Player ratings: How Manchester City dominated Arsenal in League Cup final
Manchester City are League Cup winners for the first time since 2021, when they completed an incredible four-peat, after dominating Arsenal in every facet of the game and beating them 2-0 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. ARSENAL 0-2 MAN CITY ā Video highlights & recap Pep Guardiola's side showed up in a way they've been unable to do for much of the Premier League season, leaving them nine points behind Arsenal with eight games left to play (one in hand), while Mikel Arteta's side followed suit of north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the day: wilting under pressure and going quietly into the night. Arsenal player ratings Kepa Arrizabalaga - 4: It was painfully obvious that the backup goalkeeper has played fewer than 10 games all season, and it's understandable why Arteta picked him after he started the first five, but at the end of the day the manager's job is to win games.
Picking Kepa runs counter to that directive. Ben White - 5. 5: Brought in as the defensive specialist to slow down Doku with Jurrien Timber missing out through injury, White had a tough time defensively and left big shoes unfilled when Arsenal had the ball.
William Saliba - 6. 5: Kept Haaland in check all game long, but didn't have the same kind of influence on the attack as we've come to expect (only three passes into the final third ā quite low for him). Gabriel - 6: Same as Saliba, nullifying Haaland (and Semenyo on his side) was the main objective, but it undeniably came at the expense of Arsenal's attack.
Piero Hincapie - 5. 5: One of his least effective games of late, Hincapie very rarely got forward to attack and seemed to be a target of Man City's combinations and overlaps down their right wing. Martin Zubimendi - 5: Arsenal's midfield metronome, Zubimendi attempted just 33 passes in the game as City smothered the Gunners in the middle third and forced someone else ā anyone else ā to beat them.
No one could. Declan Rice - 5. 5: When the set pieces aren't coming off, Arsenal's attack turns really stodgy, really quickly.
Continue to the original source for the full article.