Pep's boy Nico puts Arsenal's Quadruple dreams to bed in four minutes!

There's nothing wrong with dreaming big, but Arsenal's dreams of a Quadruple season were shattered this Sunday night at Wembley as Manchester City defeated them 2-0 to win the EFL Cup. Pep Guardiola's side celebrated a deserved win thanks to Nico O'Reilly's quite unexpected second-half brace.

The 21-year-old talented midfielder scored two headers in the span of just four minutes to provide his team with a worthy trophy.

Sure, that's the least important piece of silverware on the table for English clubs, but the reactions of both managers - Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta - by the sidelines prove how much it meant for them.

Maybe that's why Arteta shouldn't have made quite a few changes to his starting XI - playing without Raya, Eze and Calafiori, among others - which visibly affected his team's overall performance. His intention seemed to be to play a chess match, slow and patient, waiting for the rival's mistake. However, instead, it was his defence - or the keeper, to be precise - who made a horrible mistake to basically decide the winner.

After a rather dull first half, which didn't provide us with the expected fireworks, the breakthrough came around the hour mark.

Kepa Arrizabalaga's howler - as the ball slipped through his fingers following a cross from the right - resulted in Nico O'Reilly's routine header to break the deadlock, 1-0. Although City were looking more comfortable with the ball, controlling possession and tempo through Bernardo Silva, Doku, Cherki and Rodri, who knows where the game would take us if it weren't for Kepa's clumsy reaction.

It only paved the way for Pep's men to rush to another trophy, which will heal their Champions League wounds at least a bit.

Just four minutes after the opener, the same hero - O'Reilly - stood up again to singlehandedly win the EFL Cup showdown for the Citizens with another header, 2-0.

Guardiola's ecstatic celebration was a clear sign of the importance of O'Reilly's brace.

Arteta subbed on Calafiori and Gabriel Jesus, trying to bounce back after that painful blitzkrieg, but it was too late, despite the fact that the former had two promising opportunities. Much more than any of his teammates in the opening 70 minutes of the game.

For a team that, until a few hours ago, had a dream of winning all four titles, that was below par. If they want to grab the UCL and the EPL trophies, the Gunners have to do much, much better.

EFL CUP - FINAL

Arsenal - Manchester City 0-2 (0-0)

/O'Reilly 60,64/