CARA ON WINNING

O'Reilly is the hero as Guardiola claims fifth cup win to pile pressure on Gunners

- BY JOHN CROSS

PEP GUARDIOLA raced down the touchline in wild celebration.

Nico O'Reilly, Manchester City's homegrown, matchwinning hero, had just scored his second goal to renew Guardiola's great love affair with the Carabao Cup.

O'Reilly was 21 on Saturday, is such a proud Mancunian he has a tattoo of his home town's dialling code 0161 - on his arm, and this was reward for being one of City's standout players this season.

But it was also a huge moment for City and Guardiola, and the manager's celebration told you everything about his hunger and desire to win. Will he leave at the end of the season? Not with this passion.

Incredibly, Guardiola has now won this trophy five times - Arsenal have only won it twice in their history - and it will only turn up the heat for the rest of the season.

Whoever wrote off City, spoke too soon. It has happened far too often. Generally, it has happened to Arsenal as City have hunted them down and overtaken them in the title race in two of the past three seasons.

But suddenly, Arsenal's nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League will not seem quite so insurmountable.