Arsenal currently lead the way in the fight for the Premier League title with the chasing Manchester City their last true competition

Arsenal have just seven league games left this season as they remain frontrunners for the Premier League title. Manchester City are still in the fight but face a tougher run of games.

Mikel Arteta’s side have become accustomed to playing second fiddle in the top flight, finishing as runners-up in each of the last three campaigns. But this term, they have one hand on the trophy and are nine points clear at the summit.

Pep Guardiola’s City are their only remaining rivals and they sit in second place with a game in hand. They bested the Gunners in the Carabao Cup final 2-0 to extinguish any hopes of an Arsenal quadruple.

Both sides will do battle once again during the Premier League run-in, but one faces an easier path to glory. The Manchester Evening News evaluates which of Arsenal and City have been handed the more difficult final few fixtures.

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If we use the Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) which Fantasy Premier League players utilise, it is clear which of the two title contenders has an easier end to the season. This rating ranges from 1 to 5, with the higher number indicating a more difficult game.

League leaders Arsenal host Bournemouth next and this clash holds an FDR of 3. Then, City away (5) is on the agenda. They then welcome Newcastle United (3) to the Emirates followed by another home match against Fulham (2).

The Gunners end their campaign with a trip to West Ham (2), a home fixture against Burnley (1) and a journey to Crystal Palace (3). City on the other hand, not only have an extra game to play but have been bestowed with tougher matches.

Guardiola’s men return from the international break to visit Chelsea (4) and then host Arsenal (4). They later travel to Burnley (2) and Everton (3).

City will go on to host Brentford (3) before an away clash with Bournemouth (3) and a home battle with Aston Villa (3) and there is still the game against Palace (3) at the Etihad to be rearranged.

With City playing an extra match, we can look at the averages of these last fixtures and determine that they have a harder run-in. Arsenal’s average FDR is 2.7, while City’s is 3.1. Despite getting the better of their title rivals in the Carabao Cup, manager Guardiola does not think that trophy success will have any impact on the league scrap.

He said after victory at Wembley: “I would like to be nine points in front of Arsenal, but I don’t know if I’d change a trophy to fight for the Premier League.

“I don’t think it will have an impact, different competition and they will be more concerned when they come to the Etihad. That title will help us a lot for the [FA Cup] quarter-final against Liverpool at home with our people.

“Today all our side was fully Blue, I’m so happy being together and celebrating. Maybe it will help us for that game but the Premier League is in their hands, they punished us a lot.”

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Wayne Rooney has downplayed the importance of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City on the Premier League title race.

Man City secured the first piece of silverware of the season courtesy of a 2-0 win over Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday.

The Gunners were hoping to lift their first major trophy since 2020 but were undone by Nico O’Reilly’s quickfire second-half brace.

Speaking after the final, Gary Neville suggested Man City had ‘landed a psychological blow’ on Arsenal as they attempt to reel in the Premier League leaders.

Arsenal boast a nine-point lead at the top of the table but are aware City have a game in hand and a home match against them to close the gap.

Rooney doubts the Carabao Cup final will have a huge impact on the title race, however, and is still backing Arsenal to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time in 22 years.

Asked how big an impact Man City’s win will have on the title race, Rooney said on his BBC podcast: ‘I don’t think it will.

‘Arsenal are still in a very good position, as good a position as you can be at this stage of the season.

‘For Man City to catch them I think they have to win every game and Arsenal drop seven points. City will need to beat them at home as well.

‘So I think it’s a tough ask. You never know but I just think Arsenal need to dust themselves down and move on from this quickly.

‘I’m sure they will go back to winning games and see the title out. I just think Arsenal are too good, too efficient and too strong defensively to let it slip from here.’

Asked whether he felt Arsenal could ‘bottle’ the Premier League title, the Manchester United and England legend added: ‘I think this team is different. From all the things I have seen, they look mentally stronger.’

