Unai Emery was sacked six months after same Arsenal mistake that cost Mikel Arteta in final

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal are still reeling from their 2-0 Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was appointed midway through the 2019/20 season after the club sacked Unai Emery. But he fell into the very same trap as his predecessor as the Gunners fell short of Carabao Cup success.

A decision to place confidence in a reserve goalkeeper proved costly for Arteta's team on Sunday after similar concerns preceded Emery's first and only final in charge of the Gunners. Arteta backed Kepa Arrizabalaga after the Spaniard played in every round en route to Wembley.

The former Chelsea No.1 endured a nightmare afternoon, however, receiving a yellow card for fouling Jeremy Doku - with some Manchester City supporters contending it merited red - and being at fault for City's opener as Pep Guardiola's side ran out 2-0 winners.

It was a different story in the 2019 Europa League final, when Kepa emerged victorious with Chelsea after boss Maurizio Sarri kept faith in his league goalkeeper throughout the tournament. Opponents Arsenal, however, relegated first-choice Bernd Leno to the substitutes' bench in Europe, with manager Emery backing Petr Cech in what proved his final senior appearance before retirement.

Cech had featured in the opening seven league matches of the campaign before sustaining an injury and Leno didn't relinquish his starting spot after the veteran recovered. The Czech shot-stopper had remained first choice in Europe, though, and Emery resisted changing his goalkeepers for the final in Baku - just as Arteta proved reluctant to give league keeper David Raya the nod at Wembley this season.

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Former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman cautioned Emery regarding the deployment of Cech, who had previously won the league and Champions League as a Chelsea player. "My only thing is that Arsenal really need this; they need this more than Chelsea," he told Sky Sports before the game, alluding to the fact that it represented their last shot at Champions League qualification after a fifth-place finish in the league.

"They need to get into the Champions League and I'm always for playing your strongest team. That means Leno, but I'm sure Cech will play because it's his last ever game."

In the build-up to the final, it was revealed that Cech would be rejoining Chelsea merely weeks following the match to take up a role as technical and performance adviser. Whilst Seaman didn't anticipate this would affect the player's display, fellow pundit Danny Mills worried the choice to select him might create what he considered avoidable pressure.

"You start to call into question the player's integrity, his ability to perform," Mills told talkSPORT before the line-ups were confirmed. "And I don't think that's in question, but the problem is if he makes a mistake, if something happens in that game.

"I just think you're putting him under enormous pressure, it puts himself under incredible pressure. If I was Arsenal, I'm not sure I'd want that. If he makes a mistake, if something happens, there will always be that doubt in people's minds."

Cech produced an important stop shortly before half-time in that 2019 final, diving smartly to deny Olivier Giroud's attempt. Some observers questioned whether he might have done better with Giroud's opening goal early in the second period, however, with the Blues ultimately prevailing 4-1.

Nevertheless, it paled in comparison to the scrutiny directed at Kepa by Arsenal legend Ian Wright on Sunday. "Too many people had bad games for us. The fact is it's a final and a mistake from the second goalkeeper has cost us," Wright remarked during Sky Sports' coverage of the final.

"For them to come out and play this poorly in a game of this magnitude for Arsenal, people will ask questions. But Arsenal's project is about trying to win that league, so this might be the catalyst to make them understand, 'We can do this.'

"We won't be playing with Kepa in goal, we'll probably have [Eberechi] Eze back, we might have [Martin] Odegaard back, so it's a different team that's going to be out there."

The issue, as Wright suggests, is whether the Gunners and Arteta allow themselves to dwell on their most recent defeat. They have a two-week international break to move past it, though this also means they won't have the opportunity to respond on the pitch until April.

There's a case to be made that Emery invited undue scrutiny upon himself in 2019 through his selection of Cech. The Gunners managed just four victories from their opening 13 league fixtures the subsequent campaign, resulting in the dismissal of the Spanish manager and the eventual appointment of fellow countryman Arteta.

Almost seven years on from the disappointment in Baku, Arteta faces pressure of his own. The debate surrounding the selection of Kepa is secondary. What matters is how he and his squad react.