Analysis from Barney Ronay
Daniel Taylor's match report
Pep Guardiola watches on from the pitch, beaming with paternal pride. The League Cup has been a starting point for many managers in England and Guardiola may end this season with a treble. His team are a glorious advert for football, and easily defeated an Arsenal side who showed themselves to be a complete bunch of walkers. Thanks for your company and emails, goodnight.
Now it’s City’s turn. Vincent Kompany leads the way, shaking hands with allcomers. The players receive their winners medals, and then Kompany lifts the trophy to huge cheers!
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Arsenal’s players walk up the Wembley steps to receive their richly deserved losers medals.
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Vincent Kompany speaks! “Before the game I thought I would score. I’m training well, I’m supporting the lads when I don’t play, and when I do play I give everything I have. I’m really proud of the team. It’s worth every minute of hard work recovering from injury for days like this.”
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Full time: Arsenal 0-3 Manchester City
That’s it! Manchester City win the Carabao Cup for the third time in five years. They didn’t need to get out of second gear to beat a desperate Arsenal, whose papier-mache spine wasn’t remotely fit for purpose. City were far too good. The goals came from the old firm: Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany - the feelgood moment of City’s season - and David Silva. It’s their first trophy under Pep Guardiola. I know this is a controversial prediction, but I don’t think it’ll be the last.
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90 min There will be three minutes of added time.
88 min Wilshere is booked, presumably for that sarcastic applause, and then City make another change. We’ve celebrated City past and present, and now we have it’s time for the future: the brilliant 17-year-old Phil Foden replaces Sergio Aguero
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87 min Wilshere shoves Jesus again and sarcastically applauds Pawson for not giving a foul in his favour. He’s a bad loser, which reflects well on him.
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85 min “It seems that Arsenal are slowly turning Gary Neville into Alan Hansen,” says Rodrigo Santos. “I can almost hear him saying, ‘You can’t win anything with walkers.’”
At first I misread that last word. Or did I?
84 min The Arsenal end is half empty. “Can you blame them?” says Gary Neville. “They’ve had enough. They’ve had enough.” Wilshere shows a bit of fight by shoving Jesus, who was blocking a quick free-kick.
83 min Walker injures himself with a late tackle on Xhaka. There’s a break in play while he receives treatment.
81 min This is a feelgood day for City, not least because the goals have been scored by three club legends: Aguero, Kompany and David Silva. It’s a rare, sweet feeling to enjoy a rush of nostalgia while simultaneously savouring the moment.
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80 min Kompany is booked for a foul on Welbeck.
77 min A City substitution: the fit again Gabriel Jesus replaces Leroy Sane.
75 min Xhaka screams a good effort just over the bar from 22 yards.
74 min “Afternoon Mr Smyth,” says Chris Ross. “Route one goals have feelings too. They can be sharp as a rapier, not just as blunt as Mick Harford’s, well, all of him. Take Italy’s golazzo versus Uruguay at Italia 90. A real beauty.”
73 min Alex Iwobi replaces Aaron Ramsey who, erm, walks from the field.
71 min This could easily end 5-0 or 6-0. Sane bursts past Mustafi but overruns the ball a fraction, which allows Ospina to rush from his line and claim the ball.
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69 min This has been a desperate second half for Arsenal, who have barely had a kick.
66 min Danny Welbeck replaces Calum Chambers for Arsenal. Gary Neville, who is on a majestic one, says Ramsey and Xhaka are “an absolute disgrace ... they’ve given up ... spineless ... they’re walking around on a football pitch”. With perfect timing, the camera cuts to a young Arsenal fan in tears. “That’s what they’ve caused.”
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GOAL! Arsenal 0-3 Manchester City (D Silva 65)
David Silva finishes the job, thrashing an excellent low shot past Ospina from Danilo’s cute through pass. Silva’s first touch was perfect, which set him up to belt it across Ospina with his second. After two unCityish goals, that was a beauty.
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64 min Gary Neville is getting more and more frustrated with Arsenal. “Ramsey’s walking. They’re walking. Xhaka’s walking. Ozil’s walking. Don’t walk at Wembley. You’re 2-0 down. Run.”
