Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham: Aymeric Laporte’s late header seals fourth-straight Carabao Cup, while Spurs’ trophy drought continues

Manchester City have won their fourth-consecutive Carabao Cup following Aymeric Laporte’s late winner in a 1-0 triumph over Tottenham Hotspur.

The French defender netted the only goal of the game, heading home Kevin de Bruyne’s cross in the 82nd minute.
This is Pep Guardiola’s seventh trophy as City boss and the 30th of his career, averaging a new title every 23 games throughout his time as a manager.

Spurs’ trophy hunt goes on

For Spurs, it has now been 4809 days since they last won any silverware, dating back to their League Cup win against Chelsea in 2008.

It could have been a different story had Laporte, the match winner, been sent off for two yellow card offences in the first half.

On two separate occasions he pulled back Lucas Moura who was breaking away and leading counter attacks for Spurs, offences that arguably should have both resulted in yellow cards and the dismissal of the Frenchman.

Regardless, he would go on to rise above substitute Moussa Sissoko and flick the ball into the far corner with just eight minutes of the match left to play.

Ryan Mason’s side will feel they could have done more, holding on for so long and having numerous opportunities to break at pace but instead taking too long and losing the ball.

It would have been the dream start for Mason, winning his first trophy after just two games in charge, but it wasn’t to be as City’s quality eventually shone through.

The match rounds off another superb cup run from Guardiola’s side and a tournament that saw plenty of great moments.

Competition stats…

Newport County’s Tristan Abrahams finished as the competition’s top scorer, tied on four goals with former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller.

There were few major upsets this year, but plenty of high action games caught the eye such as City’s 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal, Newcastle’s 7-0 win over Morecombe and Liverpool’s 7-2 triumph at Lincoln.

Few will be shocked at Guardiola and co winning yet another Carabao Cup, but this is just the first of three more major trophies up for grabs as the season comes to an end.