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Nico O’Reilly holds aloft the League Cup after Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday - Getty Images/Adrian Dennis
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As Nico O’Reilly headed home his and Manchester City’s second goal, Pep Guardiola danced down the Wembley touchline, gleefully conducting the crowd. He skipped along like a child – not a 55-year-old manager who has already won the lot. More than once.
It may have only been a Carabao Cup final, but it showed how much it meant to Guardiola and City – as did the celebrations for the first goal when he jumped, punched the air and kicked the advertising hoardings. And afterwards, he seemed to hug everyone he could find connected to the club. And some of them twice.
Who knows, it may be his 16th (19th if Community Shields are included) and last major trophy with City. There could still be another FA Cup to come, but there was no hiding how much this meant to Guardiola.
Five of those trophies have been League Cups. No manager has won the competition more than Guardiola, who loves to break records and who now moves one ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Brian Clough, who have four. And he will be aware of that.
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With five titles, Pep Guardiola is now the most successful manager in League Cup history - Richard Pelham/AP
But then dominating the apparently best team in the country, Arsenal, like this may also persuade Guardiola to stay. Such was the gulf he may also wonder how City are nine points behind them in the Premier League, albeit with a game in hand and a fixture between them at the Etihad to come next month.
In the closing stages, with the final won, the City fans waved their flags and sang Blue Moon with Guardiola rubbing his head and turning to watch them. It looked like another big moment. One he wanted to take in – because he is pondering his future, or because he was just absorbing it all? Too much can be read into this, but a penny for his thoughts. After a decade in charge, can he really walk away?
To say Arsenal were schooled would not be an overstatement and this was a humbling and chastening lesson for Mikel Arteta. Talk of a quadruple always felt fanciful but was impossible with Arsenal playing in such a conservative, defensive, unambitious, passive way – apart from a flurry in the opening period. What were they thinking?
One team came to play. After that opening burst, the other did not. It was as simple as that, especially in an incredible 25-minute period after half-time. That is a long time to be in total control.
This was a game where Arsenal’s percentage football had its comeuppance and where claims that they play the way they do because teams go man-for-man against them or defend in low blocks, preventing them from being more free-flowing, were exposed.
So City pressed them and they could not cope.
The memories from this final – apart from O’Reilly’s goals and a howler from Arsenal second-choice goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga – was a masterful, swaggering performance from Rayan Cherki (complete with keepy-uppies), Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku running down the wings and Rodri and Bernardo Silva dominating the midfield.
Where was Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice? How did Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard fade so badly? What happened to Arteta trying to change the momentum?
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Declan Rice appeared distraught after Arsenal lost the final to City - Getty Images/Glyn Kirk
This was the first time in seven matches that City have beaten Arsenal and, on this evidence, you wonder how that can be the case. Such was their dominance.
What effect will it also have on several City players? For them – four of the starters – this was their first trophy for the club and the joy from Semenyo, for example, was unbridled as Guardiola cradled his face and talked to him. Will it drive this ‘new team’?
“Winning titles helps you to win more,” Guardiola said back in 2018 when he won his first trophy – his first League Cup – with City again beating Arsenal. He reiterated that after this victory.
Arsenal may well end up Premier League champions, and the title is theirs to lose, and even Champions League (and FA Cup) winners although it does remain to be seen whether there are deeper ramifications and any psychological damage to this showpiece result.
For now, Arteta and Arsenal have fallen woefully short and it has been six years since he won his one and only trophy as manager. If there was any desire to make a statement of intent here, it was lost. Just like this final. The statement belonged to City.
The focus will also fall on the two stand-in goalkeepers with both managers sticking with their second-choices. For City, James Trafford made an outstanding triple save early on, when the game was goalless, to deny Kai Havertz and twice thwart Bukayo Saka.
For Arsenal? Arrizabalaga will have hoped to avenge his appearance in the 2019 final when he was in goal for Chelsea, refused head coach Maurizio Sarri’s orders to be substituted and then lost in a penalty shoot-out to City. Or the 2022 final when he came on as a 120th-minute substitute and ballooned his spot kick over in another shoot-out.
