Ten days’ ago both Arsenal and Manchester City could harbour dreams of winning the Quadruple. But then Real Madrid knocked City out of the Champions League and, last Sunday, City beat Arsenal 2-0 in the final of the Carabao Cup at Wembley. It was the fifth occasion on which City have won this trophy under the management of Pep Guardiola, his 16th title in all in Manchester. Arsenal have not won a big one since the 2020 FA Cup, the first year of Mikel Arteta’s time in charge.

“Especially without the ball, and with the ball in the second half, was unbelievably good,” said Guardiola. The first half was pretty even, perhaps shaded by Arsenal, but after the interval it was apparent only one time were the likely winners. The goals came in the 60th and 64th minutes, both headers by Nico O’Reilly, who had turned 21 the day before, the first one being an unwanted belated gift from the Arsenal ‘keeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, who allowed a straightforward cross to slip through his hands. There were a couple of comparatively late flourishes for the Gunners from Riccardo Calafiori but City never looked seriously in jeopardy. Their fans are shown on the home page, celebrating after the final whistle.

Hindsight is always a handy thing, of course, and with the benefit of that and given what happened there has been a lot of second-guessing about Arteta’s decision to start this final with his second choice goalkeeper rather than with David Raya. But City did likewise with James Trafford and that turned out fine for them. The chief problem for Arsenal was that their outfield players, for the most part, never lived up to expectations. Plus, of course, City are a strong team, albeit one which in the Premier League presently sit nine points adrift of Arsenal.

Oh yes, the title run-in. Nine points sounds a very solid lead with seven games to play, and it would be if matters were that simple. The thing is, City have eight games to play, and on April 19 Arsenal have to go to play at City’s Etihad Stadium. It is , therefore, not hard to envisage that Arsenal’s seemingly handsome advantage might quite easily end up being three points. And City have not got the complication of European matches clogging up their midweek schedule. And Arsenal have not won the league since 2004; City have won it eight times since then. That might prove to be more relevant than the fact that, City aside, Fulham are the only team they have to play in the remainder of this season who are in the top-10 in the table.

At Wembley last weekend, Arteta stayed on the pitch with his players to watch City raise the trophy and to hear their fans raise the roof. The lesson, presumably, being to make sure his men don’t have to endure a similar experience again before the season is out.