Nico O’Reilly says Manchester City smell blood in their pursuit of Arsenal in the title race after beating Mikel Arteta’s team in the Carabao Cup final.
The England international was the match-winner at Wembley on Sunday, scoring two goals in four minutes to end Arsenal’s hopes of the quadruple.
And he believes it is a boost for City and a blow for Arsenal in the title race, with Arteta’s league leaders having to visit the Etihad Stadium on 19 April.
“It does a lot for us, build momentum and just push on now,” said O’Reilly. “Obviously, it’s a big blow for them. They were going for everything, just as we were [before being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid].”
O’Reilly told CBS that City smelled blood in the water now. “Yeah, 100 per cent,” he added. “The blood never went, we’ve always smelt blood. We’re confident in ourselves, we know we can do it, they’ve got to come to our place, which is a tough place to come to, as everyone has seen this season. So we do smell blood, and we’ve got to keep going.”
O’Reilly believes City have an advantage in the serial winner Pep Guardiola, who has now claimed 19 trophies in his time at the Etihad Stadium.
“Just his winning mentality,” he said. “He wants to win everything. He wants us to work hard every day.”
