Arsenal, despite their impressive record at Wembley, were crushed by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup Final as Pepe Guardiola lifts his first trophy in England.
Arsenal were left in shambles by an impressive Manchester City performance to lift the Carabao Cup courtesy to a 3-0 win at Wembley. Arsenal were set on the back foot right from the start of the game as Manchester City dominated proceedings in the Final, with Aguero, Kompany and Silva all scoring in an impressive victory.
Arsenal were hoping a repeat of their FA Cup Semi-final performance against City from last season, but the tie was a total contrast of that one. Arsenal continued their lacklustre showing on the football pitch with yet another performance which lacked tactical awareness and individual brilliance.
Pep Guardiola might have won his first ever trophy as Manchester City manager, but the defeat showed what Arsene Wenger’s team lacked the urgency and seriousness of a Cup Final.
Here’s how Arsenal’s players rated against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup Final.
David Ospina – 4/10
Ospina endured a terrible game between the sticks, and it will come back to haunt Wenger as to why he chose the Colombian over Petr Cech who was fit and on the bench. Ospina’s distribution, throws and positional awareness all raised question marks in the game, especially after it emerged to be his mistake to come out so far that led to Aguero scoring with such ease.
Calum Chambers – 6/10
Arsenal’s best defender on the night! Chambers was a substantial presence at the back against Manchester City and handled any attack from his side of the pitch. Although he would be eventually remembered for allowing David Silva to score, Chambers, during the game, prevented many goalscoring opportunities. He was robust against Sane and Aguero all night long.
Shkodran Mustafi – 2.5/10
A massive low in his Arsenal career for Mustafi, as he had a horrendous performance against the league leaders in the Final. Was directly responsible for Aguero’s goal, as he let the Argentine run down his half to score the opening goal. Arguably, he could be held accountable for two goals, however apart from that was outfoxed by City attackers time and again, while failing in positional awareness as well as defending overall.
Laurent Koscielny – 4/10
Not a performance one would expect from a captain, especially in a Final. Koscielny, although wasn’t as bad as Mustafi, did make costly errors and the overall display was lethargic. Could have done a lot more to prevent City’s attack, but more importantly did not ooze confidence in the Arsenal defensive line with his performance.
Hector Bellerin – 4.5/10
Bellerin, like other Arsenal defenders and players alike, had a horrible night defending. Did not contribute much to the attack either, considering Sane kept him on his toes all night, twisting and running past him, and more importantly beating the Spaniard for pace.
Nacho Monreal – 4/10
Since his return from injury, Monreal’s form has been nothing short of fantastic, but since the last few games, there has been a slight dip in his game and against City it showed. Was run past by Aguero on numerous occasions, as well as being miserable in defending inside the box. Monreal’s game went from bad to worse as he was replaced by Kolasinac in the first half itself after a new injury.
Granit Xhaka – 6/10
Probably Arsenal’s best player on the night, although it wasn’t erroring free at all. Xhaka made five potential goal-saving plays throughout the match including three in the first half. He made himself an outlet to go to everytime Arsenal needed one and displayed a different, more efficient side of his game against City.
Jack Wilshere – 5/10
Not his best night. Initially was part of the front three alongside Mesut Ozil and behind Aubameyang, Wilshere soon came back to midfield allowing Ramsey to play further ahead. Apart from two god runs, Wilshere had a lousy game and followed his form from the Ostersunds tie. Was always outplayed in the middle by City and even his escape-artist kind of play could not bail him out.
Aaron Ramsey – 6/10
A good performance upon his return from injury. Ramsey covered a good part of the pitch making constant runs up and down and trying to make something happen at all times. Eventually, as the game went on, he faded away and showed some fatigue. Ramsey made useful contributions to starting attacks as well as defending in the middle of the pitch, even in deeper positions.
Mesut Ozil – 3/10
Arsenal’s worst attacking player on the night. Did not contribute to attack much, neither did he take any shot or create a chance for teammates, apart from the one great scoring chance for Aubameyang at the start, which would eventually have been deemed offside by VAR. An abysmal game by Arsenal’s talisman.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang – 3/10
This game showed exactly what Arsenal’s problem with strikers had been all season long, no service! Lacazette has not been scoring, and soon Aubameyang could follow this trend. Arsenal’s attackers gave no service at all to Aubameyang, and if the situation does not change, his game is going to be limited, as he and Lacazette are known for one thing, scoring goals!
Subs –
Sead Kolasinac – 4/10
Not much of an upgrade to Nacho Monreal after replacing the Spaniard in the first half, although he wasn’t bad or the reason for Arsenal’s downfall during the game. Was always available and trying to make things happen and he was a player who did not hesitate to make challenges or take a run at City’s defence.
Alex Iwobi – N/A
Not much time on the pitch to rate and the game had been lost when he came on.
Danny Welbeck – N/A
Like Iwobi, the game was already done and dusted when he too came on.
