Manchester City beat Arsenal to claim the Carabao Cup

For the last 16 years Manchester City have made the trip to Wembley at least once a year. In some years it’s been two or three times.

I think this years appearance in the Carabao Cup Final made it about 32 appearances at Wembley in that time.

By any measure that’s a remarkable achievement.

Even football fans that don’t favour City, dislike the club or perhaps look on with envy have to acknowledge the remarkable and exceptional events of the last 16 years.

City have lost the last couple of finals they have played in. There was an FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace in 2025 and the 2024 FA Cup defeat by Manchester United.

I was keen to avoid an unwanted third consecutive final defeat, but I needn’t have worried. City delivered when it mattered.

A composed 2–0 win over Arsenal strengthened the club’s already impressive relationship with the Carabao Cup. It felt like another chapter in a competition City have made their own over the past decade.

Pep Guardiola’s legacy in knockout football was further underlined too. This victory wasn’t just another trophy—it was another reminder of the consistency, clarity, and winning mentality he’s embedded into the club.

It’s not a match report

This isn’t a match report if you want that there’s plenty available online, including at the City web site at this link, the BBC report at this link or the Arsenal FC site here.

This post is a selection of images from Cup Final day through the lens of my camera.

The images are shown in two picture sets. Set one are from around the stadium and local area, Set Two from inside the stadium.

For those who might be interested: images outside of the stadium were taken with a Canon EOS 90D and Tamron SP F2.8 70/200 Di VC USD G2.

Picture set one – around and about the stadium

Click any image to open the picture set that can then be clicked or scrolled through. The picture set can be viewed on desktop, laptop, tablet or ‘phone.