How to Watch Arsenal vs Man City in the Carabao Cup Final Today
Kick-off time, free live streams, TV channels around the world, team news, and everything that makes this League Cup final worth clearing your Sunday afternoon for.
There are cup finals, and then there are moments that feel like they matter beyond the 90 minutes. Today’s Carabao Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester City at Wembley is the second kind.
For the first time in the competition’s 66-year history, the two teams sitting first and second in England’s top division are meeting in the final. That alone should tell you everything about the weight of the afternoon ahead.
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The Carabao Cup final kicks off at 4:30 p.m. GMT, which translates to 12:30 p.m. ET and 9:30 a.m. PT for viewers in the United States. Wembley Stadium in London is the venue, and if the last few months of English football are any guide, this is not a match you want to start trying to find a stream for five minutes before kick-off.
How to Watch in the United Kingdom
The best news for UK supporters is that it’s free. The 2026 Carabao Cup final is free-to-air on ITV1, with a live stream on ITVX. ITV1 coverage begins at 3:30 p.m., offering an hour of build-up before the 4:30 p.m. kick-off. With a valid TV Licence, ITVX costs nothing and works on smart TVs, phones, tablets, and laptops. In Scotland, coverage moves to STV and the STV Player.
Sky Sports subscribers are also covered. Sky begins its coverage on Sky Sports Football from 3:30 p.m., with Sky Sports Main Event picking up from 4:15 p.m. Sky customers can also stream the match through the Sky Sports app or via Now TV.
If you are not a Sky customer but want the option, Now Sports offers Daily, Monthly and Annual passes, with prices starting at £14.99 for 24-hour access. For a one-off final, the Day Pass is the sensible route. You get the full match, the pre-match show, and all the post-match coverage without locking yourself into a contract.
How to Watch in the United States
Arsenal vs. Man City will be streamed exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States, as CBS holds the broadcast rights to all EFL competitions this season. Plans start from $8.99 a month, but you can get your first month for $1 via a Walmart+ trial.
That is a negligible amount of money for what is arguably the most significant club match of the English football weekend. There is also a free stream available in the US via CBS Sports Golazo, which makes this one of the more accessible cup finals for American audiences in recent memory.
How to Watch in Canada and Australia
In Canada, the 2026 Carabao Cup final is being shown on DAZN, with subscriptions starting at CA$24.99 per month. Australian fans will find the final on beIN Sports and beIN Sports Connect, with prices starting at AU$15.99 per month after a seven-day free trial for new users.
Watching From Abroad
If you are travelling and find your usual streaming service blocked by geo-restrictions, a reliable VPN is your most practical workaround. A VPN allows you to establish a secure, encrypted connection online, and by virtually placing yourself in a country where the game is being broadcast, you can bypass blackout restrictions and watch the match live.
Services like NordVPN and Surfshark are the most commonly recommended options for sports streaming. If you are a UK resident temporarily abroad, using a VPN to access ITVX means you can still catch the final for free.
What Is Actually at Stake
The watching instructions are one thing. The reason you should be watching is another conversation entirely.
Arsenal have not lifted the League Cup since April 1993, and six defeats in finals since then, including one against Manchester City in 2018, have only deepened the frustration. That is more than three decades of coming close enough to feel it and leaving with nothing.
Mikel Arteta has already guided this club to an FA Cup in 2020, and victory here would make him the first Arsenal manager to win his opening two major cup finals. More remarkably, Arteta has never lost at Wembley in eight appearances as either a player or a manager, a record that sits quietly in the background of every pre-match conversation like a talisman nobody wants to jinx.
Arsenal are nine points clear at the top of the Premier League and remain in contention across four competitions, with talk of an unprecedented quadruple growing louder with each passing week. For Arteta’s side, this is the chance to get the first trophy on the board, the kind of win that changes the temperature in a dressing room and reminds a squad that the belief they carry through the league is not misplaced.
For Manchester City, the optics are different. It has been five years since City won the Carabao Cup. Pep Guardiola guided City to four successive Carabao Cup titles between 2018 and 2021, and Sunday is their first final since the end of that run.
Their Champions League hopes were ended by Real Madrid in midweek, and a one-win run in their last five matches has cast a shadow over what once looked like a genuine title challenge. A cup win today does not fix the league gap, but it would at least give a season that has lurched uncomfortably in recent weeks something concrete to point to.
Team News
Arteta was keeping his cards close to his chest ahead of the final but did not rule Jurrien Timber or Martin Odegaard out of contention. Mikel Merino, however, is ruled out entirely.
Arteta also declined to confirm whether Kepa Arrizabalaga would keep the gloves ahead of first-choice David Raya. The Arsenal No. 2 has started every round of the Carabao Cup this season, including the semi-final win over Chelsea.
Expect Kepa to start. Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka appear certain to start, while Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard could also feature from the off.
On the City side, the news arriving from Wembley on the morning of the match is that Ruben Dias is out with a hamstring injury. Marc Guehi is also unavailable as he is cup-tied following his appearances for Crystal Palace earlier in the competition.
Guardiola has confirmed that James Trafford will start in goal ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma, a selection that raised a few eyebrows but reflects the fact that Trafford has served as City’s cup goalkeeper throughout this campaign. Erling Haaland leads the attack. Rodri and Bernardo Silva are expected in midfield.
The Road to Wembley
Neither side had a straightforward route here, even if the early rounds looked comfortable on paper. Arsenal beat Port Vale away in round three, then Brighton at the Emirates, before needing penalties to see off Crystal Palace after a 1-1 draw.
They then beat Chelsea 3-2 at Stamford Bridge in the semi-final first leg, before Kai Havertz’s 96th-minute goal in the return leg sealed the Wembley berth. That late winner against Chelsea was the kind of moment that gives a cup run its spine.
City, meanwhile, dispatched Huddersfield and Swansea away from home before knocking out Brentford at the Etihad in the quarter-finals, and then overcoming holders Newcastle United 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. Comfortable enough, but the form they carried into those ties looks considerably shakier today than it did in January.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
If you are watching from the UK and find yourself without a television this afternoon, Arsenal’s own app will carry a pre-match show from 3:15 p.m., with commentary from Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke for the full 90 minutes. It is not the most obvious option, but for supporters who want the full matchday ritual without a television in reach, it does the job.
Kick-off is at 4:30 p.m. GMT. Make sure you are set up before the build-up begins, because on a day like this, the atmosphere before the first whistle is half the experience.