63 min De Bruyne, who has been much more influential since moving infield, bursts down the inside-right channel and flashes a dangerous cross that is cleared desperately by Arsenal.
62 min This could get nasty for Arsenal, who look broken. City are in total control.
60 min Sane was in an offside position, and I think there was a VAR referral amid the celebrations, but he wasn’t active.
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City have started the second half superbly and deserve this goal. Kompany won the corner on the right and then scored from it. De Bruyne cut the corner back sharply to Gundogan on the edge of the box. He drove a low first-time shot towards goal and Kompany stretched to divert it past Ospina. Kompany celebrated like a little boy, a beautiful moment for a player who has been through so much in the last few years.
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GOAL! Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City (Kompany 58)
Vincent Kompany doubles City’s lead!
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57 min De Bruyne’s driven free-kick beats the wall and hits own team-mate, Otamendi.
56 min Mustafi fouls Sane just outside the area. The free-kick is a fair way to the left of centre, but within range for De Bruyne...
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54 min Bellerin lumps the ball forward towards Aubameyang. Bravo charges out of his box and has a slapstick swipe at fresh air. For a second it looks like Aubameyang will have an open goal, but Bravo recovers quickly enough to get between him and the ball. Aubameyang pulls Bravo back and is penalised.
53 min Bellerin’s been poor today. Sane has the beating of him almost every time and has just won another corner for City.
52 min Fernandinho limps off to be replaced by Bernardo Silva, so De Bruyne will move into midfield and Gundogan will play the John McGovern role. It looks like it might he a muscle problem.
51 min Fernandinho is struggling and is going to be replaced by Bernardo Silva. I don’t think there was anyone near him when he pulled up.
49 min “Good to see both teams going for it,” says Matt Dony, “even though the competition only really matters when it’s part of a historic Treble. Or Quadruple. Or Quintuple, depending on how you want to count these things... I miss 2001.”
48 min When a City corner is only half cleared, Kompany hits a shot from the edge of the area that deflects this far wide off Koscielny. City have made a very fast start to the second half.
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47 min Aguero slithers away from Chambers, who pulls him back and accepts a booking without complaint.
46 min Peep peep! City begin the second half.
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Half-time chit-chat
“Rob,” says Ian Burch. “Maybe Pep could go the whole hog and sign and reunite Mick Harford with his fellow shrinking violet teammates from his Birmingham City days. Who wouldn’t want to see Pep giving in-depth tactical instructions to Tony Coton, Pat Van Den Hauwe, Mark Dennis, Robert Hopkins, Noel Blake and Mick Harford. Football for the purists.”
“I’ve always admired Wenger, but I would have more, if he had ever shown a touch more self-awareness over the years,” says Jon Millard. “Brian Clough wouldn’t have had some minor touchline tantrum about a perceived foul on Mustafi. Mind you, he’d probably have decked Mustafi in the changing room at half time, you can’t have it all.”
“Your endearingly oafish commentary doesn’t qualify as a live blog of the match,” says Kathy Moore, “just a running set of snarky statements about teams/players you obviously don’t consider worth your time.”
City lead through Sergio Aguero, whose 18th-minute goal was almost comically simple: not tiki-taka, just good old-fashioned tiki. They have been a bit sloppy by their standards, and there are unconfirmed reports that their possession was below 65 per cent. But they lead and have been pretty comfortable defensively since Claudio Bravo’s dramatic double save in the eighth minute.
Arsenal have done a lot of good things, but they need to get Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey in the game if they are to have a chance. And the defending for the goal will haunt them. It was so typically Arsenal that they should win awards for self-satire.
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Half time: Arsenal 0-1 Manchester City
Peep peep!
45 min There will be two minutes of added time.
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44 min Sane curls a nothing shot from the left side of the box that is easily saved by Ospina.
42 min Wilshere is fouled by Fernandinho, who has already been booked. Craig Pawson plays the advantage, and when play breaks down Arsenal try to get Fernandinho sent off. Pawson isn’t interested and replays show it didn’t deserve a second yellow card. But Fernandinho can’t risk giving away any more fouls. Next time there’ll be no next time.
