Nico O'Reilly - surely a lock-on to start for England at left-back in the coming World Cup 2026 - was the man of the moment; coming up with 2 decisive headers to power Manchester City to a much-needed Carabao Cup final win over heated rivals Arsenal.
While the first half was very much a close & tight affair; City found the energy to turn things up in the second half; and Arsenal inexplicably looked tired & withdrawn, It could be that the long-drawn pressure of going for all four competitions is taking its toll; plus an injury-stretched squad and the constant need to 'not bottle it'. Whatever it was; Arsenal looked out of it and were there for the taking.
Mikel Arteta should also look at himself. The right side of City's attack was looking dangerous; and he surely should have brought off the nervous Piero Hincapie for Riccardo Calafiori much earlier than he did; looking how the latter looked threatening and even hit the post with Arsenal's closest effort so far.
As it was; it was not a great surprise that both goals came from City attacks on the right; with Rayan Cherki lifting in a cross that was howled by the equally-nervous Kepa Arrizabalaga; who perhaps should have been dropped in favor of the steadier David Raya. The second goal was more of the same; with right-back Matheus Nunes this time crossing in a classic right-back to left-back combo that spoke volumes of City's domination.
In the end; the beating was so severe that Cherki resorted to doing the legendary keepie-uppies in the Arsenal half; surely the greatest humiliation any team could face. It was that kind of a night.
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