Instead, he gifted City their first goal having perhaps been fortunate to only escape with a yellow card after pulling back Jeremy Doku outside his penalty area. Soon after he misjudged a Cherki cross, allowing it to slip through his fingers with O’Reilly beating Zubimendi to stoop and head in from close range.
Then Matheus Nunes crossed, again from the right, with O’Reilly making it his to head in again. What a game for the 21-year-old Manchester lad whose birthday it was on Saturday. Until recently, the City fan and academy product lived just a couple of miles from the Etihad Stadium and in an age when the team he plays for – like every Premier League club – is full of stars from around the world, it felt important.
Arsenal twice struck the goal frame after going 2-0 down but making much of that would suggest they almost mounted a comeback and were unfortunate. That simply was not the case. City deservedly won and we must wonder what the repercussions will be.
For Arsenal and their trophy hopes, for City and for Guardiola.
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07:52pm
And finally, here’s Mikel Arteta speaking to Sky Sports
07:28pm
Pep Guardiola speaks to Sky Sports
06:56pm
Bernardo Silva speaks to Sky Sports
06:50pm
City toast their victory in Carabao fizz
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A waste of good wine… - GLYN KIRK/AFP
06:38pm
After a spot of Trumpian trophy-hogging
Sir Charles Carabao hands over the League Cup to Bernardo Silva. And each member of the squad has his turn at lifting it while they sing Championes.
Arsenal’s players graciously watch on and applaud. They will hope that the sight motivates them too to get the job done in the Premier League.
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Manchester City win the League Cup for the ninth time - GLYN KIRK/AFP
06:36pm
Two sides of the coin at the final whistle
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Agony - GLYN KIRK/AFP
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Ecstasy - John Walton/PA
06:28pm
Nico O’Reilly speaks to Sky Sports
06:27pm
City deserved their victory
Although they were give a helping hand by Kepa’s error, they weren’t at the races in the second half, seemingly lacking belief.
06:24pm
Full time: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
City win their ninth League Cup and Pep is celebrating like it’s his first. It’s his fifth, a record.
06:23pm
90+3 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Blue Moon echoes around the emptying stadium as thousands of Arsenal fans stream out.
06:22pm
90+2 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Nico O’Reilly has been named man of the match. Peter Drury makes some laboured quip about his 0161 tattoo and ‘dialling’ it in today. Quite the opposite of dialling it in, I’d have thought.
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06:21pm
90+1 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Foden → Cherki.
Doku tries to chip it long for Haaland to break between Saliba and Gabriel but the two centre-backs do their job.
06:20pm
90 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Doku floods into open space down the inside-left channel, keeps going as Arsenal retreat then hooks a shot wide.
Four minutes of stoppage time to come.
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06:18pm
89 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Still no City changes. VAR is given some work to do when Gyokeres goes down in the City penalty area with Rodri holding him after Jesus’s header skimmed the bar. But nothing changes.
06:16pm
87 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Jesus beats a man then passes straight to a blue shirt as he used to do then Rodri give sthe ball away just as cheaply and thanks Matheus Nunes for bailing him out by outrunning Gyokeres.
06:15pm
85 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Some Arsenal fans have had enough and start to leave. What a damp squib they have been in this half.
06:12pm
84 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Martinelli’s first attempt to stretch his legs with a run down the whitewash comes unstuck when he knocks the ball out. Moments earlier Rodri had turned and rolled a pass into touch uncharacteristically carelessly, too.
06:11pm
82 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Martinelli → Trossard
Jesus → White.
Rice moves to right-back.
06:10pm
80 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
City are starting to try to control the clock but they will know that Arsenal’s unravelling came when they lost all momentum, deliberately it seems, and started to hang on to the ball too long in an excess of caution at 0-0.
