Arsenal need to find answers after poor performance in Carabao Cup final loss to Man City raises questions

The expressions on the faces of the Arsenal players as they trudged up the Wembley stairs to collect their runners-up medals told the tale. An afternoon that promised so much for Mikel Arteta's side ended in depressingly familiar disappointment.

They have become painfully used to watching Manchester City celebrate at their expense. But this time was supposed to be different, an opportunity to launch a trophy-winning era of their own, and maybe even take a first step towards a quadruple.

Their season could still end in dizzying success, of course. They have a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League and favourable draws in the Champions League and FA Cup quarter-finals. "I want the players to have some perspective," said Mikel Arteta.

But the manner of this defeat, and the identity of the opponent, makes the setback all the more difficult to stomach. Arsenal have been the better team in the Premier League this term but they were made to look inferior in all departments in the second half.

Arteta might privately regret his decision to persist with cup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga over first-choice David Raya.

The failure to claim Rayan Cherki's cross was a glaring error which allowed Manchester City to break the game open. "Unfortunately it happened in a crucial moment," conceded Arteta.

But the pattern of the second half had already been established at that point. After an even first period in which Arsenal had the better chances, denied by James Trafford's triple save, they were unable to deal with City's quality and intensity at the start of the second.

At their best, this Arsenal side are capable of suffocating their opponents, keeping them pinned in their own half and piling on pressure. But on this occasion they were the ones pinned; they were the ones who could not get up the pitch.

The opener came from an individual error. According to Opta it was Arsenal's seventh in their last 22 games, having only allowed one from 28 games before that. But this time it did not come from nowhere. City's grip on the game had been tightening.

Arsenal had stopped playing. They were not helped by the absence of Eberechi Eze, whose injury, along with that of Martin Odegaard, left them without two midfield technicians. But their inability to string passes together still looked jarring.

Despite needing a goal from the 60th minute onwards, Arsenal had just 37 per cent of the possession in the second half, registering only five shots worth a meagre 0.17 expected goals.

Unable to play through Manchester City's press, they repeatedly went long. The directness had unsettled City in the early stages of the game but the ball kept coming back after that. "We needed to manage the ball much better than when we did," said Arteta.