Newcastle brushed Arsenal aside to book their place in the Carabao Cup final on Wednesday night
NEWCASTLE 2-0 ARSENAL (4-0 AGG): The Magpies easily defeated the Gunners to secure their spot at Wembley, making a joke of assertions that their 2-0 first-leg advantage may be eliminated.
Newcastle secured their spot in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, where they will attempt to win a first domestic trophy in seven decades, with a bold and devastating performance against in-form Arsenal on Wednesday night.
After their strong first-leg performance, Eddie Howe’s team entered the match with a 2-0 lead, but there were concerns that this could be a risky score against an Arsenal team that crushed Manchester City 5-1 the previous weekend.
However, the Magpies disproved those assertions with a relentless effort to frustrate the Gunners, taking a 1-0 lead through Jacob Murphy in the first half after Alexander Isak’s previous attempt was disallowed for offside.
Martin Odegaard had a great chance to equalise from close range in the first half, but Arsenal seemed slow despite their heroics against City.
After Anthony Gordon took advantage of a disastrous mistake by David Raya to make it 2-0 and leave fans dreaming of triumph at Wembley, Newcastle maintained the pressure on the Gunners in the second half.
Following Arsenal’s defeat at St. James’ Park, Mirror Football has examined six talking themes.
Isak was rejected by a close VAR decision.
Within the first four minutes, a stunning through pass from Anthony Gordon put Alexander Isak through on goal, giving the Magpies the impression that they had virtually secured their spot in the Carabao Cup. It could have been a perfect start for them.
To the dismay of ecstatic Newcastle supporters, the Swedish forward took one touch before finishing brilliantly past Raya, only to find out he was just offside.
After giving it a thorough examination, VAR drew up the lines and concluded that, even though Isak appeared level in the zoomed-out photo, a tiny portion of him was just off.
Even though Isak had such a calm and impressive finish to continue his incredible season, which has sparked a lot of interest from the Gunners, the neutrals were devastated to see his goal chalked off.
Arsenal regrets their expensive blunder.
Football life moves swiftly, and this match may have turned out differently if Martin Odeagaard had put on his shooting boots correctly on Wednesday night.
Leandro Trossard beautifully backheeled the ball into the path of Gabriel Martinelli, who was sent flying by Dan Burn after a superb Gunners play. Odegaard then saw the ball roll into his path and let it fly, but the goal gaped and he somehow missed the target entirely.
Shortly after, Newcastle went up the other end and made it 3-0 on aggregate, making the Norwegian pay for his startling miss. Isak’s attempt struck the crossbar, and Josh Murphy was able to bundle into the net with the rebound.
For Mikel Arteta’s men, it seemed like a horrible turn of events, but they can only blame themselves for not seizing their enormous opportunity.
Martinelli’s worries
Arsenal’s game started to go awry, and after they fell behind by a goal, things only got worse.
Gabriel Martinelli appeared to be having trouble after suffering a muscular injury just before halftime.
The Brazilian wouldn’t have left the game unless it was absolutely essential, but he didn’t appear to be able to continue once the physiotherapists arrived to treat him.
Arteta replaced him with young Ethan Nwaneri since he obviously didn’t want to take any chances in case he made the situation worse.
If his injury turns out to be severe, it would further heighten the outcry from Arsenal supporters who wondered why the team didn’t make any acquisitions during the January transfer window.
The City hangover for Arsenal
Newcastle tore up the script, leaving everyone hoping Arsenal would maintain their crushing form from that heartbreaking 5-1 victory over City speechless.
Even the most pessimistic fans might have expected that they would put up such a poor performance on Tyneside, even if we know that 2-0 is a difficult scoreline that can alter rapidly, especially for a team like Arsenal.
Gary Neville, who was on commentary duties, said that William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes appeared “rattled” and that the Gunners were slow from the opening whistle.
Isak left Saliba in the dust for Newcastle’s opening goal, and Gabriel failed to stop Murphy from turning the ball into the empty net.
Gabriel headed the ball back to Saliba in a dangerous position, and the Frenchman turned straight into Gordon, who was just inches away from lobbing Raya off his line, giving the Magpies a 2-0 lead in the second half.
However, Gordon scored the goal he was due moments later when Raya’s throw to an under pressure Declan Rice was intercepted by Fabian Schar, who then let the winger score after more careless play by Arsenal.
Their performance over the weekend was quite different from this, and Arteta will be astonished by how drastically their levels fell.
Shearer makes fun of Wright Because Alan Shearer and Ian Wright are close friends both on and off screen, it was only a matter of time until the Newcastle acolyte made fun of his friend who supports Arsenal.
Shearer praised Isak’s performance on Twitter after witnessing his commanding performance up front, which had Gabriel and Saliba chasing shadows.
He ridiculed Gabriel and Saliba’s performance against the Swedish striker after tagging Wright, who appeared oddly silent on social media as Arsenal lost 2-0 that evening.
His message was, “Hey @IanWright0,” “Discuss our guy Isak’s matchup with your two centre backs!
Newcastle supporters make fun of Arteta
Arteta’s striking remarks following the conclusion of the first leg last month have not been forgotten by Newcastle supporters.
When he blamed the ball for their 2-0 loss at the Emirates, the Spaniard made headlines. After taking 23 shots, the team’s xG was 3.09.
“I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar and it’s tricky that this ball flies a lot,” Arteta remarked at the time. We also talked about that, so there are specifics where we can improve.”
“Mikel Arteta, it must be the ball” was a slogan that Newcastle fans used to provoke Arteta following yet another resounding victory.
