As Pep Guardiola wiped away the sting of the Champagne sprayed by his ecstatic players after Sunday’s League Cup final victory over Arsenal, the Manchester City manager faced a crucial question.
Nico O’Reilly’s double in the second half had just secured a 2-0 triumph in the Wembley showpiece to give City mental edge over their Premier League title challengers.
But will this record-extending fifth League Cup under Guardiola serve as a springboard to catch Arsenal in the title race?
Having not masterminded a convincing win over his former protégé Mikel Arteta since 2023, the City boss knows besting Arsenal in a one-off showpiece occasion was difficult enough.
Trying to reform Premier League leaders Arsenal, who are currently nine points clear of second-placed City, is an even harder task.
“I would prefer nine points ahead of Arsenal,” Guardiola said.
“I told the players: ‘Today we are going to find out what our level is. They are the best so far, no argument there, let’s go and prove ourselves and I couldn’t believe we could do it against Arsenal.
“But this victory changes nothing (in the title race). It is a different competition.”
City have a match in hand over Arsenal and host the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium in April.
Even those two victories would not guarantee City the title, Guardiola conceded, unless Arsenal also faltered elsewhere.
“They are going to be controlled more when they arrive at the Etihad. Perhaps that game will help us for this game, but the Premier League is in their hands home.”
“Are that team going to drop points? “We will just go and try to win our games, and after that we will see.”
City needed that as a pick-me-up following a few dismal draws in the league against lowly West Ham and Nottingham Forest, plus a limp exit from the Champions League at the last-16 stage at the hands of Real Madrid.
‘Fire in the belly’
That left them empty-handed last season, but Guardiola sees this as the beginning of a new dynasty at a club that has hoovered up 19 trophies in all competitions since he arrived in 2013.
“When you win and the generation is young, you can keep going with that. I want to know how they respond in some moments,” Guardiola said of a squad that has been comprehensively rebuilt at huge expense over the past 18 months.
“I catch a whiff of something that can thrive. Winning makes it possible to foresee the process.
“We are much better than last season but still we are not the team we have to be. That requires time. Hopefully we will be, by the end of next season.”
Arsenal had been clear favourites for the final in pursuit of a first trophy in six years.
But they left still seeking the second major trophy of the Arteta era, hounded by questions about their manager’s picks and tactics, and of a long-standing tendency to choke on big occasions.
Arsenal, runners-up in the Premier League for each of the last three seasons, cannot allow less than two minutes of disappointment at Wembley to derail their treble-chasing campaign.
Arteta’s gamble in selecting Kepa Arrizabalaga over first-choice goalkeeper David Raya came back to haunt him when the understudy spilled Rayan Cherki’s cross into O’Reilly for City’s opening goal.
He also faced criticism for a conservative game-plan, but Arteta vowed that the pain would fuel his team in their bid to win the Premier League for the first time since 2004.
“We have to get some perspective on it. We are going to use this disappointment and this fire in the belly to have the most amazing two months that we have ever had together,” said Arteta, whose side are still embroiled in both the Champions League and FA Cup quarter-finals.
“That’s on us and we’ll deal with that energy appropriately. Now it’s time to live with that agony and disappointment.
“The good thing is that we have a very recent history of reacting in these moments, and I know that we are going to do it again.”