That’s all for tonight. Congratulations to Newcastle, commiserations to Arsenal. We’ll be back tomorrow to find out who Newcastle will be playing at Wembley – see you then.
More from Eddie Howe
We worked a lot on set-plays this week because we knew Arsenal’s threat was so high. In the first leg we got lucky a couple of times and that influenced our team selection – we needed the height of Sven [Botman], Dan [Burn] and Fabian [Schar], especially as we were without Joelinton.
Jason Tindall and the analysts deserve a lot of credit. They put a lot of work into set-pieces and we defended them really well today.
[Did you send your players out to niggle them?] We’re always competitive. You have to be. You have to go up against your direct opponent and you have to be in their face. It wasn’t necessarily a direct order to be aggressive but we have to stand our ground, we have to win our battles. If that means a physical confrontation then, yeah, we back ourselves to mix it with them.
It’s huge. The first Wembley was brilliant, a bit unexpected, but we need to be there regularly. We need to feel like we’re there on merit, it’s not a surprise. I think we are there on merit this year. Our run hasn’t been easy. Look at who we’ve had to face – I think it’s four Premier League teams. We’ve done the hard yards and we’ve now got an opportunity. Hopefully we can learn from the last one and improve our performance. You have to learn from disappointing experiences and there are definitely things we can learn.
Since I’ve been here the fans have been absolutely magnificent and I’m so pleased they get another trip to Wembley. I just hope for them we can get a trophy.
Eddie Howe’s reaction
[Bruno Guimaraes said you were amazing today] Wow. [Turns to Guimaraes] What position did I play?!
It was a tough game. I thought tactically we were good. The intention was to be aggressive; I thought we put pressure on them early in the game which helped to solidify our plan. We had to retreat at times but I thought we were always in the game.
[When you decide to change formation?] The work started on Monday. The Champions League experience helped us because we got used to playing with really quick turnaround, two-day gameplans.
We do mould and tweak things depending on the opposition. Today we felt we needed more height in the team. We wanted real solidity at the back so we felt we had to change in order to win the game.
The players deserve credit because they followed the instructions to the letter. Fabian [Schar] had big distances to cover today. His job was to track Declan [Rice], whether he dropped low, went wide or stayed central. That’s not easy for a centre-half to do.
The three training sessions we had allowed us to repeat, repeat, repeat. And then the players have to execute.
Bruno Guimaraes talks to Sky Sports
Our fans made the difference tonight, they were unbelievable. The gaffer was very smart – everything he planned went perfectly. Here we go, another final for this club; hopefully we can win this one. It would be amazing.
[How did you feel before the game?] Anxious! It’s a big game; Arsenal are a top, top team. But when we play like that we can dream big things for this club.
[On the change of system] We did a lot of preparation by video. We played the same shape against Man Utd away from home, 5-4-1. So when the gaffer explained how he wanted to play, everyone was happy.
My job was to follow Partey everywhere. Fabian was jumping on Rice, which led to our second goal.
To get the first goal tonight was amazing. Now we can celebrate. Everyone in the city is very, very happy.
[On Alexander Isak] For me he’s the best striker around. Nobody is performing better than him. We are lucky to have him and I hope he can keep it going.
It would be a dream to lift a trophy and put my name in the club’s history. It would be amazing in my first season as captain. Hopefully we can do this.
[On Eddie Howe] He’s amazing. We could not have a better manager. Today he won the game before the match; our shape was perfect. He deserves all the credit.
Louise Taylor’s match report has dropped.
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Anthony Gordon’s reaction
It feels amazing. It was a big game. We got off to a good start in the first leg but there was still a lot to do; they’re a top team. Everyone dug in and I thought it was a top team performance.
Our fans are never in question, especially on big occasions. They always turn up and make the game so difficult for the opposition. But it was important we controlled our emotions in the right way. There were a few little scraps and fights.
We had a gameplan which we thought would work. They play for a lot of second balls. We thought if we could beat them in that area then we could catch them out in behind, which we did a couple of times.
We always press, we try to make it difficult. Special mention for Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and Sven Botman because you don’t find many centre-backs happy to go and press on the opposition’s 18-yard line. All credit to them.
It’s important for us to stay humble now. We went on a really good fun and then we had two results that we didn’t see coming, so this was a good game to put back on track. We need to keep our heads down and focus what’s in front of us.
“We all know the traditional Newcastle Non-Performance is coming at Wembley in a few weeks (please see: Supermac v Lpool 1974, Wilson v ManU 2023),” says Chris Paraskevas. “But for now let’s all log out of our Instagram accounts, stop making life difficult for the NUFC Social Media moderators, park our PTSD from the A-League All Stars game and actually dream that the MIG (Murphy Isak Gordon) can send us home from Wembley’s T̶w̶i̶n̶ ̶T̶o̶w̶e̶r̶s̶ Built-In Shopping Centre as winners.”
