Man City vs Tottenham: Five things we learned as Aymeric Laporte wins City’s fourth Carabao Cup in a row

Man City 1-0 Spurs: Laporte heads the only goal of the game inside the final 10 minutes

(POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Manchester City retained the Carabao Cup once more with a late 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the final.

Pep Guardiola’s side dominated the majority of the first half, creating shooting chances from the opening minutes until the whistle went - but failing to take a chance despite the likes of Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Joao Cancelo all going close. Phil Foden also saw an effort deflected onto the post, while Spurs rarely managed to break out of their own half of the pitch.

Giovani Lo Celso did go close for the north London side just after the break, but the second half quickly started to follow the same pattern of City possession and half-chances, with Tottenham sitting ever-deeper, but Hugo Lloris was far less-worked than he had been in the first 45.

Mahrez did test the French goalkeeper again with a long-range drive, but it was ultimately a set-piece which proved Spurs’ undoing, Aymeric Laporte heading in after a free-kick from the left with just nine minutes remaining on the clock.

Here are five things we learned as City lifted the trophy at Wembley.

Big players for the big game

Just as for the 2019 Champions League final, Spurs called upon their key striker and creative talisman Harry Kane after bringing him back from injury as quickly as possible.

Sadly for Tottenham, the similarities didn’t stop there: as in Madrid, Kane was short of his best touch, marginalised for most of the game and had no impact whatsoever in the attacking penalty box.

His role is somewhat deeper these days with plenty of link-up play, but even there he was missing in action too often - and like in Madrid, Kane ended on the losing side with his team failing to score.

City, meanwhile, brought back Kevin de Bruyne from his own short absence; he wasn’t at his very best either, but saw out almost 85 minutes as a regular outlet, a creative force on several occasions - and ultimately adding to his personal silverware collection.

Fans back at Wembley

It made a difference within seconds of kick-off: a natural sound, in-sync and with no sudden cut-offs.

A total of 8,000 supporters were in attendance, all of them welcome additions to what have increasingly been stale, slow and low-key games in the Premier League.

It was, of course, a sign of what is (hopefully) to come: fans will be back for the last couple of rounds of league games, while the summer and Euro 2020 should progressively see more full stadiums ahead of a full-capacity 2021/22.

After a week of supporters reminding those at the head of big clubs exactly where the power of the sport lies, the songs and celebrations in the stand were a hugely appreciated addition to the final.

Final winners...

A few stand-out performers showed up for the game in style.

Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden were the early protagonists for City, weaving in and out of challenges and continuing to find spaces between the massed ranks of Spurs defenders.

As the game wore on, Mahrez too became an influential figure, while Joao Cancelo was largely excellent on and off the ball.

Tottenham can count a couple of their own starters as having put in a good shift, with Toby Alderweireld standing up well to the continued wave of City attacks and Hugo Lloris making more than one good save.

...and the game’s losers

At the other end of the scale, Sergio Reguilon had a total nightmare, starting with missing a tackle, continuing by letting the ball roll out of play and later failing to impact in the final third when given the opportunity. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was perhaps not at his best and Son Heung-min was entirely anonymous, with Spurs’ biggest names failing to shine at Wembley.

It wasn’t just the players, though.

Laporte headed the winning goal but Spurs will feel he shouldn’t have been on the pitch; both he and Ruben Dias were incredibly fortunate to escape early yellow cards for fouls on attempted Spurs counters.

Referee Paul Tierney somehow contrived to let them both off, before Laporte did finally receive a booking minutes later - which could otherwise have seen him dismissed, though whether he’d have made that foul or not if he was already on a card is an obvious stretch.

Four in a row

Interim Spurs boss Ryan Mason is now both inexperienced and having more cup final experience than many of his much older peers will ever get to manage.

However, his team were never really on top in this game or looked like creating the chance to win - it was far more about when, and if, City would make one of their many, many chances count.

For Pep Guardiola and his side, it’s four League Cup triumphs in succession, matching the record set by Liverpool between ‘81 and ‘84.

The quadruple for this season is of course no longer on the cards, but the boss and squad will doubtless settle for this different type of awesome foursome, especially if it comes as part of a special treble of their own.