Nico O’Reilly and Man City ‘smell blood’ in chase of Arsenal after Wembley win
By Andy Hampson, Press Association
Manchester City’s Carabao Cup final hero Nico O’Reilly is “smelling blood” in the title race after delivering a major blow to Arsenal at Wembley.
O’Reilly capped a remarkable few days – that included an England call-up and 21st birthday celebrations – by scoring both goals as City beat the Gunners 2-0 in Sunday’s showpiece.
The victory has given City renewed hope in their pursuit of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
Highlights from our historic League Cup win over Arsenal 🏆📺 pic.twitter.com/ApAvQ4deKh
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 23, 2026
They currently trail the leaders by nine points but have a game in hand and host the Londoners in a crunch fixture next month.
Asked by CBS if City now sensed an opening in the title race, O’Reilly said: “Yes, 100 per cent. The blood never went – we’ve always smelt blood. We’re confident in ourselves, we know we can do it.
“They’ve got to come to our place which is a tough place to come to as everyone has seen this season. So we do smell blood and we’ve got to keep going.
“It does a lot for us, (we can) build momentum and just push on now. Obviously it’s a big blow for them. They were going for everything.”
City dominated the contest but O’Reilly settled it with two close-range headers in the space of four minutes after an hour.
It was the perfect way to bounce back after Champions League elimination by Real Madrid and, with an FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool still to come as well, City have a big run-in ahead.
O’Reilly said: “I thought when we came out in the second half we came out with a lot of energy and threat to their goal.
“Our pressing was on it, on the ball we were on it and it looked like they didn’t know what to do to be honest.
“We will keep going. As soon as the international break is over we need to kick on and fight hard.
“We just need to focus on ourselves. The changing room is happy, everyone is happy with each other and we need to keep going.”
