{"id":142,"date":"2026-03-27T17:16:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=142"},"modified":"2026-03-27T17:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:16:47","slug":"carabao-cup-final-paul-merson-says-arsenal-winning-at-wembley-would-give-them-belief-to-win-quadruple-and-determine-pep-guardiolas-man-city-future-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Carabao Cup final: Paul Merson says Arsenal winning at Wembley would give them belief to win quadruple – and determine Pep Guardiola’s Man City future | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Paul Merson has claimed the Carabao Cup final could give Arsenal the belief they can win the quadruple – and determine the future of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.<\/p>\n

For the first time ever in the competition’s history, the Carabao Cup final will be competed by the top two teams in the top-flight – with the Wembley showdown potentially having huge ramifications on the season run-in.<\/p>\n

Arsenal remain in all four competitions while City can still win a domestic treble, and Merson has said the Gunners can look at the their 1987 League Cup final win over Liverpool as an example of how this competition can be the springboard for success.<\/p>\n

Read below to see what the Magic Man has to say about Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, live on Sky Sports…<\/p>\n

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Arsenal can kick on if they win this final<\/h3>\n

If Arsenal win this final, you would have to start believing about a quadruple. With the cup draws they’ve got and the position they’re in the league and with the squad they’ve got, it won’t be far off.<\/p>\n

This is the hardest game of the lot for Arsenal. This is a one-off football match against serial winners who have been to Wembley before.<\/p>\n

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Paul Merson sits down with Bukayo Saka ahead of the Carabao Cup final<\/span>
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The Premier League, for me, is done. A nine-point lead means Arsenal would have to lose two or three games by the end of the season. Sporting Lisbon, they’ve got two games against them so you can have a bad 30 to 40 minutes and still be alright. The FA Cup, they’ve got a good draw again against Southampton.<\/p>\n

It’s a big one for these players. I remember being with the Arsenal squad when they beat Liverpool in this final in 1987, I was in the fringes of the first-team. That was a massive thing, that was the trophy under George Graham that kicked Arsenal on and got us over the line.<\/p>\n

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I know they lost to Luton the year after, but then we won the league twice and then the FA Cup, the League Cup, the European Cup Winners Cup – that was all down to beating Liverpool in that final.<\/p>\n

If they do lose, you know the headlines the next day. And in the international break, you’d go away with England and you’d get slaughtered by rival players. And then we will only know how it will affect the players.<\/p>\n

It could knock the stuffing out of them if they lose. I don’t think it will, but it will be psychological – and especially if Man City go and beat them straight away in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

But if Arsenal win the game, what chance have the other teams got?<\/p>\n

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Jamie Redknapp meets Eberechi Eze at Arsenal\u2019s training ground to talk through Sunday\u2019s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City<\/span>
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If Pep loses, is this the right time to go?<\/h3>\n
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Following Man City’s defeat to Real Madrid and being dumped out of the Champions League, Pep Guardiola admits his team ‘aren’t complete’ compared to his previously successful sides<\/span>
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It’s a big game for Pep Guardiola. I don’t know if he’s made his mind up over his future, but I think this game might make his mind up even more.<\/p>\n

Arsenal could win the league by double digits, Man City would be beaten in a final by Arsenal, other teams will be getting stronger, there’s a time where you’ve got to get out at the right time. And this could be it.<\/p>\n

He’s still the greatest manager ever. But if Guardiola won the league this season, it would probably be the biggest feat he’s ever done at Man City. They’re not the same team of four or five years ago.<\/p>\n

Back then, you’d look at nine points and say if Arsenal draw a game or two it’s on, but I don’t see Man City winning all of their remaining eight games.<\/p>\n

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Man City’s Antoine Semenyo reflects on his journey from the lower levels of the football pyramid and what winning a trophy would mean ahead of the Carabao Cup final<\/span>
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The key selection dilemmas<\/h3>\n

Kepa Arrizabalaga’s played every game in goal in this Carabao Cup run for Arsenal – you’ve got to stick with him. That’d be classy and if you don’t win it, at least you’d stay classy. It wouldn’t be right to play David Raya.<\/p>\n

There is severe pressure on Kepa and James Trafford. If you let a goal in, everyone would be asking whether Raya or Gianluigi Donnarumma would have let it in, because the other two are just off the charts. The best of the best of goalkeeping.<\/p>\n

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Ex-Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri fumes as Kepa Arrizabalaga refuses substitute against Man City ahead of the 2019 penalty shoot-out<\/span>
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I think Arsenal will go with Viktor Gyokeres up front alongside Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard, I’d be shocked if he didn’t start. Man City will have a lot of the ball and Arsenal will put the diagonal over for Gyokeres, who can hold it up, run and cause problems. Then with 15 to 20 minutes, you bring on Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n

With Erling Haaland, it will always be about service with him, He’s not going to get the ball on the halfway line and beat two players then chip the goalie. And I don’t think he’s getting the service quick enough.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, they have to play quick diagonals or quick balls over the top to open that game up. If they keep passing it around, he’s playing against William Saliba and Gabriel – it will be a long, long day for him.<\/p>\n

But if they can go quick, then it will be a long day for those two.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Merson has claimed the Carabao Cup final could give Arsenal the belief they can win the quadruple – and determine the future of Pep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}