Jamie Carragher also still expects Arsenal to beat Manchester City to the Premier League title despite the Carabao Cup final blow.

Manchester City defeated Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley stadium to win the Carabao Cup final, and now they have the Gunners truly in their sights as they target more silverware

Manchester City forward Antoine Semenyo has urged his team-mates to finish the job and win more silverware this season after beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final. The Blues were the dominant side in the second half and thoroughly deserved their win at Wembley Stadium.

Kepa Arrizabalaga fumbled Rayan Cherki’s cross to allow Nico O’Reilly to net the opener on the hour mark. Just four minutes later, the full-back had his second as he powered home Matheus Nunes’ cross. Arsenal pushed for a goal back with Gabriel Jesus’ header off the crossbar the closest Mikel Arteta’s side came.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Semenyo said: “First of many. I’m excited, I’m happy and many more to come. It feels like a fairytale if I’m honest but I feel I have a lot more to show. I want to show how versatile I am and just help the team as much as I can.

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“It gives us a boost, it gives us confidence coming back from the international break and hopefully catching up.

“We don’t want to speak too much because momentum can swing quickly. We just have to do our jobs and hopefully we can finish off the job.”

City sit nine points behind Arsenal in the Premier League. However, the title race is far from over with the Blues having a game in hand on the Gunners and still having to face them before the end of the season.

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The Blues are also still in the FA Cup and face Liverpool when they return after the international break.

For Semenyo, the win at Wembley was another step on what has been a brilliant journey for him. The Ghana international scored his first ever goal in the Carabao Cup for Newport County in 2018.

Asked about his journey, the forward concluded: “God’s got a plan. It might not work out and you might not know why, but the answer always reveals itself later on.”

Manchester City beat Arsenal to win the Carabao Cup and inject fresh intrigue into the Premier League title race but question marks over Pep Guardiola’s future remain.

06:00, 23 Mar 2026

As Manchester City’s players passed the Carabao Cup trophy down the line to huge cheers from their supporters, Pep Guardiola stood and watched.

From the look on his face you wouldn’t necessarily know City had won but this is a man who has been here before. Wembley has been a second home for the Blues under Guardiola and more often than not it’s ended with a trophy.

This was the manager’s fifth victory in the competition and it will have given him huge satisfaction and justification given the rebuild and changing of the guard over the past 18 months.

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That they swatted aside an Arsenal team who, until 6pm on Sunday were on for a quadruple, shows what this City side can do and is capable of. It points to a bright future with a growing and improving group. But the big question is: will Guardiola be here for next season?

He has had ample opportunity to quash any suggestion that this will be his last year at the Etihad but hasn’t done so. Equally, there is no concrete indication that he will depart in the summer and he has spoken several times on what this new-look City team can offer. The Catalan has been as passionate and full throttle as ever this term and he certainly doesn’t give the impression of a man who is winding down.

Does Sunday’s result change things? Probably not in isolation. Guardiola will leave on his terms and at this stage it might be that not even he knows what will come next. The international break offers an opportunity for him to consider his future – should he feel he needs to – and City will always have one eye on who might succeed him.

The noise around Enzo Maresca continues, while perhaps Bayern Munich boss and City great Vincent Kompany would be first choice if the timing aligns.

Guardiola has done it all at the Etihad. 2023 was a crowning campaign that cannot be topped but the promise of what this team is capable of was evident on Sunday. There is more to come.

In his programme notes at Wembley, Guardiola said: “As a football manager it is days like today you live for – playing against a top team and a top manager with a chance to win a trophy. It feels special.”

How many more days and trophies does Guardiola have at City? It’s the question nobody knows the answer to. A Carabao Cup final hasn’t changed that.

Entering a football match without a ticket has now become a criminal offence

A man from Oldham has been arrested and charged over a ‘tailgating’ incident at the Man City Wembley match on Sunday afternoon (March 22). In the first charge of its kind, the man was arrested by Met Police officers following the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

It comes after entering a football match in England and Wales without a ticket became a criminal offence under new laws on March 22. The legislation was introduced because of serious disorder that tainted the European Championship final between England and Italy at Wembley in July 2021, when thousands of fans barged into the stadium.

