Nico O’Reilly scored twice in five stunning second-half minutes to fire Manchester City to victory in the Carabao Cup final and derail Arsenal’s quadruple bid.
Stand-in Arsenal goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga gifted City their first when he fumbled Rayan Cherki’s cross on the hour mark, with O’Reilly on hand to head home from close range.
A rampant City then doubled their advantage just four minutes later after O’Reilly converted Matheus Nunes’ cross to send Pep Guardiola dancing along the touchline.
Riccardo Calafiori hit a post and Gabriel Jesus struck the crossbar as Arsenal went in search of a response, but City saw out the victory as Guardiola landed the 19th trophy of his remarkable 10-season City tenure.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal headed into Sunday’s final hoping to finish the season with an unprecedented four trophies, as well as ending their six-year wait for silverware.
But Sunday’s damaging defeat at Wembley will do little to ease their tag as the ‘nearly men’ and also raise significant questions over the remainder of their campaign.
City are nine points behind Arsenal in the race for the Premier League title but they have a game in hand on Arteta’s side, who also have to travel to the Etihad Stadium next month.
Arteta will have been intent on silencing the doubters to claim just the second trophy of his tenure and his first in nearly six years.
But the Spaniard was served a sobering lesson by his one-time mentor Guardiola.
Both Arteta and Guardiola elected to place faith in their back-up goalkeepers, but while James Trafford produced a fine triple save, first from Kai Havertz and then two follow-up efforts from Bukayo Saka, after just seven minutes, Kepa would end up taking centre stage for all the wrong reasons.
A combative, cagey and unedifying opening half came to an end with City failing to muster a single shot on target.
Their best chance landed on the stroke of half-time when Erling Haaland beat both Piero Hincapie and Ben White at the far post to Antoine Semenyo’s cross, but his uncontrolled header sailed over.
However, City were a side rejuvenated after half-time and the first warning sign arrived for Arsenal when Kepa desperately misjudged Nunes’ cross-field ball.
The former Chelsea man was caught in a wrestling match with Jeremy Doku outside of his area. Doku had the ball, but referee Peter Bankes elected against playing any advantage to caution Kepa and award City a free-kick. A let-off for Kepa, but City had begun the second period with serious intent.
Arsenal’s defence had held firm, but they were on the ropes and City landed what would prove the knockout blow on the hour mark.
Kepa, who has not played in the Premier League at all this season, dropped Cherki’s dinked cross and O’Reilly headed in from on the line.
Only four later O’Reilly struck again, this time with a header that Kepa could do nothing about.
City were elated, Arsenal deflated, and only a miraculous comeback would save the north Londoners.
Substitute Calafiori clipped the bottom of Trafford’s post from long-range and Jesus’ looping header clipped the crossbar, but the majority of the Arsenal fans had long since departed when the final whistle blew as City saw out a well-deserved win.
