Chelsea vs Man City: Pep Guardiola's men retain Carabao Cup title after beating Blues on penalties
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City retained the English League Cup by beating Chelsea 4-3 on penalties after a bizarre climax to the Wembley showpiece on Sunday which saw Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refuse to be substituted.
Nothing could separate the sides as the match finished 0-0 after extra time but it was City who claimed the season's first major silverware as they won the shootout.
Raheem Sterling fired the decisive spot kick past Spaniard Arrizabalaga to complete the first part of what could be a quadruple for Pep Guardiola's side.
Arrizabalaga minutes earlier been involved in surely one of the strangest incidents in a Wembley final when he defied Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri's orders to come off in the closing minutes of extra time after appearing to be injured.
Sarri, who had told substitute keeper Willy Caballero to take over from Arrizabalaga, was left fuming in the technical area at the open show of mutiny by one of his players.
"It was a big misunderstanding because I understood the keeper had cramp and was unable to go to the penalties. But it was not cramp and he could go to the penalties," Sarri said.
To compound matters Arrizabalaga then dived over Sergio Aguero's weak penalty during the shootout.
He did save from Leroy Sane but when Chelsea's David Luiz struck the post with his spot kick, it was left to Sterling to smash his penalty high into the roof of the net and send the City fans into delirium after a tense afternoon.
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It's the Carabao Cup final! Chelsea take on Manchester City only two weeks after receiving a brutal beating by Pep Guardiola's men at the Etihad. Can Maurizio Sarri pull of a much-needed shock result to relieve some of the pressure on his shoulders? Harry will be along shortly with all the team news and build-up. In the meantime here's the latest from Guardiola:
The teams are in!
Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Rudiger, Emerson, Jorginho, Kante, Barkley, Willian, Hazard, Pedro.
Manchester City: Ederson, Zinchenko, Laporte, Otamendi, Walker, Fernandinho, Silva (C), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero.
A return to the false nine for Chelsea, then, with Eden Hazard back in a role he's perhaps become too familiar with this season. Emerson is preferred to Marcos Alonso, too, with the Spaniard not even on the bench.
Ederson starts for the first time in the Carabo Cup this season, replacing Arijanet Muric for the final for Manchester City.
Kick-off at Wembley is less than half-an-hour away...
This could be the first trophy of a quadruple-winning season for Manchester City, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Despite their recent success, Manchester City are yet to retain a trophy, but after their triumph here 12 months ago against Arsenal they have an excellent opportunity to do so today.
Given how they utterly took apart Chelsea just two weeks ago, they'll certainly have the psychological advantage...
This could prove to be Maurizio Sarri's final game as Chelsea manager.
The speculation around the Italian's future has intensified after a lacklustre exit from the FA Cup on Monday night, and they scratched rather than scintillated past Malmo in the Europa League.
A trophy would quieten the naysayers temporarily, but with a defeat and another disinterested, disjointed performance, Sarri could perhaps be on to pastures new rather more quickly than he'd have hoped.
Crises on and off the pitch, disquiet among fans and players alike about the manager and a recent 6-0 defeat to their opponents in the final are not the makings of a trophy-winning side by any means, and few are giving Chelsea a chance of winning this afternoon.
But Manchester City lost at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, and N'Golo Kante is confident his team can win today.
Less than 15 minutes until kick-off at Wembley.
For Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, this could be the start of something very special, writes Miguel Delaney:
Sizeable banners bearing the faces of some of the day's protagonists and the logo's of each side greet the players on to the Wembley surface.
A coordinated blue and white mosaic number from the Manchester City supporters, more disjointed waving of Chelsea scarves in their end.
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