The man, aged in his 20s was arrested at the final and has since been charged. Benjamin Bailey, 27, of Fifth Avenue in Oldham, Manchester, will appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on May 1 in connection with the alleged offence.

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Two other men were arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Wembley and they both remain in police custody to be questioned. Those convicted of tailgating face a football banning order of up to five years, alongside a fine of up to £1,000.

The Metropolitan Police said it saw a 78 per cent reduction in offences at this year’s final. In total, 20 arrests were made, including seven for affray, one for assault of an emergency service worker, and one for racially aggravated assault. This is compared to 91 arrests at the same fixture last year.

Chief Inspector Pete Dearden, of the Met’s public order unit and match commander at Wembley, said: “So much strategic planning goes into these operations. We expect high standards and every officer delivered that today.

“Huge changes have been implemented since last year, and we will now use the success of the policing operation today as a blueprint throughout the busy summer at Wembley so fans can safely enjoy upcoming fixtures.”

Mikel Arteta made a mistake not replacing Piero Hincapie at half-time in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City, according to Micah Richards.

A second-half brace from Nico O’Reilly sealed a 2-0 victory for City at Wembley on Sunday, dashing Arsenal’s hopes of winning an unprecedented quadruple this season.

With Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly named among the subs, Hincapie started at left-back, placing him up against Antoine Semenyo in City’s attack.

While it was a foul on Matheus Nunes that led to his first-half booking, Semenyo tormented the Ecuador international in the opening period, repeatedly beating him down the right flank to create City’s best openings.

It continued in the second-half with Semenyo providing the cross that led to O’Rielly’s opening goal after Kepa Arrizabalaga spilled his cross.

The former Bournemouth star noted post-match Hincapie’s booking had the Arsenal star ‘backing off’ and ‘gave me the opportunity to drive at him’.

Arteta appeared to be considering replacing his summer signing early on with Calafiori spotted warming up midway through the first-half. The change did not come until after 65 minutes however with the damage already done.

Former City star Richards identified Hincapie’s reluctance to get tight on his man as a result of that first-half booking as a real problem, believing he should have been replaced at the break.

‘You need to get tighter, and he could have got tighter if he wasn’t on that yellow card,’ Richards said.

‘That’s the difference and that is why I think Arteta should have made the change at half time because when you are defending on a yellow card, you defend differently especially when you are up against someone like Semenyo on that right hand side.’

Arsenal 0-2 Man City – Metro at the Match

Manchester City have secured the first silverware of the season after Arsenal failed to deliver at Wembley.

The quadruple dream is over and the Gunners must now pick up the pieces after a sobering setback.

For City, it has breathed life into their campaign after a dismal Champions League exit this week.

Kepa gamble backfires spectacularly

Mikel Arteta decided to keep faith in Kepa Arrizabalaga after starting the Spaniard in each round of the competition leading up to the final at Wembley today.

Pep Guardiola did likewise with James Trafford, but it was Arsenal who paid the price for dropping one of their best players. From the moment the second-half kicked off, Kepa dallied on the ball, inviting the pressure that would inevitably swarm all over the Gunners and trigger their downfall.

Raya has been spectacular this season, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League by some margin and in sublime form. Had he started, Sunday may have been a very different story.

Old Arsenal fears reignited

We have seen Arsenal collapse in the past. Past failures have so often been used as a stick to beat them with but things have felt different this season.

Victory today would have gone some way in erasing the lingering fears over another derailment . But defeat at Wembley could serve as a catalyst for something much bleaker.

Arsenal are still fighting on three fronts, in control of the Premier League title race and well-placed to continue marching on in Europe. But the effects of today could be season-altering. The woeful second-half showing was as bad as anything served up by them this term on the stage where they needed to be their best.

