Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes the Football League should change the rules of the EFL Cup so Marc Guehi is eligible to face Arsenal at Wembley next month.

City beat Newcastle United 3-1 in the second leg of their semi-final tie on Wednesday, sealing a 5-1 aggregate success after triumphing 2-0 at St James' Park two weeks ago.

Omar Marmoush netted twice and Tijjani Reijnders joined him on the scoresheet to effectively end the tie within 32 minutes, though City gave up plenty of chances in an open second half.

Guardiola's side were without January recruit Guehi, who was ineligible due to not being registered before the start of the Newcastle tie.  

Guehi will also be unable to face Arsenal in the showpiece match on March 22, though Guardiola plans to protest that ruling.

"Hopefully in March, we can arrive with the players fit," Guardiola told Sky Sports.

"And hopefully you can convince the Carabao Cup that Marc Guehi should play in the final, because it's difficult to understand that the club makes a big investment to pay a player who belongs to us, and I don't understand why he cannot play.

"So hopefully we will write a letter and the Carabao Cup can understand. He's not able to play, because of a rule that I don't understand. Hopefully, they can change it."

We'll meet Arsenal at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final  pic.twitter.com/221J7fkfNl

— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 4, 2026

City have now reached the EFL Cup final on 10 occasions, level with Chelsea and Manchester United, with only Liverpool (15) doing so on more occasions.

City won the competition four times in a row between 2017-18 and 2020-21, though this is the first time they have gone beyond the last eight since then.

Reflecting on City's return to the final, Guardiola said: "We've been there many years, many times. Hopefully, we arrive all good, all fit in March to compete against an exceptional, top-class team.

"In these two games we had a good result. We started the game not at 0-0, but at 2-0, but after we started the game, anything could happen. We started with the right pace and momentum, everything was really, really good."

Given City have overhauled their squad since winning their last major trophy, the Premier League title in 2023-24, Guardiola hopes reaching the final can provide the new faces in his squad with the belief needed to change for more silverware.  

"It will be good. You have to live this experience. The first title we won here was in the Carabao Cup," Guardiola said.

"When you win something, it helps you to win more. It's a pleasure to play against Arsenal, the best team right now in Europe and maybe the world."