{"id":554160,"date":"2026-03-22T23:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T23:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/554160\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T23:28:20","slug":"man-city-dominates-arsenal-to-win-english-league-cup-and-make-statement-in-premier-league-title-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/554160\/","title":{"rendered":"Man City dominates Arsenal to win English League Cup and make statement in Premier League title race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly celebrates with the trophy after winning the English League Cup final soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester City in London on Sunday.Richard Pelham\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The first major domestic trophy of the season is Manchester City \u2019s. And after a dominant 2-0 win against Arsenal in the English League Cup final on Sunday, it may not be the last.<\/p>\n

Manchester-born Nico O\u2019Reilly sealed victory with both goals in the second half at Wembley Stadium. The win could also have delivered a psychological blow in the race for the Premier League title as Pep Guardiola aims to chase down Arsenal\u2019s nine-point lead at the top of the standings.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s an] unbelievable feeling to win a final and to beat this team. We know how good they are,\u201d O\u2019Reilly told Sky Sports. \u201cWe need to build on it now; it\u2019ll give us momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was serial trophy-winner Guardiola flexing his muscles. It was his 16th major trophy as City manager and a record fifth League Cup. He has won 34 career titles as a manager including his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

And, once again, he was stamping out Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta\u2019s own ambitions, having twice beaten his former assistant to the league title in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased because I know the opponent we played. Mikel created a team that is almost unbeatable,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cEvery time you win a title it looks more difficult than in the past. It is really difficult for many reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenal remains the favourite to be crowned league champion this season for the first time since 2004, given its big lead. But with second-place City having a game in hand and the teams still to play each other in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium, the picture could look very different in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s win also ended Arsenal\u2019s bid this season for an unprecedented quadruple of major trophies by an English team \u2013 including the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very sad. It is a very hard one to take, especially for our players and our supporters because we know how much it means to them and how much we want that,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cWe will manage that energy in the right way and we have to go through that pain and disappointment. It\u2019s normal and it\u2019s part of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old O\u2019Reilly, who came through City\u2019s academy, was the unlikely hero with both goals from left back.<\/p>\n

He took advantage of Arsenal goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga\u2019s fumble to head City in front on the hour. And he headed in a second four minutes later to effectively kill off the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole family came down today [to watch]. … I know they\u2019ll be buzzing and I can\u2019t wait to see them,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said.<\/p>\n

Arteta said he had no regrets about selecting Kepa \u2014 who had played in previous rounds \u2014 rather than first-choice David Raya.<\/p>\n

Premier League crisis deepens for Tottenham<\/p>\n

Tottenham\u2019s Premier League survival fight was plunged deeper into crisis with a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest, one of three league games played on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The relegation six-pointer left Spurs one place and one point above the drop zone and raised further questions about the future of coach Igor Tudor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season is tough, especially in this moment. Another very bad [result] for us,\u201d said Tottenham captain Cristian Romero. \u201cThe situation is tough, but most important thing is play [every game] like a final now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow relegation-fighting Forest climbed above Spurs to 16th in the standings. The only positive on another miserable day for Tottenham was defeat for West Ham at Aston Villa to keep it in the bottom three.<\/p>\n

Tottenham \u2013 one of English soccer\u2019s most iconic teams and a founding member of the Premier League \u2013 is still without a win in the top flight in 2026. Its last win was Dec. 28 and it has lost six of its last seven games.<\/p>\n

Igor Jesus\u2019s header just before halftime gave Forest the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Morgan Gibbs-White added a second just after the hour mark.<\/p>\n

Taiwo Awoniyi completed Forest\u2019s first league win under coach Vitor Pereira in the 87th to leave home fans fearing the end of its ever-present stay in England\u2019s top division since the inception of the Premier League in 1992.<\/p>\n

Tudor was hired last month to try to turn Spurs\u2019 season around, but has lost five of his seven games in charge in all competitions and seen his team eliminated from the Champions League.<\/p>\n

Tottenham remains one point above 18th-place West Ham, which lost 2-0 to Villa.<\/p>\n

Villa boosted its chances of Champions League qualification and took advantage of all of its immediate rivals dropping points.<\/p>\n

Villa is fourth, one point behind Manchester United and five points above fifth-place Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Brian Brobbey struck in the 90th minute to give Sunderland bragging rights in the Tyne-Wear derby against Newcastle.<\/p>\n

Brobbey\u2019s close-range effort sealed a 2-1 comeback win at St. James\u2019 Park and saw Sunderland complete a league double over its fiercest rival.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the game had been halted due to a report of discriminatory abuse from the crowd towards Sunderland\u2019s Lutsharel Geertruida.<\/p>\n

Before kickoff, there had been tense scenes between fans outside the stadium. Northumberland police said one arrest was made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly celebrates with the trophy after winning the English League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,561,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-554160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}