Arsenal aversion to League Cup glory continues as dominant Man City close off first avenue of silverware

Master v Apprentice showdown : Picture by @YTJourno

Carabao Cup Final

Arsenal (0) 0

Manchester City (0) 2 O'Reilly 60, 64

It had all been looking so good - for the first five minutes at least. But the Gunners were left empty handed in the League Cup yet again after a drab showing that got the outcome it deserved.

They now have lost seven finals in this competition and not won it since 1993 - one of only two successes since it was first played in the 60s. City have won it nine times, by way of an unflattering comparison. It's fair to say, the Gunners have not taken to it in the way they have the FA Cup.

Two Nico O'Reilly headers in a five minute spell around the hour mark saw City grab the contest by the throat after a turgid first 45 minutes. Pep Guardiola's men upped a gear at the start of the second half and pinned Arsenal back so much that the Premier League leaders simply could not get out to relieve the pressure.

And when Rayan Cherki chipped in from the right, the man for whom these Wembley finals has also become something of a curse once again had a moment to forget.

Kepa - chosen ahead of David Raya because he has been the starter throughout the competition - failed to hold the ball above his head and it fell perfectly for O'Reilly to nudge in after he got ahead of Martin Zubimendi.

Five minutes later and the game was as good as over as Mathias Nunes whipped in a cross that was met by a perfect O'Reilly header.

Kepa has two previous League Cup final defeats via penalties as a Chelsea player - once when he famously refused to be substituted when Blues boss Mauricio Sarri attempted to haul him off against Man City, the second when he missed the decisive kick against Liverpool in 2022 when his side lost 11-10 in the shoot out.

He brought his curse to sit alongside the long standing Arsenal one in this competition.

The Gunners seldom looked like scoring after the opening salvo when Kai Havertz was played in by Zubimendi and was denied by James Trafford while the young keeper did well to keep out two follow ups from Bukayo Saka.

A looping header from Gabriel Jesus that clipped the top of the crossbar was as close as they came.

In sharp contrast to Mikel Arteta's decision to give the keeper jersey to his number two stopper, Pep's benching of number one Gianluigi Donnarumma in favour of Trafford did not backfire.

Overall, the Gunners looked leggy and too predictable. How they could have done with Eberechi Eze - injured and not involved. He scored the winner against City in last season's FA Cup final and has been in sparkling form of late.

Considering this was only the fourth defeat of a hitherto incredibly productive season, it will feel pretty devastating for Arsenal - even if this is the trophy they least want and need.

But the repeat narrative of failure in this cup grates. Eight years ago, they lost one of those previous League Cup finals 3-0 to City when they were easily brushed aside. They turned out to be no better this time around.

Gunners: (4-2-3-1) Kepa - White (Jesus 82), Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie (Calafiori 66) - Zubimendi, Rice - Saka, Havertz (Madueke 66), Trossard (Martinelli 82) - Gyokeres

City: (4-1-3-2) Trafford - Matheus Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O'Reilly - Rodri - Cherki (Foden 90), Bernardo Silva, Doku - Semenyo, Haaland

Attendance: 88.486