ARSENAL have been the best team in English football this season, and by some margin.
Yet, when it came to winning their first trophy since 2020, they let it slip at Wembley Stadium.
That’s just the nature of this game – it can be truly cruel and joyous fun.
For Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City charges, it was pure delight as they captured their fifth Carabao Cup under the Spaniard.
That victory, courtesy of two Nico O’Reilly goals in the space of four second-half minutes, underlined Guardiola’s stewardship as unmatched since his arrival in England in 2016.
For Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, who served as Guardiola’s No. 2 for more than three years at the Etihad before taking over the Gunners in 2019, this was another painful lesson.
That League Cup triumph last weekend marked Guardiola as the most successful manager in the competition – his five wins eclipsing the four collected by Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
Arsenal’s tilt at four trophies began with that stumble, though the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League are still on the table.
And in a fortnight, after the return from this week’s international break, things should prove equally important.
Arteta will take his side to England’s south coast, where they will do battle with Championship campaigners Southampton in an FA Cup quarter-final tie on April 4.
That will be the same day City face Liverpool in the world’s oldest and most famous club cup competition.
The following weekend, the Gunners have what appears to be an easier assignment again when they clash with Bournemouth in the league at the Emirates Stadium.
City travel to Stamford Bridge for a clash that has the potential to be as explosive as it used to be not so long ago.
Arsenal, who sit atop the Premier League standings, lead second-placed City by nine points but have played one game more.
And, these two giants of the English game will themselves clash at the Etihad on April 19.
For what it’s worth, the Carabao Cup defeat resurrected talk of Arsenal’s feebleness in the run-in to the end of the season – and not without merit.
The Gunners have finished runners-up in each of the last three seasons, twice to City, before Liverpool last term.
And there will be no denying that this thought will come to mind when the Gunners return to domestic action.
They have a first-leg Champions League quarter-final encounter in London against Portugal’s Sporting CP on April 16 – three days before the Etihad showdown, which some have likened to a winner-takes-all match.
But despite the murmurings, Arsenal remain firm favourites to win their first league title in more than two decades.
Arteta does have at his disposal a well-rounded squad, laden with top-class talent, many of whom are relishing the challenges that lie ahead.
Indeed, Viktor Gyokeres, who joined from Sporting as part of Arsenal’s massive shopping spree in the off season, could have spoken for the team after the Cup loss when he said they would be charged-up going forward.
“Of course, we don’t feel great (after the Cup defeat), but it’s not like we have a game in three days,” the 27-year-old Swedish striker said.
“For sure, we will go again and be even more motivated for those games.”
It is that pain that will drive Gyokeres, who cost Arsenal £63.5mil, and his teammates.
Reflecting on the Wembley final, he said: “We created some chances at the beginning of the game and then I think it was maybe 10 minutes from the break where they got the momentum.
“Normally, when it’s two top teams, it can be like that, with the first goal being crucial. In the moment of the game where they scored – yeah, it was difficult to get going afterwards.”
Arteta will know they need to get going without any fuss when they return, lest they surrender more ground to City.
And if there was one competition in which they cannot afford to do that, it would be the Premier League.
This is the one that tops them all.
The Gunners won’t want to give up an inch from here.
They know exactly how dangerous City can be, having learned first-hand what it means to face a side shaped by Guardiola.
