English Premier League giants Arsenal and Manchester City compete in the final of the 2018 League Cup on Sunday, February 25. The tournament, which has always been an important part of the English football calendar, has been named Carabao this season owing to sponsorship reasons.
The competition may not be that important for some managers but the fact remains that winning the League Cup trophy gives any English club's season an added impetus, no matter where they finish on the Premier League table.
Winning the trophy indeed made a lot of difference to Jose Mourinho's Manchester United last season. Even Zlatan Ibrahimovic bragged about it as he uploaded one of those rare Instagram posts of his.
Manchester City have won the League Cup trophy a total of four times and they no doubt would want to make it five and draw level with United. Arsenal, meanwhile, have not won the EFL Cup for more than 20 years and there's no reason why Arsene Wenger wouldn't be enthusiastic enough to lay hands on the trophy he has never been able to win.
Alexandre Lacazette (knee injury), Santi Cazorla (Achilles tendon injury) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (played League Cup with Man Utd) are not a part of the Carabao Cup 2018 final, and it remains to be seen if Aaron Ramsey is fit to play after recovering from a groin injury.
For Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, Raheem Sterling could be a doubt for the match as he has a muscle injury. Left back Fabian Delph is suspended.
Carabao Cup 2018 final schedule
Date: February 25
Time: 10 pm IST (4:30 pm GMT)
Venue: Wembley
How to watch live
India: TV - MTV/HD, VH1/HD | Live streaming - Jio TV
UK: TV - Sky Sports, Now TV | Live streaming - Sky Go