Full time: Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal (agg: 4-0)
Newcastle will play Liverpool or Tottenham in the Carabao Cup final on 16 March after a famous night at St James’ Park. Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon got the goals, Alexander Isak turned William Saliba’s legs to jelly – but really this was a triumph for the whole team and coaching staff.
Eddie Howe took the brave decision to switch to three centre-backs, knowing he would be slaughtered if it went wrong. Newcastle managed the game superbly, frustrating Arsenal throughout and picking them off on the break. By the end it felt like they weren’t just beating Arsenal, they were trolling them. But the occasional demonstration of the dark arts shouldn’t obscure an outstanding performance across both legs: Newcastle have hammered one of the best teams in Europe.
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90+2 min Schar is booked.
90+1 min: Newcastle substitution Lewis Miley replaces Bruno Guimaraes.
90+1 min Four minutes of added time.
90 min Rice’s corner is headed over from five yards by Lewis-Skelly, Arsenal’s best chance of the night.
89 min Lewis-Skelly combines nicely with Rice, whose shot from a tight angle is kicked away by the well positioned Dubravka.
88 min Trippier and Lewis-Skelly have words, at which point Rice comes across and shoves Trippier away. Newcastle have done the most emphatic number on Arsenal.
87 min: Double substitution Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff replace Sandro Tonali, who was excellent, and Alexander Isak, who in patches was utterly magnificent.
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86 min Okay, it wasn’t an accident. Moments later Rice wipes out Guimaraes with a really poor challenge and is booked; that wasn’t far from a red card. Guimaraes bounces to his feet and starts conducting the crowd.
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85 min Tonali is taken out off the ball by Rice. It might have been accidental, it’s hard to tell without seeing a replay.
84 min Newcastle have had 34 per cent of the possession in the second half and only two touches in the Arsenal area. One of them was Anthony Gordon’s tie-clinching goal.
83 min Sterling is booked for dissent. It’s been a bad night all round for Arsenal with a potential injury to Martinelli as well.
82 min “You see every bit of the struggle on Dan Burn’s face when he plays football,” says Gary Neville on Sky. “I know how he feels.”
81 min Jorghinho scoops a pass into the area towards Havertz, who goes over under challenge from Burn. The referee says no penalty, VAR agrees.
80 min: Double substitution for Newcastle Emil Krafth and Joe Willock replace Jacob Murphy and Sven Botman.
79 min Sterling beats Trippier, only for Murphy to get back and concede a corner. Newcastle’s wingers work so hard defensively.
78 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Jorginho and Riccardo Calafiori replace Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber.
76 min Gordon slithers past two players on the halfway line, but the last man Saliba steps across with authority to dispossess him.
75 min Tonali goes down after a challenge from behind by Partey. The referee shakes his head but replays suggest Partey kicked through Tonali to get the ball.
74 min A snap-volley from Nwaneri, 20 yards out, bobbles through to Dubravka. He’s been Arsenal’s brightest attacker since coming on.
72 min Gordon does superbly to track Nwaneri to the byline and eventually force him out of play. Eddie Howe applauds on the touchline; this has been one of his finest nights as Newcastle manager.
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70 min Botman is lucky not to be booked for a cynical block on Havertz.
68 min Arsenal win a couple of corners, though they don’t amount to anything. The referee has a word with Timber and Guimaraes after some off-the-ball nonsense. Even though this is over as a contest, I wouldn’t rule out a red card in the last quarter.
65 min Dubravka’s save from Trossard in the 23rd minute is Arsenal’s only shot on target. It’s only a slight oversimplification to say that Newcastle have done to Arsenal what Arsenal did to City on Sunday.
64 min Nwaneri beats Burn with a stepover on the right side of the area. This time his cross is excellent, flashing across the six-yard box at head height, but there’s nobody there.
63 min “As an Arsenal fan I’d like to thank Anthony Gordon for reminding me that I never cared about the League Cup anyway,” says Kári Tulinius. “Not one bit. Really.”
61 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Mikel Merino and Raheem Sterling replace Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard.
60 min Isak’s daisy-cutter from the edge of the area is comfortably saved by Raya.
59 min Newcastle’s next game is Birmingham away in the FA Cup on Saturday. Arsenal are out of that competition so they’ll have 10 days off after this, whatever the result.
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58 min When Newcastle came from 4-0 down to draw with Arsenal 14 years ago today, they didn’t get their first goal until the 68th minute. So, you know, it wouldn’t be without precedent. But right now a fifth Newcastle goal looks more likely.
56 min Tonight has been an unqualified triumph for Eddie Howe, who took a risk by switching to a back five. It has paid off perfectly; and to prove his pre-match point about adaptability, it was one of the three centre-backs who won the ball off Rice just outside the penalty area to set up Gordon’s goal.
