{"id":1137,"date":"2026-03-20T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:00:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:00:01","slug":"its-going-to-get-spicy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=1137","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s going to get spicy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5141598\" data-slug-id=\"2754536\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has predicted Arsenal to beat Manchester City in the EFL Cup final on Sunday (March 22) at the Wembley in London.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners and City &#8211; in that order &#8211; are the two leading sides in the Premier League standings as they lock horns on Sunday for the EFL Cup title. Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side had beaten Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, while City saw off fellow domestic rivals Newcastle United 5-1 across two legs.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Agbonlahor reckons the Gunners would emerge victorious, tipping centre-backs Gabriel and William Saliba to rein in City striker Erling Haaland and end the team&#8217;s near six-year trophy drought.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cArsenal win, Arsenal win, Ally (McCoist), for me,&#8221; Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT (via Arsenal Insider). &#8220;I just think they know how important that game is. I just think when I look at Man City, I just think Gabriel (Magalhaes) and (William) Saliba are going to be so aggressive on (Erling) Haaland, the form that he\u2019s been in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s going to get spicy on the touchline. I know they\u2019re friends, (Mikel) Arteta and Guardiola, but I think everything\u2019s on the line in this game.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/football\/youtube\">\n<div class=\"yt-wrapper\">                    <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;IT&#039;LL GET SPICY!&quot; Gabby Agbonlahor PREDICTS Arsenal &amp; Man City&#039;s FIESTY Carabao Cup Encounter!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QxR1-FoHJa0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript>                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While the Gunners haven&#8217;t won the EFL Cup in more than three decades since their second triumph in 1993, City are eight-time winners, having last won the competition in 2021.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>What happened the last time Arsenal played Manchester City in the EFL Cup?<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sk-app-thumbnail\" alt=\"Gunners boss Mikel Arteta - Source: Getty\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg\"\/><img class=\"lazy-img\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" data-img=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=190 190w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=720 720w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg 1920w\" alt=\"Gunners boss Mikel Arteta - Source: Getty\" data-img-low=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/editor\/2026\/03\/48353-17739875067737-1920.jpg?w=640\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,&lt;svg%20xmlns=%22http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%201920%201280%22&gt;&lt;\/svg&gt;\"\/><figcaption>Gunners boss Mikel Arteta &#8211; Source: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Arsenal and Manchester City are preparing for their first EFL Cup clash since meeting in the quarter-finals in December 2020, a few months after the Gunners had beaten Chelsea 2-1 in the final to win a record 14th FA Cup title.<\/p>\n<p>Going back to the clash with City at the Emirates, Gabriel Jesus &#8211; then with City &#8211; opened the scoring inside three minutes before Alexandre Lacazette restored parity for the Gunners 28 minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>Following the break, it was all City, with Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Aymeric Laporte scoring. Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side would go on to win the competition, beating Manchester United 2-0 in the semi-final and Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the final to win the competition for an eighth time.<\/p>\n<p>Manchester City also won the Premier League that year, with the Gunners finishing a lowly eighth, a massive 25 points adrift of the champions. Five years later, Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side are alive in their historic quadruple bid, having reached the quarter-finals in the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Bhargav<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has predicted Arsenal to beat Manchester City in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}