06:08pm
78 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Calafiori’s raking volley from the right of the box as he belted Trossard’s flick-on just eludes Trossard’s lunge and clips the outside of the right post.
06:06pm
76 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Some disquiet in the crowd that Arteta has not yet turned to Martinelly, Dowman and Gabriel Jesus. They continue to warm up.
06:05pm
74 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Cherki drives down the right. He’s a mesmerising dribbler and beats Trossard, Rice and Calafiori before squaring it just behind Haaland who had bust a gut to get into the box.
06:03pm
72 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Guardiola is exasperated because City have given Arsenal and Rice the opportunity to cause havoc with his set-piece delivery after a careless foul, 23 yards out. Rice bends the free-kick expertly towards the near post and Calafiori rises to meet and glances it… straight down Trafford’s throat.
06:00pm
70 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Cherki starts showboating by playing keepie-uppie in front of White who boots him up in the air. Guardiola looks as though he agrees with White.
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05:58pm
68 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 2
Guardiola celebrated like a man who has been haunted and suddenly felt the grace of exorcism. He booted a couple of things and roared, waving his arms, eraning himself another yellow card this calendar year.
Arsenal are the ones who look haunted now.
Calafiori → Hincapié
Madueke → Havertz.
05:53pmGoals • Video
GOAL!
Arsenal 0 Man City 2 (O’Reilly) He’s done it again with his head. He stole in again round the back, blindsiding Saka after Doku’s calm pass across the 18-yard line was relayed on to Nunes by Rodri, slipping him in behind. The right-back stood up the perfect cross for the marauding left-back to meet.
05:49pmVideo • Goals
GOAL!
Arsenal 0 Man City 1 (O’Reilly) If you keep putting your shoulder to the door, it will eventually cave in. City have been pounding away all this half but even so wouldn’t have scored but for a Kepa mistake as he let Cherki’s right-foot cross from the right burst through his hands and O’Reilly crept round Zubimendi to nod the ball after it bounced up into goal from a couple of yards.
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05:49pm
60 min: Arsenal 0 Man City
Excellent work from Matheus Nunes to break the lines with a dip of the shoulder and a pass up to Haaland, perfectly into his stride as he stormed through the middle. Gabriel and Saliba tried to close the door by ********** it shut in front of him and Saliba then pokes the ball away.
05:47pm
58 min: Arsenal 0 Man City
Doku by far the most influential player of the half so far and has White on toast. Still no end product.
05:46pm
56 min: Arsenal 0 Man City
Arsenal are under the cosh and seem to be the retreat as City keep coming in waves. Doku twice beats White and tries to put it on Haaland’s head at the back post only for Gabriel to get there first. Backs to the wall stuff for Arsenal and Semenyo ends this spell of pressure with a cross-shot hybrid as he cut in from the right on to his left that was no use to anyone.
05:44pm
54 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
O’Reilly, Doku and Haaland link up slickly on the left and allow Doku the chance to get to the byline. He pulls a daisycutter of a pass back towards the penalty spot but no one was close to it. All City now.
05:42pm
52 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Semenyo’s free-kick is wildly overhit and careers over everyone’s heads and out for a goal-kick.
05:41pm
52 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Kepa comes out of his box to try to stop a diagonal chip reaching Doku on the left. Beaten for pace and strength, Kepa wraps his arms around the winger and is booked. City wanted him to play on and see if Doku could pick out Haaland in the box in front of an open goal.
05:39pm
50 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Cherki bends a pass to Semenyo standing to the right of the D. He feeds it first time into Haaland who holds off Saliba to flick it through his legs but could only prod a toe-poke at the keeper as the ball ran away from him.
05:37pm
48 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Bernardo tries to reopen Arsenal’s weak spot with a pass down the right to give Semenyo the opportunity to run at Hincapié but overcooks it. Kepa wastes 42 seconds by standing with the ball at his feet before playing it.
05:35pm
46 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
No changes though in the punditry box, there were calls for Martinelli, Calafiori and Dowman. City kick off and slow the tempo right down.
