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A lack of creativity in the midfield also compounded Arsenal's problems in the Carabao Cup final.

With Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze out injured, they already had an uphill task against Manchester City.

Odegaard's knee injury had robbed Arsenal of their primary source of midfield invention.

In his absence, Eze had hit a strong run of form recently, scoring in the Champions League last-16 second leg against Bayer Leverkusen and starting in four consecutive Premier League fixtures.

With the former Crystal Palace forward also picking up an injury before the final, Arteta had to turn to Kai Havertz, who played in the number 10 role but with minimal influence on the game.

Havertz did not create a single chance in 66 minutes on the field and won only one of the 10 duels he was involved in.

Without a natural playmaker to orchestrate their attacks, Arsenal were largely predictable and created very little threat when they needed it the most - as an xG of 0.17 in the second half showed.

Manchester City

• Saturday, 4 April: Liverpool (h) - FA Cup quarter-final
• Sunday, 12 April: Chelsea (a)
• Sunday, 19 April: Arsenal (h)
• Sunday, 26 April: Burnley (a)
• Saturday, 2 May: Everton (a)
• Saturday, 9 May: Brentford (h)
• Sunday, 17 May: Bournemouth (a)
• Sunday, 24 May: Aston Villa (h)
• TBC: Crystal Palace (h)

*Man City could have further matches if they progress in the FA Cup.

Arsenal have a nine-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table and will be hoping to extend that gap to lift the trophy at the end of the season.

Mikel Arteta's side have 70 points after winning 21 of the 31 matches they have played.

City are on 61 points after winning 18 of the 30 matches they have played.

Pep Guardiola's side have a game in hand in the league because their fixture against Crystal Palace, which was due to be played over the Carabao Cup final weekend, is still to be re-scheduled.

The two sides face each other again in the league at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, 19 April.

The reverse fixture at Emirates Stadium, back in September, finished 1-1.

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Jamie Redknapp
Former Liverpool midfielder on Sky Sports

If Arsenal won, that would have quickly put Manchester City to bed, now, the pressure will ramp up just that extra little bit.

There is a bit of a break now, with the international games, which will provide Arsenal with a little bit of thinking time.

They are the favourites [for the Premier League title], and rightly so, and I still think they will win it, but it just changes the dynamic.

For a team that hasn’t gotten across the line it asks the question and with a team like Manchester City coming for you, that is the last thing you want.

Ian Wright
Former Arsenal striker on Sky Sports

Arsenal started pretty well but you have to take those chances.

We couldn't get out of our own half. Man City have got to get the credit. What they've shown in the final is what they're capable of doing. They win games.

Arsenal's project is about them trying to win the league. It's a different team that's going out there [in the league]. The mentality has got to be better than it was today.

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Manchester City made a shaky start to the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal and needed their goalkeeper James Trafford to bail them out early.

Three saves to deny Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka in the early stages kept the score level before City found a foothold as the game progressed.

But it was in the second half that City shifted into a higher gear and took full control of the contest.

After the break, Pep Guardiola's side overloaded Arsenal's left defensive channel where Piero Hincapie was already on a yellow card and struggling to deal with the threat of Antoine Semenyo.

That opened up the right side for City’s creators - including Rayan Cherki, Matheus Nunes and Semenyo - to combine and push the Arsenal defence onto the back foot.

Both of Nico O'Reilly's goals came from moves that originated on that flank, with Semenyo creating the first and Nunes grabbing the assist for the second.

By the final whistle, City resembled the seasoned, trophy‑hardened side they so often have been under Guardiola in the past.

They might not yet have the consistency of the side that won a historic four Premier League titles in succession, but when they get it right they are a match for anyone, as they proved here.

John Murray
BBC football correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live

Well, that’s the question isn’t it? We talked before the start of this match on whether it will provide a psychological advantage or not. That’s what we are going to find out now.

The fact is Manchester City have a lot of ground to cover. Arsenal still have a nine‑point advantage. City have a game in hand, but matches are running out.

