EFL Cup final review

The EFL Cup has concluded and Manchester City were able to retain their crown, beating Chelsea on penalties after the game ended 0-0. This is a big contrast from when the two teams faced each other on the league two weeks ago and City thumped Chelsea 6-0. Sarri decided that he had to switch it up a little and decided to play Hazard as a false 9 and keep Higuain on the bench. During the first 5 seconds, there was already a challenge by Jorginho on Aguero which could have merited a yellow or even a red card, but only a foul was given. There wasn’t much action during the 120 minutes with minimal opportunities for both teams. The best chance coming to Kante who was a good position after some good work from Hazard but blasted it over the bar.

The most intriguing moment of the evening came deep into extra time when it appeared that Chelsea keeper Kepa was injured. Sarri decided to substitute him for Caballero, only for Kepa to refuse to come off. This sent Sarri crazy and he had an outburst on the bench and almost walked down the tunnel to calm down but changed his mind. This all occurred right before the penalties and he was so furious that he only joined the Chelsea penalty team talk for the last 15 seconds. In the post-match conference, he explained that it was all a misunderstanding and he was told that Kepa had a cramp and had to come off, only for Kepa to give himself the all clear. It seems by his reaction on the bench that this was not the case and that Kepa was just disobeying his orders.

Kepa was able to save Sane’s shot in the penalty shootout, however, City scored their other four with Jorginho and Luiz missing for Chelsea meaning that City won their 6th EFL Cup. There were rumors that if Sarri lost this match he was getting the sack, but it seems that after the fighting performance the Chelsea players put on Yesterday, Sarri will continue in his post. Congratulations to Manchester City to winning their first piece of silverware this season and potentially the first in their quadruple.