05:24pm
Sir Keir Starmer watches his beloved Gunners
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The PM watches his team at Wembley - Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters
05:21pm
Semenyo’s threat
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05:19pm
Half-Time: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Enjoyable match with both sides enjoying spells of attacking dominance but not many chances. Trafford’s save to stop Havertz has probably been the closest either side has come to scoring.
05:17pm
45 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Semenyo flicks Cherki’s pass between his own legs to lose Trossard, pirouettes in the box, sprints to the byline and crosses deep. Haaland makes himself as big as he can to reach the ball and, his neck and torso extended to their limit, cannot control the header, plonking it on the roof of the net.
05:15pm
43 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
The corner is too high for Haaland at the back post but City keep the ball and keep probing away after Rice makes a mistake with a misplaced pass.
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05:14pm
41 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Doku goes on a skittering run into the area from the left after great work between Cherki and Haaland to send him through. Saliba’s tackle takes the ball off him at the price of a corner.
05:12pm
39 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Couple of tentative attacks down the City right but Arsenal hold their lines even if they’re getting stuck in their final third.
05:09pm
37 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Twice in 90 seconds Bernardo fails with attempts to find Haaland in space with passes, the second interception triggering a counter-attack that leads to an Arsenal corner. Saka takes it, bending an inswinger beyond the back post. Hincapié heads over.
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05:07pm
34 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Guardiola doesn’t like his team’s shape and keeps urging Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly to get further forward.
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Back in my arms again - Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
05:05pm
32 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Khusanov is deservedly booked for a slightly late, full-blooded lunge at Gyokeres, sweeping the centre-forward off his feet, 30 yards out on the right. Nunes wins the header at the near post.
Arsenal recycle with a long diagonal to Gabriel who heads it into the box and seems to be running for Gyokeres until Ake slides in from his blindside to drill it out for a throw-in.
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05:02pm
30 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Hincapié doesn’t have the pace to stick with Semenyo. Even given the left-back’s yellow card, it is still a surprise that Arteta has sent Calafiori out to warm up.
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05:00pm
28 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
First sustained spell of City keep-ball pressure as they sweep the ball from side to side, waiting for the opportunity to let Semenyo beast past Hincapié. which he does with ease, to get to the byline. His low cross is turned behind for a corner that comes to naught.
04:58pm
26 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
City very much a 4-2-4 when Arsenal have the ball deep, more a 4-2-2-2 at other times. Bernardo wins the ball by intercepting a pass, clips it forward to Haaland who lays it off with his left-instep on the volley to his right, looking for Semenyo but the ball skipped off the surface and ran away from the ex-Bournemouth man.
04:56pm
23 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Khusanov tries to bend a long, high pass from halfway to Semenyo at the edge of the 18-yard line but Gabriel wins the header and Khusanov has to hare all the way back to his own box to ensure the Arsenal counter-attack is snuffed out.
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Guardiola rocks tweed strides - ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP
04:53pm
21 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
City spring into life and an attack with Semenyo bombing down the right and whipping over a brute of a cross that was inches behind Haaland who was well-marked and manhandled by Saliba. Arsenal break from the ensuing City corner and Khusanov uses his extraordinary speed to catch Havertz and slide in to hook the ball out of his stride. Would like to see a race between Khusanov and Van de Ven,
04:51pm
19 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Bernardo Silva’s terrier-like qualities veer off into ankle-biting territory when he snaps at Zubimendi’s heels and concedes a free-kick 30 yards or so out, high on the right. Rice targets the back post and Haaland reads the flight best of all to head it out. Saka pounces on the ball and dribbles into the box from the right. City stand firm, unbeguiled by his dazzling feet and scramble it away.
04:48pm
16 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Hincapié leaves one on Matheus Nunes after the City right-back had released his pass and is booked, probably harshly. Not every foul has to be a booking.
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04:46pm
14 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
City defend Saka’s corner solidly at the near post and the subsequent Rice long throw. Looks as if they have prepared well for the set-piece bombardment from the best delivery men in the business. Trajectory is everything, though and can prove unstoppable when they get it right.
