Man City beat passive Arsenal in Carabao Cup; Premier League title race not over?

LONDON — A second-half brace from Nico O’Reilly helped Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 on Sunday in the Carabao Cup final to claim Pep Guardiola’s 19th trophy in charge of the club.

After a cautious opening 45 minutes with few chances at Wembley, Man City upped the pace and scored on the hour mark after a serious error from Gunners substitute goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. Kepa could only get his fingertips on Rayan Cherki’s cross, and O’Reilly beat Martín Zubimendi on the loose ball for a simple header from close range.

City doubled their lead four minutes later as Cherki released Matheus Nunes and his cross found O’Reilly in a similar position to score.

With this result, Arsenal’s hopes of an unprecedented quadruple are over and their six-year wait for a trophy continues. Meanwhile, City will hope this victory can inspire them to overturn a nine-point deficit to the Gunners in the Premier League. -James Olley

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Arsenal’s passive trophy drought continues

Arsenal have been in a curious position for some time: they were in the hunt for a quadruple while also facing questions about their ability to win silverware.

The Gunners’ last trophy was the 2020 FA Cup, but manager Mikel Arteta’s transformational work in the interim has positioned them on the brink of greatness. After three consecutive second-place finishes in the Premier League, the last question left for them – and it’s an important one – is: can they cross the line and win?

The answer here at Wembley, once again, was no. They ultimately paid the price for being too passive, concerned mainly with keeping City away rather than injecting enough risk into their play to create chances.

After an opening salvo, Arsenal sat deep and struggled to apply sustained pressure, and their second-half performance was alarming and disappointing. Yet they have a healthy nine-point lead at the top of the table, an inviting Champions League quarter-final against Sporting Lisbon and an FA Cup quarter-final against Championship side Southampton.

Their season could still be spectacular. But trophies don’t come your way often – you tend to have to reach for them and retrieve them. Arsenal’s ability to achieve this is still uncertain. – Olley

Man City put Arsenal on notice during Premier League race

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Guardiola was reluctant to link a possible victory over Arsenal in the final with an impact on the title race.

“We could play well in the final and play badly in the league,” he concluded.

It’s a good argument, but one that ignores the nervousness of Arsenal fans as they seek a first Premier League title in over 20 years. Nine points ahead, it’s theirs to lose. But City have a game in hand and Arsenal still have to travel to the Etihad in April. One mistake from Arteta’s team and it’s gone.

No league points were on offer at Wembley, but many Arsenal fans will be heading home after the match nervous about what will happen over the coming weeks.

The question all season has been whether they have the mentality to cross the finish line when it really counts. In an age dominated by data and statistics, it is impossible to quantify the impact of a cup final defeat to City on their confidence.

It’s a question that will only be answered on the pitch, starting with their next league match against Bournemouth at the Emirates on April 11. –Rob Dawson

O’Reilly, the face of Man City’s new era

For Bernardo Silva, it was a fifth victory in the Carabao Cup final. But for others, including match-winner O’Reilly, it was a first medal in City colours. Silva is one of the last remaining players from the 2022-23 triple-winning squad. He will probably leave this summer – perhaps with Guardiola.

City’s new team has already started to evolve around him, built around young players like Marc Guéhi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki. O’Reilly, a graduate of the club’s academy, is another important player.

He turned 21 the day before the Carabao Cup final and could have another decade in the first team. He started at left-back against Arsenal – a position he could fill for England at the World Cup – but it is likely he will eventually carve out a place in midfield, the position he regularly occupied as he progressed through the ranks.

Wherever he plays, O’Reilly will become one of the faces of City’s new era. One without Guardiola or long-time stalwarts like Silva. Depending on how the next two months go, this could become Guardiola’s last trophy at City. This will likely be the first of many for O’Reilly. -Dawson

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Guardiola even admits he is surprised by Nico O’Reilly’s abilities

Pep Guardiola admits he is surprised by Nico O’Reilly’s performances since his arrival in the Manchester City team.

Back-up goalkeepers help decide Carabao Cup

Neither team fielded their first-choice goalkeeper here. Guardiola confirmed on Friday that James Trafford would start for City while Arteta admitted he had made up his mind but did not publicly say Kepa would play.

The two men could not have had more contrasting fortunes. While Trafford produced a superb triple save from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka (twice) in the seventh minute to snuff out Arsenal’s positive start, Kepa made the mistake that turned a tight game in City’s favor. The Spaniard was only able to get a fingertip to Rayan Cherki’s cross in the 60th minute, reducing all the pace of the ball as it fell behind him, where O’Reilly leaned in to head in.

Kepa’s complicated relationship with the game continues: he sensationally refused to be substituted when Chelsea lost the 2019 final to City, then missed the shootout as the Blues were beaten by Liverpool on penalties three years later.

Kepa has started every game in this competition and the decision to continue made perfect sense in theory, but David Raya is one of the best in the world these days and leaving him out could be a source of regret for Arteta. Trafford is likely to leave City after joining City last summer, hoping to play a leading role, only for Gianluigi Donnarumma to subsequently join and usurp him. His time at City may have been short, but he played a key role in having something to show. – Olley

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Arteta explains decision to start Kepa in Carabao Cup final defeat

Mikel Arteta explains why Kepa started the Carabao Cup final against first-choice goalkeeper David Raya.

Haaland still looking for his goal in the final

There were questions, but for Guardiola, earlier in the season – when Erling Haaland was scoring goals every week – about whether City were too reliant on their Norwegian striker.

Well, Haaland drew yet another blank at Wembley, and yet Guardiola’s side still found a way to win. Haaland hasn’t looked at his best for a while now, and that continued against Arsenal. He has not scored in a final since 2021 in the German Cup, when he played for Borussia Dortmund.

In the end, it didn’t matter. O’Reilly appeared from left back to score two opportunistic headers in the space of four minutes in the second half, and it was enough to win.

That earned O’Reilly the man of the match award, but that could easily have gone to Cherki. The Frenchman was involved in both goals as he buzzed around the Arsenal box. In a tight match decided by razor-thin margins, he was one of the few players who looked like he had enough space to create real chances.

He is having an impressive first season at City after his summer move from Lyon, and he has capped it off with at least one trophy. There is much more to come from a young player with a very high ceiling. -Dawson