Pep Guardiola hails Manchester City's "outstanding" second-half display

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has praised his players for the "outstanding" manner in which they dismantled Arsenal to win the EFL Cup.

The Catalan coach earned his first piece of silverware in English football with the 3-0 victory, seeing his side cruise over the line after Vincent Kompany and David Silva added to Sergio Aguero's first-half opener.

Neither side truly got going in a flat first half at Wembley, but City looked comfortable throughout the second period and took their chances when they arrived for a fifth success in this competition.

Guardiola was particularly pleased by the Citizens' showing in the second 45, and now hopes to push on by adding the Premier League and Champions League trophies to this season's collection.

"It's important. We're so happy, and a big congratulations to all of Manchester City, and our fans," he told Sky Sports News. "This trophy is for Manchester City and not for me.

"The first half we were not good, there were a lot of mistakes, in the second half we played with a lot more courage and personality - we were outstanding.

"It was so important to win this one, because we played 10 v 11 for 45 minutes [against Wigan Athletic] so it wasn't easy. But now we concentrate on the Premier League, where we will try to win the rest of our games, and the Champions League, too."

Guardiola has now triumphed in seven of his eight major domestic and European finals, losing only to Real Madrid with Barcelona in the 2011 Copa del Rey.