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40 min A nervous moment for Arsenal. Aguero misses the moment to play Sane through and instead goes on a meandering run around the defence before chipping the ball across goal from a tight angle. It clears Ospina and is shinned up in the air by Koscielny at the far post. The ball drops to De Bruyne, who lashes a volley into the side-netting.
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37 min Fernandinho is booked for a foul on the lively Wilshere.
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36 min Xhaka clips a long ball forward to Aubameyang, who takes it beautifully in his stride and seems to be through on goal for a split-second. But Kompany shows good pace to catch up with Aubameyang and excellent strength to ease him off the ball just inside the area. That was terrific defending.
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35 min Gary Neville makes a good point that, because Mustafi’s defending was so bad, it obscured some imperfect goalkeeping for Ospina. He was caught betwixt and between, which made it a simple decision for Aguero to lob the ball over him.
34 min “Hi Rob,” says Stephen Cooper. “Happy to recommend Persona to Phil Podolsky (16:30), if he hasn’t seen it on the big screen before. They’ve got an excellent Bergman retrospective running at the Film Forum right now. I first saw Persona at Victoria’s infamous Biograph where I sat through the other half of the bill (a spaghetti western), only to have the projectionist get the Persona reels mixed up!”
32 min Ramsey is booked for a high foot near David Silva’s face.
30 min Sane beats Bellerin with disdainful ease on the left of the box and hits a cross that is put behind for a corner by Mustafi. It’s worked short to Gundogan, whose clipped cross is headed high over the bar by Kompany. It wasn’t much of a chance.
28 min “On the commentary I’m hearing, Craig Burley has asked the Arsenal defence not to make any more silly errors,” says Charles Antaki. “Also Scottish independence, gun control, and a second referendum...”
26 min Nacho Monreal has an injured back and needs to go off. The endearingly oafish Sead Kolasinac replaces him.
25 min Arsenal have done a lot of good things in the first 25 minutes, and for most of the time they have been City’s equals. But the defending for the goal, dear me.
23 min Ramsey’s free-kick is comfortably saved by Bravo, and then Bellerin is booked for a cynical foul on De Bruyne.
22 min There were just four touches in the move for that City goal, one from Bravo and three from Aguero. Maybe this will be the start of Pep’s awakening, in which he becomes an unashamed disciple of Charles Hughes and pays £250m for Andy Carroll and Mick Harford.
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21 min Wenger and Guardiola are having a lively row on the touchline, presumably about the perceived foul on Mustafi.
20 min Mustafi wanted a foul after being bumped away from the ball by Aguero. It wasn’t a foul. Craig Pawson didn’t even bother going to VAR. It was an accomplished finish from Aguero but a stunningly bad piece of defending from Mustafi.
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The goal came from a huge kick forward by Bravo. Mustafi was in an appalling position, the wrong side of Aguero, and the ball sailed over his head. Aguero eased him aside, shovelled the ball forward and lobbed Ospina easily from the edge of the box.
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GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Manchester City (Aguero 18)
Manchester City take the lead with a Wimbledon tribute goal!
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15 min Arsenal having their first spell of sustained possession. They have responded well to a slightly terrifying start.
14 min Yep, it was a dive.
13 min Arsenal appeal for a penalty when Monreal goes over after a challenge from Kompany. It looked like a dive and Craig Pawson pretendeded it didn’t happen.
11 min That missed opportunity, while obviously frustrating for Arsenal, does seem to have calmed them down. City are still having more of the ball but Arsenal look more composed.
9 min At the other end Silva slides a nice ball infield for Aguero, who whips a first-time shot wide of the near post.
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8 min What a chance for Arsenal! It came out of nothing from a huge kick downfield by Ospina to Wilshere. He underran the ball on the edge of the area but it came to Ramsey, who slipped in Ozil on the right side of the box. He could have had a shot, maybe should have done. Instead he slid it across the face towards Aubameyang, who would have had an open goal had Walker not got there first. Walker could only stab the ball towards his own goal, and Bravo - who was going the wrong way - made a fine save with his feet. The ball rebounded to the off-balance Aubameyang, who dragged it into the body of the sprawling Bravo.
