it. We have to start to play consistently with 11 players and we have to learn big lessons from that. We can’t accept any excuses this time.
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