Guardiola beyond happy with James Trafford as he confirms he will start EFL Cup final

[p]The first major trophy of the 2025-26 English football season is up for grabs on Sunday afternoon as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/arsenal/hA1Zm19f/"]Arsenal[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]City[/a] go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium. [/p][p]Arsenal are unbeaten in each of their previous six meetings with City and won on penalties in the Community Shield in August 2023 when the sides last met at Wembley. [/p][p]However, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/guardiola-pep/hxNijWrJ/"]Guardiola[/a] is a four-time winner of the EFL Cup and could become the first manager to conquer the tournament on five occasions. [/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/trafford-james/ET616yZQ/"]Trafford[/a] will start in goal[/h2][p]He first spoke on James Trafford, who will start the game ahead of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/donnarumma-gianluigi/WScbdXmL/"]Gianluigi Donnarumma[/a], after comments that he was disappointed not to feature more for the side. [/p][p][b]“(It is a) big moment for the team.” [/b][/p][p][b]“Good. Nothing to say. Players can be happy or unhappy; it is what it is. We have to do our best when they do, and afterwards we have to see what happens at the end of the season.” [/b][/p][p][b]He also stated that he is “beyond” happy with how Trafford has been performing. [/b][/p][embed guid="59cb8f88-0952-47b2-9ba3-9467b07ec6b0" url="https://x.com/Carabao_Cup/status/2034653623700070804?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Could Arsenal win the quadruple?[/h2][p]Arsenal are top of the Premier League and remain in all four competitions this season. If they lift the EFL Cup, then their chances of winning the quadruple rise. [/p][p]Guardiola praised the North London side, who reached the Champions League quarter-final earlier this week after they beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bayer-leverkusen/4jcj2zMd/"]Bayer Leverkusen[/a]. [/p][p][b]“They control many things and many aspects of the game, (and) the spirit for many years not winning make that boost and the solidarity in other aspects. [/b][/p][p][b]“They control when they defend deep, when they hide, build-up, long balls, second balls, so many good things. [/b][/p][p][b]“In the Champions League, they won all their games in the group stage and just drew against Leverkusen, so it will be a big challenge to see our level. [/b][/p][p][b]Their quadruple hopes: “For them, yes, because they are in four titles.”[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/arsenal-hA1Zm19f/manchester-city-Wtn9Stg0/?mid=rJ3qBSJD"]Follow the final with Flashscore.[/a][/p]