The emotions flowing through the sea of red and white spilling out onto Wembley Way before kick-off told much.
Excitement and euphoria in the main, paired with a side dish of nervousness and angst.
This is what six years laced with close shaves, signs of promise and bitter disappointment creates. Arsenal’s moment to erase that tag of perennial ‘nearly-men’ was finally here, a chance to lift a first trophy since winning the FA Cup in 2020.
Instead, the chants of ‘second again, ole, ole’, from groups of Manchester City supporters turned out to be bang on. Arsenal are second again. They have fallen at the final hurdle. That is nothing new, an expectation even, for a team which has endured being Premier League runners-up for three consecutive seasons.
Not winning the Carabao Cup will not define the Gunners’ season. There is so much more to go, Mikel Arteta’s men favourites for the Premier League title and looking strong in the Champions League. They are still in pole position for at least one trophy in this campaign.
How the psychological scars of this defeat at the hands of their feared rivals will impact them in the coming months, however, is significant.
Mikel Arteta will be disappointed at his Arsenal side’s display during the Carabao Cup final
Arsenal were outplayed and thoroughly beaten 2-0 by Manchester City on Sunday at Wembley
Take the enormity of the occasion from an Arsenal perspective, which was in plain sight. For example, members of their 1993 squad, who last won the League Cup for the Gunners, were invited. That saw the likes of Martin Keown, Lee Dixon and David Seaman in attendance.
Even the way Gooners excitedly arrived to the stadium, full of optimism and giddiness, spoke of a club feeling understandably starved of silverware.
Arteta’s first and only trophy at the north London club, in 2020, was behind closed doors. You have to go back to 2017, winning the FA Cup, which was Arsenal’s most recent scalp in front of fans.
This was the chance to kickstart their quest for winning multiple trophies this season – and properly celebrate.
It was the manner by which this unfolded that will be concerning for Arteta, Pep Guardiola’s men taking control of the second half to squeeze the life out of Arsenal like a python wrapped around its prey.
These two sides face each other in the league in four weeks’ time; at that point, another defeat at the hands of Man City could slowly prize the title race open. It could arguably bring back memories of the 2022-23 season fall off, having been then tripped up after being top of the table for 248 days.
There is also the renewed sense that no matter how dominant and impressive Arsenal are in reaching finishing lines, they duly struggle with the very final step.
The crux of this defeat were cultivated from a few elements. Arteta is known for his ruthlessness, a man uncompromising in his decision-making and clear on required standards.
Arteta will be concerned by the manner of their defeat by feared rivals Pep Guardiola’s City
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, yet here, he was not ruthless enough. Starting Kepa Arrizabalaga over David Raya proved to be a fatal error, opting for continuity over the best choice.
Raya has got Arsenal over the line multiple times this season with a catalogue of cat-like saves – and possibly would have done on this occasion.
Kepa’s howler on 60 minutes, dropping Rayan Cherki’s cross which Nico O’Reilly capitalised upon, paved the way for Man City. The Arsenal heads dropped, and the hill became too tall to climb.
A lack of creativity in the middle because of injuries to Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard didn’t help, either.
That need for a bit of magic to create an opportunity or score something out of nothing – as seen by Eze’s stunning half-volley against Bayer Leverkusen last week – was badly lacking.
So, too, was the inexperience at this crunch stage. Sunday was Guardiola’s 11th cup final at Man City, now winning his eighth trophy. In comparison to Arteta, who was not reached a final since 2020, this is new territory for the Spaniard.
Kepa Arrizabalaga was at fault for City’s first goal when he dropped this catch from a cross
Some perspective is needed, too, though. This was just Arsenal’s fourth loss of the season, and they are nine points ahead of Man City in the league with seven games to go. That is rather impressive.
Arteta afterwards warned: ‘We’re going to use this disappointment and this fire in the belly to have the most amazing two months that we have ever had together.
‘Now we have to go through that pain and disappointment and it’s normal and it’s part of football.’
How he and Arsenal navigate the next two months will be defining.
