FA Cup Winner Returns to Arsenal as Wigan Player

At 19 years old, Matt Smith watched from the bench as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 to win the 2020 FA Cup at an eerily empty Wembley Stadium. Despite never playing a competitive minute for the Gunners, the boyhood Arsenal fan received a winners' medal and snapped photos with teammate Bukayo Saka on the pitch.

This Sunday, Smith returns to Emirates Stadium as a Wigan Athletic midfielder to face his childhood club in the FA Cup fourth round. He'll finally play in front of a full 60,000-person crowd at a stadium that was once his home for 15 years.

Smith joined Arsenal's academy at age seven, eventually captaining the under-18s and training alongside his heroes as a teenager. He remembers being so young and starstruck during the 2020 FA Cup run that he didn't speak up when his suit for the final arrived several sizes too big.

The midfielder credits then-manager Mikel Arteta with teaching him to see football differently. Arteta ran team meetings unlike any other, incorporating games of Pictionary focused on opposition tactics to keep players engaged and communicating.

"Instead of it all being written down on a board and players just sitting there not really taking it in, he made it fun and different," Smith recalls. Before leaving Arsenal in 2023, Arteta shared advice that stuck with him: make your strengths your super-strengths.

Why This Inspires

Smith's journey shows that success isn't always linear. He left Arsenal without making a senior competitive appearance, but he's building a solid career at Wigan while carrying lessons from one of football's brightest managers.

On his final day with the Gunners, captain Martin Odegaard gave Smith a signed shirt and one of his captain's armbands. That gesture captures what makes sports special beyond trophies and starting lineups.

Smith's parents couldn't attend the 2020 final because of Covid restrictions, but they'll be at Emirates Stadium on Sunday along with his sister Amy and 5,000 traveling Wigan supporters. Sometimes the best homecomings happen when you're wearing different colors.