Pep Guardiola reminds apprentice Mikel Arteta he is still trophy master as uncapped England star sends message

It turned out to be the tale of two goalkeepers as Pep Guardiola reminded apprentice Mikel Arteta he is still the master when it comes to winning trophies.

Arteta’s call to stay loyal to Arsenal’s cup ‘keeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, backfired spectacularly after the Spaniard’s blunder gifted City match-winner Nico O’Reilly the first of his two goals.

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In contrast, City’s James Trafford rewarded Guardiola for picking him ahead of City’s usual number one, Gianluigi Donnarumma, with a brilliant triple save to keep City in the first half.

While Arteta insisted to talkSPORT afterwards that he did not regret his selection, he must surely be thinking what might have been had the Gunners had the imperious David Raya between the posts.

Kepa got away with a rush of blood early in the second half when he came racing out of his box and brought down Jeremy Doku.

With the City bench crying out for a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, Kepa escaped with just a booking.

But he was not so lucky when he dropped a cross straight into the path of O’Reilly on the hour mark to hand City the lead.

Raya looked on forlorn from a devastated Arsenal bench.

Four minutes later, O’Reilly found himself unmarked to head in Matheus Nunes’ pinpoint cross, and just like that, Arteta’s hopes of completing the first leg of a historic quadruple had gone.

Only time will tell how much psychological damage this Wembley defeat will do to Arsenal’s quest for a first Premier League title in more than 20 years.

They still have a very healthy nine-point lead over City at the top of the table, but if nothing else, we all know we should write off Guardiola at our peril.

The great Spaniard has won far bigger prizes, but this victory over his former protege felt like one of the most satisfying of his career, not least because most neutrals had written off City’s chances of Wembley glory.

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As Arsenal dominated the opening 35 minutes, Guardiola cut an increasingly agitated figure in his technical area.

Arteta sprinted down the tunnel at half-time with the look of a manager who felt his first trophy in six years was there for the taking.

But Arsenal never came out of the starting blocks in the second half, and City were deserving of Guardiola’s record fifth EFL Cup final win.

It may have been a very different story had Trafford not shown why he feels he should be City’s first choice by keeping out the otherwise anonymous Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka (twice) in what turned out to be one of the game’s key moments.

Arteta made a point of keeping his players out on the pitch long after full-time and making them watch the City players go up and collect their winners’ medals.

Many, including Saka, stood arms folded with glum looks on their faces.

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Arteta claimed it was ‘a mark of respect’, but it felt much more deep-meaning, like he was using the anguish of cup final defeat as fuel to claim the bigger prizes ahead.

Arsenal’s season should still end in a blaze of medal-winning glory, as long as Raya is between the posts.