{"id":150,"date":"2026-03-17T23:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=150"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:18:59","slug":"its-a-great-game-for-the-neutral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=150","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It\u2019s a great game for the neutral&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5140218\" data-slug-id=\"2753080\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/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>Joe Cole has backed Arsenal to beat Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, March 22. He also predicted that there would be some &#8220;nastiness&#8221; in the dugouts during the game.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners are looking to win their first major trophy since the FA Cup win in the 2019-20 season. They have reached their first major final since then and will look to beat Manchester City on Sunday. The two sides are also competing for the Premier League title this season.<\/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>Ahead of the Carabao Cup final, former Liverpool attacker Joe Cole shared his prediction on <em>The Dressing Room<\/em> podcast, saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I\u2019m not working on the Carabao Cup final but I\u2019m going as a fan which I actually haven\u2019t done for a long time. I fancy Arsenal, I think Arsenal beat them. Having watched Man City live, I fancy Arsenal \u2013 but it\u2019s a great game for the neutral.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I\u2019ll make another prediction, I think there will be a bit of needle and a little bit of nastiness on the benches. There\u2019s a lot of tension building at this point in the season so look out for that,&#8221; he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The north London side beat Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate in the Carabao Cup semi-final. Meanwhile, Manchester City hammered Newcastle 5-1 over two legs in their semi-final clash. <\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Carlton Cole and Wayne Bridge predict result of Carabao Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester City <\/h2>\n<p>While Joe Cole backed the Gunners to win the Carabao Cup, his co-hosts, Carlton Cole and Wayne Bridge, went the other way. They believe Manchester City would win the trophy and look to put pressure on the north London side in the Premier League as well.<\/p>\n<p>Former Chelsea striker Carlton Cole said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think Man City win it. They know it\u2019s time, if they lose this I think they lose all hope of winning the league. So they\u2019re going to have to put this one to bed. I\u2019m going with Man City.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Meanwhile, Bridge added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I\u2019m going to go with Man City. We know it\u2019s kind of almost over with the league but them getting a win here puts a bit more pressure on Arsenal. I\u2019m living in hope.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Gunners sit atop the Premier League table, nine points above Manchester City, who have a game in hand. The two teams will also face off at the Etihad on April 19 in the league. <\/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 decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"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 decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"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 Aditya Singh<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Cole has backed Arsenal to beat Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","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\/150","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=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}