I think Aubameyang was in an offside position, though he wasn’t flagged.
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7 min Aguero wriggles away from Koscielny and Monreal in the box before his shot is blocked by Xhaka. This has been a ruthless start from City.
5 min Arsenal look nervous with the ball and even more nervous without it. Their formation has already changed to 5-4-1, with City looking ominously dominant.
3 min It’s been a fast start from City, with Sane’s shot deflecting behind off Ramsey for the second corner in quick succession.
2 min De Bruyne is playing on the right wing for City, with David Silva in the centre of midfield. Arsenal have started in what looks like a 3-5-1-1 formation, with Ozil behind Aubameyang.
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1 min Peep peep! Arsenal, in red and white, begin the Carabao Cup final. City are in sky blue.
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An email! “I’m at a diner trying to decide whether to just stay here and watch the game or go watch Persona in a little arty cinema house in Manhattan as I’ve been planning all along,” says Phil Podolsky. “I’d ask the Inner Child but he’s long dead, killed by years of neglect and Being Online.”
The players emerge from the tunnel on a crisp afternoon at Wembley. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but it’s cup final day!
Arsenal’s last League Cup win was in 1993, when Paul Merson inspired them a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
This is really brilliant
Ribbonwatch Despite being charged by the FA on Friday, Pep Guardiola is again wearing his yellow ribbon in support of those who have suffered human rights violations in Abu Dhabi.
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Some pre-match reading
Team news
Calum Chambers starts for Arsenal, who will start with a back three. City’s Raheem Sterling is out through injury, though Gabriel Jesus returns to the bench.
Arsenal (3-4-2-1) Ospina; Chambers, Mustafi, Koscielny; Bellerin, Wilshere, Xhaka, Monreal; Ozil, Ramsey; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Cech, Kolasinac, Mertesacker, Elneny, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi, Welbeck.
Manchester City (4-1-2-3) Bravo; Walker, Otamendi, Kompany, Danilo; Fernandinho; Gundogan, D Silva; De Bruyne, Aguero, Sane.
Substitutes: Ederson, Stones, Laporte, B Silva, Zinchenko, Foden, Jesus.
Referee Craig Pawson.
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Preamble
Hello friends. Sometimes it’s worth listening to your inner child. Not all the time; no duvet deserves that. Generally speaking, though, our younger self has an enthusiasm, innocence, hope and clarity that we could learn a lot from – particularly on a day like today. Arsenal play Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, and the child within can’t sit still. It’s the first cup final of the season!
This is what gets him excited. He isn’t interested in finishing fourth; he doesn’t care that the Carabao Cup isn’t as important as it once was; he doesn’t even mind that the kids at school laughed at him for thinking Carabou was a type of reindeer, though he did cry in the toilets when it happened. Nor is he a tedious elitist who dismisses Arsenal’s recent success (“They’re celebrating winning the FA Cup? Oh, how quaint; how vulgar”).
He doesn’t think Manchester City’s spending power cheapens their achievements. He just wants to see his team win a trophy - or, if he’s a neutral, to watch a cracking game. With two teams full of playmakers and good intentions, we should get that.
It’s 25 years since Arsenal won this competition; 24 months since City did so. It will be a landmark victory for someone. Either Arsene Wenger will join an elite club by completing the set of domestic honours, or Pep Guardiola will win the first of at least two and possibly 471 trophies as Manchester City manager.
All things being equal, City will win. But Arsenal are a contrary bunch and have a good recent record against City: four wins and two defeats in the last 10 games. This the first time these two have met in a cup final, unless you count the Winoly Cup and the Super Match by Carlsberg. We don’t count the Winoly Cup and the Super Match by Carlsberg. Even the little boy doesn’t count those, and he’s enthusiastic about everything.
Kick off is at 4.30pm. And yes, they are using VAR.
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