Arsenal and Manchester City face off this Sunday in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley. Pep Guardiola’s City team overcame Bristol City in the semi-finals of the competition, while Arsenal beat rivals Chelsea to a place in this season’s final. There’s added incentive for Arsene Wenger as he’s never won the League Cup in over 20 years as Arsenal manager.
Manchester City come into the game off the back of a shock 1-0 defeat to League One side Wigan on Monday night in the FA Cup. Defeat saw an end to City’s aims of winning a quadruple this season, but all eyes will now be focussed on winning Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, which if they do so, will be Guardiola’s first trophy in English football.
Arsenal won’t be as fresh as City, as they play Ostersunds on Thursday in the Europa League, but as they’re already 3-0 up on aggregate after the first leg, Wenger will likely field a second-string team and rest a number of his first team players.
Arsenal vs. Manchester City Predictions
Beware the wounded beast! City will be raring to go after their humiliating defeat on Monday night and Arsenal have shown in the past that they struggle in the big games. They’re often outclassed and when they go 1-0 down, heads drop and the team implodes and they tend to get hammered. Expect City to win this and over 2.5 goals in the game.
Arsenal vs. Manchester City Betting Tips
Head to Head
- This is Arsenal’s eighth League Cup final, they’ve lost more than any other side in the history of the competition (5), winning the tournament twice in 1987 and 1993.
- Manchester City will be making their sixth appearance in the League Cup final, and third in the last five seasons. They’ve won four of their previous five, failing only in 1974.
- This is the first ever meeting between these sides in a major final. Arsenal have won both previous meetings with Manchester City at Wembley, 3-0 in the 2014 Community Shield, and 2-1 in last season’s FA Cup semi-final.
- Manchester City have lost just one of their last five meetings with Arsenal in all competitions (W2 D2), beating them 3-1 in their previous meeting in the Premier League this season.
- In the League Cup, Manchester City have won their last two ties against Arsenal (2009/10 and 2011/12), having lost their previous five between 1997/78 and 2004/05.
- Arsenal have scored just six goals in the League Cup this season, the lowest tally of any team to reach the final in the competition’s history.
- Arsene Wenger has won just three of his previous 12 managerial meetings with Pep Guardiola, drawing three and losing six.
- Wenger is aiming to become the eighth different manager to win all three of the major English trophies, after Bill Nicholson, Joe Mercer, Don Revie, George Graham, Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Jose Mourinho.
- Pep Guardiola has triumphed in six of his previous seven major domestic and European finals, losing only to Real Madrid with Barcelona in the 2011 Copa del Rey final.
- Meanwhile, Wenger has won seven of his 10 domestic cup finals with Arsenal, with his last two defeats coming in this competition (2007 vs. Chelsea and 2011 vs. Birmingham).
- Of the 13 players who played for Arsenal in the 2011 League Cup final defeat to Birmingham, only Laurent Koscielny and Jack Wilshere are still at the club.
- Both Leroy Sane (3 goals, 1 assist) and Bernardo Silva (1 goal, 3 assists) have been involved in 50% of Manchester City’s eight goals in the competition this season.
- Sergio Aguero has scored in each of his last four appearances against Arsenal in all competitions (4 goals in total). Only twice before has he netted in five consecutive games for Manchester City against a single opponent (Tottenham with a run ending in May 2015 and Sunderland in a run ending in March 2017).
Arsenal Team News
David Ospina has started in all of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup ties this season and looks set to continue as he replaces Petr Cech in goal. Aaron Ramsey looks likely to miss out, while Alexandre Lacazette is also not ready to return after his knee operation.
Manchester City Team News
Claudio Bravo seems set to start in goal as a reward for his performances in the competition so far. Gabriel Jesus could also feature in the game after returning from injury early.