ALEX CROOK PREVIEW: EFL Cup Final

The first showpiece final of the season at Wembley on Sunday is a titanic tussle between the top two in the Premier League, writes ALEX CROOK.

It could also be the first leg of an unprecedented quadruple for Arsenal, who are now as short as 14/1 to complete a clean sweep of all four trophies.

This is the first time in the history of the League Cup that the final has been played out between the teams first and second in the table and it feels like an opportunity for Arsenal to gain a mental advantage over their title rivals heading into the run-in.

The relentless Gunners booked their place in the quarter finals of the Champions League by sweeping aside Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at home on Tuesday.

City meanwhile were dumped out on the same night by Real Madrid, raising fresh doubts over whether this could be the final week weeks of Pep Guardiola’s trophy-laden tenure.

That 5-1 aggregate defeat followed another disappointing result in the Premier League as they were held to a 1-1 draw at West Ham last weekend, handing Arsenal a massive leg-up in their pursuit of a first championship in 23 years.

Guardiola would love to prove there is life in the old dog yet by winning this competition for a record fifth time, but the great Spaniard is bidding to avoid a third straight cup final defeat.

It was fascinating to see the City boss try and park the bus when the two teams played out a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in September, a mark perhaps of how he now sees the Gunners as the dominant force in English football.

Arsenal have not won this competition since 1993 when they beat Sheffield Wednesday in both cup domestic cup finals under George Graham and it has been a long six years since Arteta led them to FA Cup glory to earn his sole trophy as manager.

I am pretty convinced that silverware drought will be coming to an end, especially as City’s already suspect defence is missing the cup-tied Marc Guehi, much to Guardiola’s annoyance. Arsenal to win in 90 minutes at 5/4 with starsports.bet looks like a cracking price to me.

Guardiola substituted Erling Haaland just 11 minutes into the second half against Real, presumably to rest him for this final, but the striking Viking has failed to score on any of his previous SIX visits to the national stadium and I think Arsenal’s mean defence can shut him out again.

Haaland was in the City side that lost to Crystal Palace in last season’s FA Cup final when a certain Eberechi Eze bagged the only goal. Eze scored a stunner to set Arsenal on their way against Leverkusen and loves notching at Wembley for both club and country. The England international is my choice for first goalscorer at 8/1 with starsports.bet.

Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover will no doubt have been working on some special plays for this final so we can expect plenty of deal ball situations. My build-a-bet is Arsenal to win, Eze to score at any time and over 6.5 corners which returns 7/1 with starsports.bet.

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