Newcastle reached the Carabao Cup final for the second time in three seasons after a 2-0 semi-final second-leg win over Arsenal contributed to a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon struck for Eddie Howe’s men, extending the advantage they gained in the first leg at the Emirates on January 7 to book a spot at Wembley on March 16.
The Magpies will now face either Tottenham or Liverpool, who play in the other semi-final second leg on Thursday night, live on Sky Sports Football.
Thursday 6th February 7:00pm
Kick off 8:00pm
Newcastle almost made the dream start at a raucous St James’ Park. Alexander Isak – who came into the game having scored 14 goals in his last 13 games – escaped behind the Arsenal defence and found the net with a brutal, devastating finish.
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Newcastle are denied an early lead against Arsenal after VAR deemed Alexander Isak to be offside
The Swede lapped up every second of the home fans’ impassioned celebrations, but was quickly brought back down to earth when referee Simon Hooper announced to the stadium over the PA system the goal had been ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
But, 15 minutes later, they scored one that did count. Gabriel and William Saliba were again unable to contain Isak, who smashed an unstoppable shot off the left-hand post. Momentarily, Arsenal thought they were in the clear, until Murphy arrived to mop up and strike into an empty net.
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Murphy pounced on a rebound to give Newcastle the lead against Arsenal at St James’ Park
Another injury concern arose for Arsenal – who did not sign a forward in the January transfer window – before the break when Gabriel Martinelli went to ground holding his hamstring and was swiftly replaced by Ethan Nwaneri.
Within three minutes of the second half starting, Gordon pinched the ball from the feet of Saliba and, with Gunners goalkeeper David Raya off his line, tried his luck from 40 yards, with the ball skipping just wide of the left-hand post. But Arsenal handed their hosts a ticket to Wembley very shortly afterwards.
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Anthony Gordon scored Newcastle’s second goal of the night to put his side in a commanding position
Raya played the ball to Declan Rice, who was pressed and dispossessed by Fabian Schar, with the loose ball springing for Gordon, who struck low into the bottom-left corner.
Any hopes Arsenal had of getting back into the tie evaporated there and then, giving Newcastle a chance to end their 70-year wait for a major trophy in the capital next month.
Howe: Another Wembley final is huge for Newcastle – but we need to be there regularly
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Newcastle boss Eddie Howe explained how Fabian Schar was the key to his game plan after beating Arsenal 2-0 in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at St James’ Park
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe speaking to Sky Sports:
On changing the system: “The work started on Monday. But I think the Champions League experience really helped us. That got us working with two-day turnarounds and really quick game plans.
“We do mould and tweak things depending on the opposition, and you can see today there was a lot of change in our performance, but we felt we needed more height in the team, we felt we wanted real solidity at the back, so we felt we had to change in order to win the game and it came off today.
“I have to say the players deserve the credit because they’re following the instruction to the letter.”
On reaching Wembley again: “It’s huge. The first Wembley appearance was brilliant, it was sort of unexpected, but a club like this and where it wants to be, we need to be there regularly. We need to feel it’s not a surprise.
“We’re here on merit, our run’s not been easy. Look at the teams we’ve had to face; I think it’s four Premier League teams if I’m right, but we’ve done the hard yards and we’ve now got an opportunity.
“Hopefully we can learn from the last one and just improve our performance.”
Arteta: A tough one to swallow
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Speaking after the 2-0 to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted that Newcastle were better in both boxes over the two legs which proved to be the difference between the two sides
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta speaking in his press conference:
“We’ve played so many games, every three days, and we knew that would be a high intensity. Emotionally it was a different game to believe we could get there. And before we expected, the game got away from us.
“We need to swallow this one – it’s a tough one. We had a lot of expectation. There is nothing we can do now – we had to do it on the pitch. Now we have to look forward. It’s a painful one. We have to recharge in Dubai as we have a lot to play for.
“Errors are part of football but we are usually super consistent and composed but today we gave them hope. We allowed them to run and we were vulnerable – they are a dangerous team when they could do that.
“We had so many expectations to turn this around but we didn’t get any momentum despite having some big moments in the first half. We didn’t capitalize and the next action they scored. The game then shifted. We then needed to stay cool to score a goal but we didn’t manage to do that. Then in the second half we struggled as the game went by and the game went away from us.
“When you want to win trophies you need to be effective in the boxes. We have played two games against them and haven’t [been effective]. Overall that was the main difference. Today we were a little unsettled when the game became more chaotic we are normally more composed but we lacked a bit of that.”
Redknapp: Newcastle did to Arsenal what Arsenal do to others
Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports Football:
“They didn’t need a lot of motivating today. The atmosphere, the crowd, the way they engaged was fantastic. And the manager got the tactics absolutely spot on.
“When I saw the setup, I thought ‘this is going to be interesting’ because with Rice, Partey and Odegaard in midfield for Arsenal, they had an extra man – and if Partey starts to dictate the play and get on the ball, the longer the game goes on, if Arsenal score the first goal, Newcastle might start to get edgy.
“But they got so aggressive and they got the right balance today. I thought they were absolutely magnificent. Now everybody can relax; they’ve got a month before the final.
“I thought they thoroughly deserved it because they did to Arsenal what Arsenal do to a lot of teams, where they try to manhandle them, try to be aggressive and they stood up to it. At set-pieces they were fantastic, in the play I thought they were excellent, they had really, really great balance in their team. I keep using the word ‘balance’, but that’s exactly what it was.”
