With bench seats like De Bruyne, Haaland, Ederson and Foden, Guardiola showed that the League Cup – quite logically – is not a priority.
And yet it was enough to win over Chelsea – albeit not at its strongest.
It missed a few good chances itself, Mahrez with a free kick and Alvarez with a rebound were efficient.
Arsenal have the wind in their sails in the Premier League, but the League Cup should already be removed from the list.
The B-team, with Sambi Lokonga on the field for 80 minutes, gave up a lead against Brighton.
Trossard was not on the magazine, old acquaintances Welbeck (ex-Arsenal) and Mitoma (ex-Union) also decided in favor of the visitors.
The changeable Tottenham no longer has to take the League Cup into account in the planning.
Kane and co collided with Nottingham Forest, which deserved a 2-0 lead with the ten of them (after the exclusion of Mangala, two yellows in a few minutes).
The Spurs – with the usual names – just didn’t make enough of it. This way, the trophy case keeps begging for a fresh coat of paint.
The B-team of defending champions Liverpool was only able to beat Derby County after penalties. Also with substitutes Firmino and Nunez the 0-0 remained on the scoreboard.
The Brazilian also missed a penalty in the penalty shoot-out, but his mistake was made up for by the rest of the team: 3-2.
Goalkeeper Kelleher in particular deserves an extra pat on the back after his 3 saves.