04:45pm
12 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
O’Reilly’s cheap foul on Saka gives up a free-kick 40 yards out on the Arsenal right. City defend the cross and block Trossard’s powerful shot at the edge of the area. But the ball balloons up and spins out for a corner that Bernardo desperately strives to avoid, knowing Arsenal’s not so secret sauce can be lethal.
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Trafford thwarts Havertz - David Klein/Reuters
04:42pm
10 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Arsenal are exploiting O’Reilly’s instructions to go high and inside. Ake has been coming over to cover but has found himself overloaded a couple of times. First spell of City pressure ends with Saliba getting the better of Haaland in the air.
04:40pmVideo
8 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Arsenal have been the better and more confident side so far. Good triple save from Trafford from Havertz and a double from Saka from rebounds. A very slick move involving Rice, White, Saka and ultimately Zubimendi played Havertz in down the right of the box but Trafford sprinted out to close the angle, blocked the dink then spread himself to bat away both of Saka’s efforts from close range.
04:37pm
6 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Gyokeres races down the right, exploits Ake’s mistake and makes it to the byline to pull the ball back, looking for Havertz. Khusanov gets there before him and Havertz legs him up to concede a free-kick in the City box.
04:35pm
4 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Kepa living dangerously when pressed hard by Semenyo but he doesn’t panic and his footwork is assured enough to calmly pass it to Hincapié.
04:34pm
2 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Khusanov is allowed to stand perfectly still with the ball at his feet just inside his won half while his team-mates try to find some space. No one presses him and eventually he starts a move to play it up to Doku on the left wing where he is tackled and a double bounce gives City the throw-in. Arsenal win the ball back immediately and try to send Gyokeres off on a right-wing rampage. But he was offside.
04:32pm
1 min: Arsenal 0 Man City 0
Arsenal kick off, attacking from right to left and, unlike so many teams this weekend, do not boot it out for an opposition throw. They knock it back to Kepa who kicks it long, inviting the aerial duel that results in City taking possession and starting to probe from deep.
04:29pm
After the national anthem
The two teams meet the presentation party, shake hands and jog around while all the on-field detritus, flags, banners, adverts etc, are cleared.
04:26pm
Trafford beware
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Declan Rice lets fly - REUTERS/Toby Melville
04:24pm
The teams are in the tunnel
Both sides will play in their home kits. Arsenal have some stylish retro tracksuits. The two managers embrace and then lead their teams out.
04:21pm
Mikel Arteta speaks to Sky Sports
Kepa fully deserves it. He’s been phenomenal when he’s played. He’s played the whole competition and we fully trust him.
04:18pm
Pep Guardiola speaks to Sky Sports
04:07pm
Pep Guardiola leaving Manchester City is starting to feel more real
Despite a defiant display during their Champions League defeat by Real Madrid, there is an air of disquiet at the Etihad. As Jason Burt reports, a palpable fear is sweeping Manchester City’s executive suite that Pep Guardiola will depart after a decade in charge. A gentleman’s agreement ensures he can leave with good grace whenever he feels his work is done. With a shortlist of potential successors quietly forming, the manager may be about to make a decision that will hang heavily over the club.
You can read Jason’s report here…
04:05pm
Meanwhile, across north London
Spurs are staring down the barrel of a gun after falling 3-0 down against Nottingham Forest. You can read more here
03:54pm
A quick word from the captains
"We know the end of this game can bring something beautiful."
Bukayo Saka is excited to share the Carabao Cup final at Wembley with the fanspic.twitter.com/Y3jo20fIUB
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 22, 2026
03:50pm
Teams for the monochrome set
Arsenal Arrizabalaga; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapié; Zubimendi, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Substitutes Raya, Mosquera, Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.
Manchester City Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O’Reilly; Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Cherki; Semenyo, Haaland, Doku.
Substitutes Donnarumma, Reijnders, Stones, Marmoush, Kovacic, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Foden.
