Topics: Carabao Cup, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Aymeric Laporte
The Citizens secured a narrow 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur to land their fourth successive title in the domestic competition.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side secured its first silverware of the season by beating Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday's Carabao Cup final. The Citizens were guided to their fourth title in four successive seasons thanks to Aymeric Laporte's late header, denying Spurs the opportunity to win their first trophy since 2008.

8,000 supporters were welcomed to Wembley for the final as the UK Government trialed the return of fans to sporting events in a bid to reduce Covid-19 restrictions. Having been called as a close contest prior to kick-off, it was Man City who dominated play right from the onset with the pair still dealing with the backclash from their respective attempts to feature in the breakaway European Super League. However, the Etihad outfit could not stamp their dominance and get on the scoresheet despite their flamboyance in attack.

The game's deadlock was not broken until the 82nd minute when Aymeric Laporte rose to glance home De Bruyne free-kick from the left to secure the win for Manchester City. As a result, the defender became only the third Frenchman in history to score in a League Cup final, after Louis Saha for Man Utd in 2006 and Samir Nasri for Man City in 2014. 

For Manchester City, the win over Spurs secured them their fourth successive triumph in the League Cup to equal the run of Liverpool in the early 1980s. Alongside the Reds, they are now the joint-most successful club in the history of the competition with eight titles. It is worth noting that the Citizens have not put a foot wrong in the company since losing to Manchester United in 2016-17.

Evidently, the above record has been achieved under manager Pep Guardiola who has now joined the likes of Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson and José Mourinho as the most successful managers in the League Cup's history. So far, the Spaniard as guided the Citizens to nine trophies since taking over and could secure a tenth and an 11th with his side sitting atop the Premier League table and featuring in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League.

On the contrary, Tottenham Hotspur's misfortunes in cup competitions continued. Since the turn of the century, the North London club have ended up as runners-up in five of their six finals across all competitions, failing to score in each of their last four finals - thrice in the League Cup and once in the Champions League.

Meanwhile Manchester City pair Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero also created a new record by claiming their sixth League Cup crown - the most any player has managed in the history of the competition.