Image Credit: @Carabao_Cup Twitter
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team have gone on to win the club’s 9th English League Cup trophy in their history and they have helped their manager accomplish his own personal achievement as Pep Guardiola officially becomes the most successful manager in the history of the competition achieving his 5th EFL Cup win as Manchester City manager. Officially no other manager in English football history has more EFL Cup trophy wins than Guardiola, not Brian Cloug, not Jose Mourinho and not Sir Alex Ferguson who all have reached 4 EFL Cups wins in their respective careers. Not only was this win a significant milestone in Pep Guardiola’s legendary career but this win could play a huge role in Man City’s season turn around.
Difficult Season in the Premier League and Champions League
Pep’s Manchester City for years have been known to dominate the Premier League with their performances and results however after achieving the record of 4 straight Premier League title wins in a row, the Cityzens have seemingly lost their previous dominance of the over league. This season has been no exception, City started off the campaign with a confident performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 4-0 thrashing on the opening day of the season however they would immediately follow that victory up with back-to-back defeats in the league to Tottenham Hotspurs and Brighton & Hove Albion. This would become a pattern for City as they would go on a streak of winning form only to then randomly drop points in games where they are the favourites. They would gain victories over their rivals Manchester United in the league and against the champions of Italy Napoli in the UEFA Champions league to only then drop points against AS Monaco in the Champions League and against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
This has led to Man City being in a better position than where they were last season in the Premier League where they narrowly finished in 3rd place however they are still 9 points behind league leaders Arsenal with 8 games still left to play. City are also out of the UEFA Champions League in the Round of 16 stage courtesy of their competition rivals Real Madrid. Things have not been all bad though as City are still in the race of the domestic treble as well as Pep Guardiola has started planning for the future with the arrival of Nico O’Reilly.
Rise of Academy Graduate
Nico O’Reilly has been Pep Guardiola pet project since the beginning the 2025/2026 season and the young fullback as repaid his manager’s faith with interest, so to speak. Due to the constant unavailability of Josko Gvardiol among others in City’s long list of injury woes, O’Reilly has become a regular starter for the Cityzens and has become one of Man City’s most versatile players in their current squad. The 21-year-old defender plays primarily as a Left back however throughout the season Guardiola has pushed the academy graduate further and further up the pitch in positions such as a Midfielder and as a Left Winger. This has resulted in the young fullback getting into more goal scoring positions which as bore fruit. So far this season O’Reilly stats look like this:
- Games – 44
- Goals – 8
- Assists – 5
- Minutes Played – 3330’
- Average Minutes per Game – 76
Quite incredible numbers for a fullback who only made his first team debut last season and to put the cherry on top of the stats, Nico O’Reilly was the scorer of the only 2 goals of the game against Arsenal in the EFL Cup final. The young Englishman is a rising star at City and for England as O’Reilly has once again been called up to represent England in their final friendly fixtures ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Domestic Treble Potential?
As mentioned previously Manchester City are still well on track to rectifying a very roller coaster season by potentially winning the domestic treble once again. City have already lifted the first of the 3 trophies in the EFL Cup this past weekend as well as they are also in the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup and are set to face Liverpool on April 4th. The only trophy that is a little harder to achieve would be the Premier League tile due to Arsenal having a 9 point lead with 7 games remaining for them. Pep Guardiola and his team do have the advantage of having 1 game in hand however that may not be enough, the Cityzens have to be close to perfect to have any chance of snatching the league title away from Arsenal as well as hope that The Gunners slip up somewhere in their next few games that would leave an opening for City to exploit. If City manage to win the league title once again and the FA cup, this season would go down as one of City’s most unpredictable, from roller coaster form to lifting every domestic trophy in England’s top flight.
