This year’s Carabao Cup final will be a repeat of the 2017-18 showdown, when Manchester City beat Arsenal 3-0 and Mikel Arteta was part of the Manchester City coaching staff.
Arsenal are seeking their first trophy since Arteta claimed an FA Cup victory in 2020, and Manchester City are hoping to get closer to their ninth EFL Cup, having won it four times in a row between 2018 and 2021.
With both teams occupying the top two spots in the Premier League, how does this impact their league campaigns? What about the UEFA Conference League place at stake? And can Arsenal avoid a record seventh EFL Cup final defeat? Here’s a summary…
When is the final?
The English Football League (EFL) Cup final, named the Carabao Cup after the Thai energy drink for sponsorship reasons, will take place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 22 March.
How did the teams get there?
Premier League teams from the Champions League or Europa League enter the draw in the third round, meaning they had to win four games to reach the final, including the two-legged semi-final.
Arsenal beat Port Vale, Brighton, Crystal Palace (on penalties) and Chelsea (4-2 on aggregate) in two games to reach their first final of any competition in almost six years, when they won the FA Cup in 2020.
Arsenal celebrate the victory over Palace on penalties (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Manchester City defeated Huddersfield, Swansea, Brentford and defending champions Newcastle United 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
What are your records?
Only Liverpool, who have won the cup 10 times, have lifted the trophy more than eight-time winners Manchester City since the competition was founded in the 1960-61 season.
City have not won it since their four-year dominance ended in 2021.
Arsenal will be playing in their ninth final and have won the competition twice, the last time in 1992-93. That year, they won the domestic double and also lifted the FA Cup, led by captain Tony Adams and top scorer Ian Wright.
But they have the unfavorable record of being runners-up in the EFL Cup final more than any other club, six times.
In the 2017-18 season, a match against Manchester City was their last defeat in the final. It finished 3-0, with Sergio Agüero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva scoring.
What is the prize money?
Winners will receive £100,000 ($137,000) in tournament winnings, but will also be eligible to win a minimum of £797,400 for competing in next season’s Conference League.
Do the winners qualify for Europe?
Winning the competition earns you a place in the final qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League, as has been the case since the start of the competition in 2021-2022, with a place in the Europa League previously offered.
However, no team has qualified for Europe solely by winning the EFL Cup since Swansea, winners of the 2012-13 season.
This is because all EFL Cup winners since then have gained qualification to the top European competitions, the Champions League and Europa League, through qualification into the Premier League.
When this happens, for example if Arsenal or Manchester City win the EFL Cup but finish in the top two of the Premier League and therefore qualify for the Champions League, qualification for the Conference League is awarded to the next highest placed team after the Champions League and Europa League in the Premier League table.
Sergio Agüero and Fernandinho pose with the trophy after winning it in 2021 (Carl Recine/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
As things stand, this would claim sixth place. But, as was the case last year, the Premier League is on track to earn a fifth place in the Champions League according to the UEFA coefficient, lifting the Conference League place to seventh place.
The most lucrative FA Cup, the oldest national football competition in the world, offers a place in the Europa League.
In the event that the winners of the FA Cup and EFL Cup qualify for Europe based on their league position and English clubs earn five Champions League places, there would be an additional Europa League place decided by qualification, and Conference League qualification would move to eighth place.
How does the final impact the Premier League?
Arsenal were due to play Wolves in week 31 of the Premier League on March 21. Instead, they will play the final that weekend, so their match against Wolves has been brought forward a month to be played on Wednesday 18 February, with kick-off at 8pm GMT.
There will be European play-off matches tonight, but Arsenal avoided them by finishing top of the Champions League table with a perfect record.
Manchester City also avoided the Champions League play-offs, finishing eighth and automatically reaching the round of 16. However, their week 31 opponent, Crystal Palace, finished 10th in the Europa Conference League table, so they have a play-off tie against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Zrinjski on 19 February, so the match cannot be played in week 26.
The Premier League is yet to confirm Manchester City’s rescheduled date at home to Crystal Palace, but it does mean it will not take place on Matchday 31 on March 21.
In FPL terms, this means that Arsenal have a double in week 26, playing against Brentford (A) and Wolves (A), and a blank in week 31. Wolves will also have a double of Nottingham Forest (A) and Arsenal (H), and a blank in week 31.
Manchester City and Crystal Palace will draw a blank on matchday 31, and their match at the Etihad will be rearranged.
Both rescheduled matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK.