Manchester City’s exit makes Manchester United favorites for Carabao Cup

Manchester City lost to Southampton in the quarter-final

When Southampton hosted Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup recently, the night was all about the massive underdog side.

The Saints have endured a poor run of form, which has culminated in them losing six straight games in the Premier League and dropping to the bottom of the league table.

Interestingly, Southampton have been in blistering form in the cup competitions, having defeated Crystal Palace 2-1 in the FA Cup five days before their recent clash against Manchester City.

It is one thing to beat a fellow struggling team, but getting the better of Pep Guardiola’s side typifies the resolve of the Saints. It remains to be seen how far they can go in the Carabao Cup.

Cityzens fall to Southampton

Manchester City haven’t been at their best post the Qatar 2022 World Cup, but they’re still a formidable squad.

Before Wednesday’s game against Southampton, Guardiola’s side had won four of their last five matches, including back-to-back victories against Chelsea and another over Liverpool.

Against the Saints, though, Manchester City never quite hit such high notes. Right from the blast of the referee’s whistle, they seemed to lack something, and their lethargy encouraged the hosts to seize the moment.

Southampton v Manchester City - Carabao Cup Quarter Final

Guardiola also admitted that much in his post-match press conference when he told the Daily Mail:

“Today was not even close to what we are. We were not prepared to play in this competition to get to the semi-finals. We were not ready. You have to be prepared for every single game when you play for Manchester City, and today we were not.”

And once Sékou Mara opened the scoring, what was already a difficult evening became even more dismal. The Cityzens never recovered from conceding the first goal and fell 2-0 behind following a great lob by Moussa Djenepo five minutes later.

Manchester City were largely second-best on Wednesday and perhaps deserved to lose.

Man United are now favorites to win the Carabao Cup

As the saying goes, one man’s curse could be another’s blessing, and no set of fans would’ve been more delighted by Manchester City’s exit than that of rivals Manchester United.

The Red Devils nicely took care of business against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday and have now lined up a clash against Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

It’s fair to say Eric ten Hag’s side is now the favorite to lift the cup after Manchester City’s disappointing elimination. Forest will be no pushovers, but United has simply been on another level in recent weeks.

The Old Trafford outfit has won each of their last seven matches and they seem to be growing stronger and stronger with each passing game. Add that to the fact that the Reds haven’t won a trophy in nearly six years, and you have a team that has the right mix of motivation and ambition.

The Carabao Cup is now Manchester United’s to lose, and anything less than winning the trophy will be considered a massive bottle job.