Mikel Arteta

Overall, very happy, but it could have been better.

When you get to this stage in the competition, you get to the final and you get over the line and win it, it brings energy, it brings belief and the sense that everybody is very important and playing part of that.

So yeah, I think it's something when you get there and win it, everybody remembers and if not, nobody does.

So once you get there, get the job done.

Now we have to knock another big team out of the competition to be in the final and that's the mission.

Hopefully we learn from last year because it was painful, especially the manner that the games went and the amount of chances that we missed not to go through.

Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Pompey, admitting they gave his Arsenal side a real scare, despite the Gunners eventually running out 4-1 winners at Fratton Park.

The Arsenal boss was particularly impressed with his team's character after they fell behind just three minutes into the match.

Despite their struggles in the Championship, John Massinio's side were in dreamland when Colby Bishop fired them into a shock lead.

The striker, scoring his first goal since August, pounced from close range after Kepa Arrizabalaga spilled a shot from Conor Chaplin, sending the home crowd wild.

But the Premier League leaders managed to regain their composure.

An unfortunate own goal from Andre Dozel got them level before a Gabriel Martinelli header flipped the game on its head right before the break.

Arsenal stepped it up in the second half, with Martinelli going on to complete a fine hat-trick that put a gloss on the final score.

Even with 40 league places separating the two clubs, the frat and faithful were proud of the fight their team showed, and Arteta was quick to credit Pompey for their blistering start.

When we make that many changes, the cohesion isn't going to be perfect, he said.

We started exactly how we didn't want to, giving the momentum, an early goal and hope.

We had to fight back, and credit to them they made it very difficult for us especially early on.

The more we started to get the simple things right and dominate, our quality took over, we need everybody to be at it.

We have so many games coming up in different competitions, so we need to be ready, we're privileged to be where we are, still fighting in every competition.

Arteta had rung the changes for the cup tie, making 10 alterations to the team that drew with Liverpool.