Man City Only Need Four Minutes to Win the English League Cup, Arsenal Fail Again

JAKARTA - Arsenal failed to quadruple after the hope of winning the first trophy this season was not fulfilled. Manchester City finally won the English League Cup or Carabao Cup after defeating Arsenal 2-0 in the final match at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday, March 22, 2026 WIB. Man City only needed four minutes from defender Nico O'Reilly to finish off Arsenal.

The target of winning four trophies in one season failed. Arsenal had to postpone their hopes of lifting the trophy until a few weeks later. Yes, Arsenal can actually warm up how to become champions if they beat Man City in the English League Cup.

The reason is that Arsenal has been waiting for four years to become a champion when they last won the 2020 FA Cup under Mikel Arteta. They also won the Community Shield, which is a charity match that brings together the English Premier League champions against the FA Cup winner and also serves as the opening or curtain raiser. But it's just a charity match that sometimes isn't taken into account and only as a reference.

Arteta did bring the Gunners to the FA Cup title and hopes to win the English League Cup for the third time. However, the effort did not bear fruit. However, Arsenal still keeps the hope of winning the Premier League title after waiting for 22 years.

They last won the league in 2004 when they were still managed by legendary manager Arsene Wenger. The hope can be achieved because at this time Arsenal is leading the standings and has a seven-point lead with Man City in second place.

Only, Arsenal must be alert. The Cityzens' success in winning the Carabao Cup has definitely boosted the confidence of Pep Guardiola's team to hinder Arsenal's pace.

Moreover, mathematically, Man City who has 61 points can still chase Arsenal. They still have one postponed match against Crystal Palace. In addition, Man City has the opportunity to host Arsenal so that they have the opportunity to reduce the points gap with their competitors.

"We achieved an incredible victory. To become champions by defeating that team is indeed special," Guardiola said as quoted by france24.

"It really means a lot. Winning a trophy is really difficult, especially because Arsenal is one of the best teams in Europe, just like Bayern Munich and Barcelona," said the manager who also managed the two teams.

The success of becoming champions at least also saved Guardiola because last season he failed to bring Man City to win any trophy. Moreover, their steps have also failed in the Champions League. However, Man City, like Arsenal, still has hope in the Premier League and FA Cup.

Guardiola, who has led Man City to 15 trophies, said he would remain at the Etihad until next year when his contract expires. He did not mention the possibility of his contract being extended.

Only, Man City is still facing 115 cases and there are rumors that there are demands that make the club fail to pass so that a heavy sanction is immediately imposed.

Speculation has suggested that the punishment could be the removal of the Premier League title in certain seasons with a reduction in points to relegation to division four or League Two. If sanctioned, it could accelerate Guardiola's departure from Man City.

In the match itself, Arteta actually made a gamble when he kept second goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to stand under the crossbar. Meanwhile, his compatriot from Spain, David Raya, who was the first goalkeeper was even on the bench.

Ironically, Kepa often blundered when playing in the English League Cup final. When still defending Chelsea and appearing in the 2019 League Cup final against Liverpool, Kepa refused to be replaced in the penalty shootout. What happened was that Kepa could not stop any penalty kick, alias all Liverpool's executions were always successful.

Likewise in the 2022 final when he met Liverpool again. There was a long penalty shootout and he never managed to hold off the penalty execution. Ironically, when Kepa was the executor, he failed and Chelsea lost the penalty shootout 11-10 against Liverpool.

With a bad record in the Carabao Cup final, Arteta even played Kepa against the strong opponent Man City. However, Guardiola himself also brought in the second goalkeeper, James Trafford who replaced Gianluigi Donnarumma. However, Trafford even appeared confident and made three brilliant saves. On the other hand, Kepa made a blunder which made Man City score a goal and open the victory.

Arsenal actually got the chance to score through Kai Havertz who supported striker Viktor Gyokeres. However, a good pass from Martin Zubimendi who was going to be finished with Havertz's close-range shot was brilliantly thwarted by Trafford.

He struggled to hold off the kick. Likewise, he used his feet to hold off the rebound kick from Bukayo Saka.

Arsenal also tried to take advantage of the opportunity through the mainstay strategy, namely a dead ball, when they got a corner kick. A good opportunity was obtained by Piero Hincapie who greeted Saka's corner kick, but he failed to do so. Every time Arsenal gets a corner kick, Man City fans always shout, "Boring, boring Arsenal."

In the second half, Man City immediately played offensive football. They also looked upset because Kepa did not get a card when he committed a foul against Jeremy Doku who was about to welcome Mathues Nunes' long pass.

Man City finally broke the deadlock when entering the one hour of the match. O'Reilly successfully broke Arsenal's goal due to Kepa's blunder in the 60th minute. This goal started from Rodri's pass to Bernardo Silva who then sent a cross ball to the front of the goal.

There was O'Reilly and standing near the goal and Kepa had jumped to catch the ball. And this was a blunder because the Spanish goalkeeper didn't punch the ball. Moreover, the ball escaped his grasp. O'Reilly also got the ball easily and just headed it into the empty goal.

Man City also won 1-0. When the Arsenal players had not lost their shock over the goal, O'Reilly again broke Kepa's goal just four minutes later.

Ironically, the goal also started from a very similar scenario. However, Nunes who gave a cross pass to the front of the goal and O'Reilly managed to outwit Saka to head the ball which defeated Kepa.

The second goal from the England national team defender was immediately greeted with cheers by Guardiola. Only the Spanish man's celebration was considered excessive so he got a yellow card.

But Guardiola didn't care because Man City finally won 2-0 through this 21-year-old youngster's brace. Guardiola also made a record by winning the Carabao Cup for the fifth time with Man City.