They play each other in Manchester in four weeks. I thought quite ominously for Arsenal that virtually the last thing that Pep Guardiola said last night was: “It’s in their [Arsenal's] hands. We’ll try to win all our games and see what happens.”

BBC football correspondent John Murray was asked if Arsenal's sobering Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City - their nearest challengers for the Premier League title - would have an impact on this season's title race.

After three second-place finishes, the Gunners top the table and have a nine-point lead over City, albeit having played a game more and with a trip to Etihad Stadium looming large on 19 April...

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta won the FA Cup in 2020 as the Arsenal manager. His side also won the Community Shield twice, in 2020 and 2023.

Arsenal have also finished as runners-up in the league under Arteta for the past three occasions - 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.

As a player, Arteta won the FA Cup and Community Shield twice at Arsenal, in 2014 and 2015.

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How Manchester City ruthlessly exposed Arsenal’s centre-backs in possession is a theme that has dominated the internet since Sunday's Carabao Cup final.

Clips shared on X show the City attackers standing off the Arsenal back four, with Arsenal's back-line seemingly unable to find clever ways to progress the ball forward.

One City fan on X said, external: "When the pivot is screened and the wide lanes are controlled, the centre-backs are pushed towards safer, more vertical/more forced passes.

"The centre-backs have to be extremely comfortable enough on the ball to outplay the press, otherwise the ball can be locked to one side and the team can get trapped into sterile build-up."

Another one, external talked about how Guardiola showed "how toothless Arsenal are with the ball."

"He’s not even pressing their CBs. Cut off the passing lanes into the midfield and they have no clue what to do," they said.

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Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal pride themselves on playing out from the back but at Wembley Manchester City did not let them have it all their own way.

Pep Guardiola's City deliberately refused to press the Gunners high and instead focused on shutting down passing lanes into Arsenal's midfield.

It meant that Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi were starved of supply in the midfield.

When on the ball, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Kepa Arrizabalaga were left passing the ball around without much purpose and looked increasingly uncertain as the final progressed.

As Arsenal began getting increasingly frustrated, Arteta turned to his bench in search of a spark, bringing on Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Riccardo Calafiori, but none of those changes could loosen City's stranglehold on the game.

The number 13 had not occurred to me Adam. Lord knows, footballers do tend to be superstitious, don't they?

And Sarah, you are right, of course. Kepa may have handed Nico O'Reilly the opening goal on a plate, but Manchester City were already knocking at the door.

The question we have to ask ourselves, I guess, is why?

So what do you think?

Was Mikel Arteta right to stick with Kepa Arrizabalaga, after playing his reserve goalkeeper in every round leading up to Sunday's Carabao Cup final?

Thumbs up for yes, down for no...

Arsenal

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In case you missed it, here's Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta's explanation on why he started second-choice goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in Sunday's final: "I have to do what I feel is right, which is honest and which is fair. And I think we have an outstanding keeper in Kepa - he's played all the competition and I think it would have been very, very unfair for him and for the team to do something different.

"I can never promise a player to play certain competitions, because at the end they have to earn it and they have to do enough like any other position.

"We are guided by what we've seen and what he's done in the competition, and he helped us to go all the way through here. I believe it's the right thing to do and that's it. Errors are part of football and today it happened, unfortunately, in a crucial moment."

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In case you had this nagging thought at the back of your mind, you are right, this is not the first time Kepa Arrizabalaga has found himself at the centre of attention after a Carabao Cup final.

His troubled relationship with the cup competition goes all the way back to 2019, during his early days in England with Chelsea.

It was in that year's cup final that he famously refused to be substituted by Blues boss Maurizio Sarri before the penalty shootout, forcing the Italian tactician to almost walk down the tunnel in fury.

Kepa stayed on the field and did not make an impact during the shootouts as Pep Guardiola's Manchester City lifted the trophy.

Then came 2022, when he was brought on by Thomas Tuchel for the shootout but blasted his own effort over the goal as Liverpool won 11-10 on penalties against Chelsea.

Fast forward to 2026 and it's a different club, but Kepa finds himself part of a similarly brutal storyline in another failed attempt to win a Carabao Cup final.