Manchester City ended their two-year wait for silverware on Sunday, defeating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium in what turned into a one-sided second half. The narrative going into the match centred almost entirely on Erling Haaland’s form — or lack of it — but the evening ultimately belonged to a 21-year-old midfielder nobody had scripted as the hero.
Nico O’Reilly scored twice in the second half as City upped their tempo and pinned Arsenal deep inside their own half, turning a nervous stalemate into a comfortable triumph. Bernardo Silva, who was excellent throughout, assessed it clearly afterwards: “I think in the second half we tried to go at them a bit more and we felt that they lost a bit of energy. Nico O’Reilly is very good at arriving in the box. I’m really happy and proud of the boys because beating this side is not easy.”
The win makes Pep Guardiola the most successful manager in League Cup history, with five titles, surpassing both Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough on the all-time list. City also move to nine EFL Cup wins overall, just one behind Liverpool’s record of ten. From a trophy-collecting standpoint, this is a significant moment for a club that has dominated English football for the better part of a decade.
For Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, however, this stings in a way that results alone cannot fully quantify. The Gunners have not lifted a major trophy in front of a live crowd since the 2017 FA Cup — nearly a decade of near-misses and final-line defeats for a squad built specifically to end that drought. Arteta’s players looked deflated collecting their runners-up medals, and understandably so.
The elephant in the room post-match was Guardiola’s measured response on the title race. He was clear-eyed: “I would like to have nine points in front of Arsenal. It will have no impact. Different competitions and they will be focused when they come to the Etihad.” That’s a frank acknowledgment that Arsenal’s nine-point Premier League lead remains essentially undisturbed, whatever psychological boost a Wembley win might provide.
What this result does offer City is momentum and a sense of belief heading into the business end of the season, particularly ahead of their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool at the Etihad. On the evidence of Sunday, their second-half intensity is still capable of suffocating even the best teams in England.
Haaland, much discussed but subdued, played the full match without making his usual decisive mark. Guardiola earlier this week acknowledged the issue plainly: “The lack of goals, we miss him of course. But Erling, we need his goals.” Of the 15 shots he has managed inside the box since Matchweek 22, just 33 per cent have been categorised as big chances, which suggests the service around him is as much the problem as any individual dip in form.
O’Reilly’s emergence changes the calculus somewhat. City have a young player clearly capable of delivering in the biggest moments. If Haaland rediscovers his scoring rhythm in the run-in, this team suddenly looks dangerous again across all fronts.
For now, though, the trophy is blue. Arsenal will have to wait a little longer to end their silverware famine, and Wembley offered them little comfort on a night when City’s second-half energy simply proved too much to handle.
