Pep Guardiola won his first piece of silverware as Manchester City’s manager as the Citizens defeated Arsenal 3-0 in the final of the Carabao Cup at the Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
It was the fifth time Manchester City were lifting the Cup and it was Guardiola’s seventh win in 13 meetings against Arsene Wenger.
Nigeria forward Alex Iwobi shook off the knock he received on Thursday’s Europa League defeat to Oestersunds to make a substitute appearance on Sunday. He came on as a 73rd minute replacement for Aaron Ramsey as Arsenal chased the game.
Sergio Aguero’s cool finish in the first half and two second half goals from Vincent Kompany and David Silva sealed the win for Guardiola’s side.
Leroy Sane had the game’s first chance but his deflected shot from a corner in the third minute went out for another corner.
Claudio Bravo was called into action minutes later when he saved a Pierre Emerick Aubamenyang rebound shot seconds after Kyle Walker had cleared Aaron Ramsey’s shot.
Aguero broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when he latched on to a long ball from Bravo to beat Ospina.
In the 26th minute, Arsenal were forced to an early substitution with Sead Kolasinac replacing injured Nacho Monreal.
Kevin De Bruyne also came close in doubling the lead in the 40th minute but his volley crashed the side netting.
In the second half, City restricted Arsenal to deep defending and it took Laurent Koscienly’s brave block to see Kompany’s low shot deflected for a corner.
The City captain doubled his side’s lead, poking in Ikay Gundogan’s pass on the hour mark.
The game was put beyond Arsenal’s reach in the 66th minute when Silva fired in a low drive from the edge of the box to make it 3-0.
It was Silva’s first ever goal in the Carabao Cup.