O’Reilly steps up

City needed a hero at Wembley and they found a home-grown one. With Phil Foden only coming on as an injury time substitute, left-back O’Reilly stepped up as City’s savour with two headers to save their season.

City were fantastic in the second period to a man and fed off Arsenal’s apprehension but it was the 21-year-old set the standard when they needed inspiration.  

Tony Mogan, live sports editor

City signed Semenyo for an initial £62million in the January transfer window with the Ghana international an instant hit in Manchester with seven goals to his name.

After clinching his first trophy with the club, he told Sky Sports: ‘It feels like a fairy tale to be honest.

‘But I’ve got a lot more to show. I want to play out wide, I want to play as a No9, I want to show how versatile I am and the help the team as much as I can.

‘I’m enjoying my football and it can only get better.

‘For me, it’s so personal, I’ve never won a trophy before. Give God all the glory.’

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Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final thanks to a Nico O’Reilly brace.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has insisted his side will use the defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final as fuel for the remainder of the season. The Blues were good value for the win at Wembley Stadium having dominated the second half after an even first 45 minutes.

Kepa Arrizabalaga’s mistake on the hour mark gave City the lead as he fumbled Rayan Cherki’s cross for Nico O’Reilly to head home. Moments later, the Blues added a second when Matheus Nunes’ cross was powered in by O’Reilly. When asked for his thoughts after the match, Arteta insisted his team would use the defeat as motivation.

“Very sad, a hard one to take. We know for our supporters how much it means to them,” he said. “We’re going to use it as fire in the belly. We’ll manage the energy in the right way. We’ll go through the pain and disappointment; it’s part of football.

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“We played 50 games before today? Every time we have a draw or a defeat, we have to prove it, we have to do it again. We have a recent history of how this team has responded in these moments.”

City and Arsenal are battling it out at the top of the Premier League with the Gunners boasting a nine-point advantage. However, the Blues have a game in hand over Arteta’s men and still have to face them at the Etihad Stadium next month.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Pep Guardiola insisted he would rather be in Arsenal’s position in the Premier League and played down talk of whether the Carabao Cup win could have an impact on the title race. “I would love to be nine points in front, to be honest. It’s in their hands,” he explained.

“We need time, an incredible break. I am exhausted and after we see step by step.”

When City return from the international break, they will face Liverpool in the FA Cup. The Blues then return to Premier League action on April 12 at Chelsea.

Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley with Nico O’Reilly scoring twice for the Blues.

19:44, 22 Mar 2026Updated 19:44, 22 Mar 2026

Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday to lift the Carabao Cup thanks to a Nico O’Reilly double.

The Blues were second best in the first half but dominated after the break to claim the first domestic trophy of the campaign in style. O’Reilly was the hero with a match-winning brace, and Arsenal had no answer as City dealt their Premier League title rivals a psychological blow.

Here are the moments you might have missed from Wembley:

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Kicking off the celebrations

When O’Reilly stooped to head home the opener Pep Guardiola turned towards his dugout and celebrated vociferously. Such was his emotion that the advertising hoarding in front of the dugouts took a battering from a kung-fu kick from the City boss.

On the field his players were equally enthusiastic. Rayan Cherki clattered the corner flag in delight and City’s subs sprinted down the touchline. It was Guardiola himself who was halfway down the touchline when the second went in, while Pep Lijnders jumped on Kolo Toure and punched the air with delight.

Cheeky Cherki

City were two up and in control when the ball was switched to Cherki on the left touchline. He had time and space and pulled the ball down expertly, proceeding to do three kick-ups while he waited for a defender to engage him. The City fans loved it, his manager less so.

Guardiola was captured on the sidelines shaking his head at the showboating. Minutes later Cherki would have been back in his manager’s good books as he delayed a pass perfectly to encourage a shoulder challenge from Ben White which saw the Arsenal man booked. When Cherki came off in the final minutes, his manager embraced him with a friendly headlock and a ruffle of the hair.

