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There was a time when the old trophy with the three handles felt like the personal property of Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager won the League Cup for the first time in 2018, beating Arsenal in the final, and he repeated the trick in each of the next three seasons.
The ensuing years in the competition have been less kind to Guardiola and the club but here was the riposte. On so many levels. City had entered this final as underdogs; an unusual position but a reflection of their recent wobbles and how Arsenal have been the pre-eminent team in England and Europe so far this season.
It was a day when City reasserted themselves, showing all of the old knowhow and ability; that quintessential calm and cohesion on the ball. And Arsenal simply wilted. Guardiola got the balance of his lineup absolutely right and, after City had shaded a cagey first half, they cut loose.
It is not every season that a left-back is the goalscoring hero of a cup final but that was how it played out, Nico O’Reilly enjoying the finest day of his young career. The 21-year-old scored with a pair of headers, the first after a horrible handling error from the Arsenal reserve goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, whose misery in Wembley cup finals went on. Thereafter, it was just a countdown to the 16th major trophy of Guardiola’s City tenure – excluding Community Shields.
Arsenal were unbeaten in their previous six meetings against City going back to the 2023 Community Shield, which they won on penalties. Does that count as a trophy for Mikel Arteta? Yes and no, with the emphasis on the latter. It was Arteta’s 2020 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea that was their reference point, framing so much from an Arsenal point of view. It remains his only piece of major silverware.
This was only Arteta’s second cup final as a manager – “Wembley Again Ole, Ole”, read the banner in the City end before kick-off – and it was a day when nothing went to plan for him. He was without the injured Eberechi Eze, whose creativity was missed, but that did not explain the bankruptcy of the performance or the overall meekness.
Arsenal failed to show and the question in the coming days will concern the impact on their confidence in the Premier League title race; whether they can see it through from their position at the summit. City – nine points back – will scent blood, particularly as they have a game in hand and have Arsenal to play at home on 19 April. Arsenal’s dream of the quadruple is over but the more worrying detail will be the inevitable questions about their trophy-winning capabilities.
Arsenal created a big chance in the seventh minute when Martín Zubimendi sent Kai Havertz through for a one-on-one against James Trafford to the right of goal. He could not finish, Trafford getting out to block and when Bukayo Saka had two bites at the rebound, Trafford blocked again and again.
If that gets a prominent mention it was because it stood in glorious isolation for Arsenal. They got precious little going in open play or on set pieces, the City fans jeering each one of their corners and long throw-ins. “Boring, boring Arsenal,” they chanted. City played on the front foot; they hogged the ball. As the minutes ticked by so they tightened their control.
There was a revealing moment early in the second half when Arrizabalaga had the ball at his feet, everybody set in front of him in both red and sky blue. The goalkeeper waited and he waited some more. Nobody moved. Nothing happened. Then Arrizabalaga picked up the ball and tried another way. Arsenal struggled sorely with their buildup play. They could not get out, especially in the second half.
There was also the episode in the 50th minute when Matheus Nunes played a long diagonal for Jérémy Doku and Arrizabalaga left his area. Doku wriggled around him and the goalkeeper was forced to foul him. It was a yellow card for him rather than red because Arsenal had covering defenders but it was another turn of the wheel.
Guardiola’s major move was to start Antoine Semenyo on the right wing and give Rayan Cherki a roaming central midfield brief. Semenyo had the measure of the Arsenal left-back, Piero Hincapié; he was too quick for him and City made the difference up that flank. The breakthrough came when Cherki crossed from the right and Arrizabalaga got his hands in a muddle, fumbling the ball and seeing it drop down behind him. O’Reilly got to it ahead of Hincapié.
Arrizabalaga has played three League Cup finals – the first two at Chelsea – and lost them all. Everybody remembers how he appeared to refuse to come off when the Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri, tried to substitute him before the penalty shoot-out against City in 2019. Arrizabalaga did save one but his team were edged out. Three years later, he missed the decisive 11th penalty as Chelsea lost to Liverpool in another shootout. Arrizabalaga also lost the 2021 FA Cup final with Chelsea to Leicester.
Guardiola booted an advertising board in delight as O’Reilly wheeled away after the first goal and the manager’s celebrations would be even wilder when O’Reilly scored again, arriving on the far side to guide home from Nunes’s delivery. Guardiola set off on a run up the touchline. You never lose the rush.
Arsenal had a couple of late flickers. Riccardo Calafiori, on as a substitute, headed at Trafford from a Declan Rice cross and also hit the outside of the post with a low shot. The outlandish comeback was never on. Arteta stayed on the pitch with his players to watch the City players lift the trophy. For Arsenal, it is all about the reaction.
