\n
ARSENAL 0-2 MANCHESTER CITY: Nico O’Reilly was the matchwinner for Pep Guardiola’s men on an afternoon which could could have repercussions in the Premier League title race<\/h2>\n <\/p>\n\n
\n
\nPep Guardiola celebrated Manchester City’s goals in the Carabao Cup final in style(Image: Catherine Ivill\/AMA)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/button><\/p>\n
Pep Guardiola raced down the touchline in wild celebration. Nico O\u2019Reilly, Manchester City\u2019s homegrown match-winning hero, had just scored his second to renew Guardiola\u2019s great love affair with the Carabao Cup.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly was 21 the day before the final, is such a proud Mancunian that he has a tattoo of \u201c0161\u201d, his home town\u2019s dialling code, and this was reward for being one of City\u2019s standout players this season.<\/p>\n
But this was also a huge moment for City and Guardiola and the manager\u2019s celebration told you everything about his hunger and desire to win. Will he leave at the end of the season? Not with this passion.<\/p>\n
Incredibly, Guardiola has now won it five times – more than double Arsenal who have only won it on two occasions in their history – and it will only turn up the heat for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Nico O’Reilly extends Arsenal trophy drought as Man City win Carabao Cup – 5 talking points<\/span><\/span>READ MORE: Pep Guardiola issued stern Wembley warning just minutes into Carabao Cup Final<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nWhoever wrote off City spoke too soon. It has happened far too often. Generally it has happened to Arsenal as City have hunted them down and overtaken them in the title race in two of the past three seasons.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, Arsenal\u2019s nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League will not seem quite so insurmountable. City have a game in hand and they know they have got the beating of Arsenal.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Guardiola was back to see off his apprentice once more, overcoming Mikel Arteta, his former No.2, yet again. Arteta has won just four of their 17 meetings, with Guardiola winning 10 of them.<\/p>\n
It was also another harsh lesson for Arsenal about playing the No.2 keeper. It was all very admirable sticking with Kepa Arrizabalaga who has played through the rounds but first choice keeper David Raya has been one of their best players this season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nNico O’Reilly was Manchester City’s matchwinner in the Carabao Cup final<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
<\/button><\/div>\n
Kepa made a howler on O\u2019Reilly\u2019s first goal, could have easily been sent off and is simply not in Raya\u2019s league. We are talking about Kepa who has history in the final of this competition.<\/p>\n
During his time at Chelsea, Kepa refused to come off in 2019 with the game heading to penalties and City won the shoot-out. That should have been enough warning. But let\u2019s be clear: it was not just about Kepa\u2019s mistakes. Arsenal barely showed up. They were hugely disappointing and were outplayed by City.<\/p>\n
Suddenly Arsenal\u2019s quadruple dreams are all over. Of course they can still win three. But this will leave City believing they can turn their season around.<\/p>\n
Arsenal were too negative. By the final whistle, the Arsenal end was virtually empty. City\u2019s fans celebrated and serenaded O\u2019Reilly. What a great story.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly has played more games in midfield recently but was an unstoppable force from left back this time, ghosting in at the back post for two headers. He will enjoy this glory and he has the World Cup to look forward to.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nThe City academy graduate scored twice in four minutes to win the Carabao Cup<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
<\/button><\/div>\n
Arsenal did at least start well. They had three big chances when Martin Zubimendi slipped in Kai Havertz but he was thwarted by City keeper James Trafford who then twice blocked from Bukayo Saka.<\/p>\n
It was a terrible first half. Incredibly, this was the first time the top two of the top flight have contested this final. But it was a seriously bad advert for the Premier League.<\/p>\n
After half time, City were so much better. Kepa had a scare when he misjudged a long ball, hauled back Jeremy Doku and was booked. It was an escape and seemed to hand City the initiative.<\/p>\n
The first goal came on the hour. Rayan Cherki\u2019s cross was spilled by Kepa who could not quite reach it comfortably. O\u2019Reilly sneaked in and headed home.<\/p>\n
Four minutes later, it was 2-0. Matheus Nunes\u2019 cross caught out Arsenal again, Saka switched off and O\u2019Reilly sneaked in to head in again.<\/p>\n
Arsenal tried to rally. Substitute Riccardo Calafiori headed straight at Trafford and fired wide. Gabriel Jesus hit the bar. But it was too little, too late. The day belonged to City. And the season might yet as well.<\/p>\n
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football<\/strong> content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us – and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg>Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARSENAL 0-2 MANCHESTER CITY: Nico O’Reilly was the matchwinner for Pep Guardiola’s men on an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2145","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\/2145","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=2145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}