Referee: Peter Bankes (Liverpool)
03:47pm
Arsenal team analysis
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03:45pm
Upper hand
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03:43pm
City team analysis
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03:37pm
Illustrious guests
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Tony Adams, captain of the 1993 winners, is among Arsenal’s guests from the team that last won the League Cup 33 years ago - John Walton/PA
03:26pm
Four changes for City
Out go the injured Ruben Dias plus Gigi Donnarumma, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders for Nathan Ake, James Trafford, Nico O’Reilly and Antoine Semenyo.
03:23pm
Arsenal team news
Eberechi Eze out of matchday squad.
️
Arrizabalaga between the sticks
Havertz enters the XI
Saka leads us out at Wembley
Our goal is clear. Bring the fight, Gunners
Presented by @deel
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) March 22, 2026
03:21pm
Man City supporters’ coach fire closes M6 toll road
A double decker bus carrying Manchester City fans down to Wembley went up in flames on Sunday morning, which prompted terrifying scenes for several other fans as they drove past.
The incident happened on the M6 Toll just a few hours before kick-off. It’s reported that there were no injuries recorded and that alternative travel was being organised to try and take the stranded passengers on towards the stadium.
James Ducker, our Northern Football Correspondent, witnessed the aftermath of the fire on his way to Wembley today:
“I passed the coach fire on the M6 Toll on the way down to Wembley this morning. The back end of the bus was fully ablaze at that stage with rows of fans on the banks in shock at what was unfolding. You could feel the heat just driving past on the far lane. It’s a relief to hear Ridley Coaches, the firm the coach belongs to, said all passengers and the driver were safely evacuated with no injuries.”
Sharing via a friend on the way to Wembley.....
Man City fan coach on way to Wembley on fire on M6 just after the toll so we are at a stand still. Hope everyone is ok #MCFC@ManCitypic.twitter.com/EJ1o36vUCs
— Al Perkins️ (@BigAl_1424) March 22, 2026
03:07pm
Betting on tonight’s game?
Advertisement | GambleAware | 18+ Betting on the football tonight? Take a look at these tips and offers chosen by Telegraph Media Group
03:05pm
Preview: Boot on the other foot
Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of the 66th League Cup final, between eight-times winners Manchester City and the team they trail by nine points in the Premier League, two-time winners Arsenal. It has been so long since Arsenal last won it that Steve Morrow did not have a residual ache in his right elbow every time there was damp in the air and Paul Merson had a raver’s bob. They have been in three finals since 1993 but it was one domestic competition Arsêne Wenger could not crack and in 2018 they lost in his last final as a manager when his side took a 3-0 pasting from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City en route to winning their first of four in succession.
Guardiola is one of five survivors from that match eight years ago, the others being his then assistant Mikel Arteta, City captain Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Phil Foden, all three of whom started on the bench in 2018 as the latter two will probably do again. Their only previous meeting this season ended in a 1-1 draw at the Emirates when Gabriel Martinelli equalised for the hosts in the third minute of stoppage time and City start the game after two draws in the league that have cost them four points in the title race and home and away defeats by Real Madrid when first a mystifying selection and then Bernardo’s red card stymied their hopes of a quarter-final place. Arsenal, by contrast, are in rude health after four back-to-back wins in the league and victory over Bayer Leverkusen that keeps them in contention for four trophies.
Arteta lost nine of his first 10 meetings with City, an FA Cup semi-final victory in 2020 the sole, glorious exception but the boot has been on the other foot recently and Arsenal have won two and drawn three of their last five competitive matches. Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard were rated as touch and go by their manager whose only confirmed absentee is Mikel Merino. City’s treatment room is even less stretched, Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias, who has twanged his hamstring, are unavailable for City’s quest to move to within one of Liverpool’s record 10 League/ Milk/ Littlewoods/ Rumbelows/ Coca-Cola/ Worthington’s/ Carling/ Capital One/ Carabao Cups.
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