Respecting the ball

A lot has been made of the styles of these two teams. Arsenal are the kings of set pieces, the experts in delaying the game. City are the pass masters who want to play and probe and press.

Perhaps that was encapsulated by the way the two teams kicked off. The Gunners got the game underway and immediately went long down their right-hand side with three players ready in anticipation of chasing the kick, almost rugby union style with an early territorial gain in mind.

When City started the second half, Bernardo knocked the ball back to Rodri and the Blues kept the ball for more than 90 seconds. Talk about respecting the ball. . .

Gary Neville believes Manchester City ‘landed a major blow’ on Premier League title rivals Arsenal by winning the Carabao Cup final.

After a cagey and goalless opening hour at Wembley, two goals in four second-half minutes from Nico O’Reilly saw Man City take control against their Premier League title rivals.

The first came from what Neville described as a ‘howler’ from Arrizabalaga – who kept his place in the team ahead of Arsenal’s No. 1 David Raya – as he spilled Rayan Cherki’s cross into the path of a grateful O’Reilly.

The England international headed home again just four minutes later to leave Man City in dreamland and Arsenal stunned.

Arsenal, seeking their first major trophy since 2020, tried to get back into the game but were frustrated by Man City, who gave Pep Guardiola his fifth victory in this competition.

Neville slammed Arsenal goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga not only for his mistake in the final but also his play leading up to the opening goal.

Arrizabalaga dawdled over the ball often in the second half after Arsenal were marginally the better side in the opening 45 minutes – at one point taking 36 seconds to release the ball.

‘Kepa has got to get rid of the ball because it’s not helping them this,’ Neville said on Sky Sports. ‘All it’s doing is getting the crowd up.

‘It’s not helping Arsenal at all. He hasn’t helped himself, not just with that [his error], he was drawing Man City onto him, rolling his foot on the ball.

‘And then this, it’s a really bad one from the goalkeeper. Kepa, it’s a real howler in a massive moment.

‘Arsenal have shrunk in this game. What’s happened to them? Mikel Arteta’s team have gone missing, what’s happened to them in this second half?

‘Goalkeepers have got to stop doing that, they take the momentum out the game and you send a message to the opposition that you haven’t got any idea. It’s a nonsense.’

While Arsenal’s quadruple dream is over, they are still favourites to win the Premier League, boasting a nine-point lead over Man City.

‘They’ve landed a major blow, Manchester City,’ Neville said after the full-time whistle.

‘The impact that might have… Man City needed something to lift them and they’ve just got it.

‘Arsenal need to recover but Pep Guardiola will be so proud because his team have delivered. They’ve got time to recover, Arsenal, but Mikel has a big job on his hands now.’ 

More to follow…

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Manchester City are at Wembley today as they take on Arsenal in the League Cup final.

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has joked he picked the tallest team possible ahead of the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal. The Gunners have been dangerous from corners and set pieces this season with a number of goals coming from them.

Speaking to Sky Sports before kick-off, the City head coach laughed when asked about his selection. “I picked the tallest team possible!” Guardiola joked.

“Nah, of course that is not the main thing. It is not like Nico [O’Reilly] has not played all season and now he is playing today just for that [corners].

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“Nico has played many, many, many times. His versatility is important. Absolutely [I measured them], that’s why [Jeremy] Doku plays today!”

City are without Ruben Dias, who is injured, and Marc Guehi for the final. The former Crystal Palace player is ineligible for the final because he had not joined the Blues before the semi-final of the first leg against Newcastle. In his absence, Nathan Ake starts in defence alongside Abdukodir Khusanov.

Josko Gvardiol remains out. Guardiola confirmed James Trafford would start in goal and he has stuck to his word.

The Blues have gone for an attacking team with Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo and Doku all starting. Erling Haaland retains his spot up front having been substituted early against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.

Omar Marmoush, Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders and Savinho are among the substitutes.