A third victory in a row against Arsenal secured a historic victory for Newcastle United at St. James’ Park. Their 2-0 victory on the night – 4-0 on aggregate – means the Magpies will return to the Carabao Cup final, two seasons after losing out at Wembley to Manchester United.
A blistering start for the home side saw Jacob Murphy open the scoring in the 19th minute, after Alexander Isak had had a goal ruled out for offside.
Anthony Gordon scored his second goal against Arsenal this season to wrap up the tie in the second half, and Mikel Arteta’s wait for a trophy continues.
As it happened
Newcastle held the advantage in the tie, with a 2-0 aggregate lead after goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon saw them beat Arsenal 0-2 at the Emirates in the first leg. However, as Mikel Arteta warned in his pre-match press conference, Arsenal’s momentum was strong after thrashing Manchester City 5-1 at the weekend. Could they turn it around?
It was a ferocious atmosphere at St. James’ Park. The Toon Army held up a banner with a simple message to their players: ’Get into them’.
They did exactly that. Arsenal defenders William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães, usually so calm and composed, were evidently flustered. The energetic Newcastle press forced the Arsenal centre-backs into mistakes and it wasn’t long before the home side’s first chance.
Five minutes in, Sandro Tonali aggressively won the ball back to find Gordon, who in turn played it in behind the Arsenal defence into the path of the in-form Isak. He emphatically finished into the top corner for what would have been the perfect start. To Arsenal’s relief though, a lengthy VAR review narrowly ruled the goal out for offside.
Embed from Getty ImagesArsenal were struggling and needed to weather the storm somehow. Their captain, Martin Ødegaard, provided some respite with two chances in quick succession. The first was blocked heroically by Dan Burn, before Ødegaard sliced his second effort into the post.
They were made to rue that in the 19th minute. Isak held up Martin Dúbravka’s goakick, and a neat combination with Gordon found the Swede through on goal once again. This time his strike rattled off the post – but Jacob Murphy was able to pop up on the rebound to put the Magpies comfortably ahead by three goals on aggregate.
The first half went from bad to worse for Arsenal. Ten minutes before half-time Gabriel Martinelli came off with an injury and was replaced by Ethan Nwaneri. Newcastle’s compact 5-4-1 formation stopped the Gunners creating any meaningful chances and deservedly sent them into halftime a goal ahead on the night.
Newcastle came racing out of the blocks for the second half. Saliba was uncharacteristically hesitant on the ball, allowing Gordon to swarm in and steal possession. With David Raya off his line and scrambling, Gordon tried an audacious effort but his shot went just wide of the post.
Embed from Getty ImagesNewcastle’s energy was unbearable for Arsenal. Just five minutes into the second half, Fabian Schär nabbed the ball off Declan Rice, who had been played a short pass by Raya. Gordon made no mistake to seal the tie as he received the ball and tucked his shot into the bottom corner. It was almost a replica of Arsenal’s opener against City.
Newcastle saw out the rest of the game unfazed. Arsenal were lacklustre going forward, while Howe’s men were resolute and gave them no way back into the match.
On the night, Newcastle were deserved winners, replicating the energy of the Toon Army in the stands. They now have the opportunity to win their first major trophy since 1955. They will find out their opponents on Thursday night after the second semi-final tie between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, which Spurs lead 1-0 on aggregate.
The lineups
NEW: Dúbravka; Hall, Burn, Schär, Botman, Trippier; Gordon, Guimarães, Tonali, Murphy; Isak
ARS: Raya; Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel, Saliba, Timber; Rice, Partey, Ødegaard; Trossard, Havertz, Martinelli