Updated
Anthony Gordon has scored after another defensive cock-up. Gordon pressed Raya, who played a dodgy short pass into Rice. Schar sacked him – just as Rice sacked Mateo Kovacic at the weekend – and Gordon, played onside by Gabriel, swept the ball into the net.
Updated
GOAL! Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal (agg: 4-0; Gordon 52)
Newcastle are off to Wembley!
50 min In hindsight, Gordon should have put his laces through that as he had a lot of the goal to aim at. Easy to say from here though.
49 min: Just wide from Gordon! By his standards, William Saliba is having a stinker. He dithers over a pass to Raya, 45 yards from his own goal, and is robbed by Gordon. He takes the shot early, with Raya a long way out of his goal expecting the pass, but it curls just wide of the far post.
Updated
47 min Guimaraes is booked for a really poor tackle on Trossard. It was maybe halfway between a yellow and a red; the referee Simon Hooper decided on the former.
46 min Newcastle begin the second half.
Half-time reading
“Is there a heat map that covers where on the pitch players managed to have arguments and wind up the opposition?” asks Chris Paraskevas. “Because Kieran Trippier’s would be highly saturated and spread over the entirety of it. He took the Get Into Them banner message to heart...”
Half time: Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 3-0)
Newcastle’s players are almost away to get their Wembley suits measured. They lead 3-0 on aggregate after a clinical first-half performance at St James’ Park. Alexander Isak had a spectacular early goal disallowed for a very tight offside; then, less than a minute after Martin Odegaard missed a great chance at one end, Jacob Murphy scored after another ferocious shot from Isak hit the post.
Newcastle went into game-management mode after that, frustrating Arsenal by fair means and foul, and Martin Dubravka had only one save to make from Leandro Trossard. The half-time whistle came at a good time for Arsenal, who were starting to lose both their way and their rag.
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45+2 min Tonali sprays a long pass out to Gordon. He moves into the area, then goes down the line and slides a shot that is put behind by the stretching Saliba. Newcastle have been such a threat on the counter-attack.
45+1 min Gordon, who has had an excellent half, ignores a sliding challenge from Rice, cuts inside on the edge of the area and shapes a curling shot that goes not far wide of the far post.
Updated
45 min Nwaneri slaloms into the area and slides a low cross towards Havertz at the near post. Botman gets there first to make a vital clearance.
Five minutes of added time.
44 min Gordon spins behind Saliba, who pulls him back off the ball and is booked. As Gary Neville says on Sky, it’s hard to remember Saliba looking as rattled as he has in this first half.
43 min Newcastle have managed the game excellently, giving Arsenal a taste of their own medicine in some ways.
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42 min Havertz shovers Guimaraes over – those two have history – and then pushes Trippier. He’s booked.
Updated
40 min Nwaneri skips dangerously outside Hall on the right only to overhit his cross.
39 min Arsenal had a very good spell straight after the goal but in the last few minutes Newcastle have looked more comfortable. Or maybe less uncomfortable.
38 min Martinelli is moving freely enough round the touchline so it might just be a precaution.
37 min: Arsenal substitution Gabriel Martinelli has a muscle injury and is trudging off. Ethan Nwaneri replaces him.
Updated
36 min Hall’s nice free-kick is dragged wide by the off-balance Schar. Not much of a chance.
33 min Arsenal have had around 75 per cent possession, and that includes the first 10 minutes when they were under the cosh. But there have only been two chances of note, Odegaard’s shot against the outside of the post and Dubravka’s save from Trossard.
31 min Trippier leaves a bit on Gabriel, who shoves him away angrily. These two don’t care much for each other.
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30 min Arsenal are playing with a tempo and desperation usually reserved for the last 10 minutes of a game. If they can get to 1-1 by half-time they’ll be happy enough.
27 min When Alan Shearer, Newcastle’s greatest No9, scored a vicious winner against Poland at Wembley, Alex Ferguson said he struck the ball “like he wanted to kill it”. That came to mind with Isak’s two shots tonight – not least because I think he sidefooted them both, yet they were hit with ferocious power.
25 min Arsenal have a couple of corners on the right, both taken by Odegaard. The second drops dangerously in the six-yard box before being booted clear by Trippier.
Updated
23 min Arsenal haven’t given this up. Havertz gets to the byline and screws a good ball towards Trossard, whose snap shot is really well saved by the diving Dubravka. He didn’t have much reaction time but got down to his right to keep it out.
21 min In a sense that was a two-goal swing because Odegaard was inches away from making it 2-1 on aggregate. From the resulting goalkick, Murphy made it 3-0.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 3-0, Murphy 20)
More sensational play from Alexander Isak! He wins a goalkick ahead of Saliba and flicks it to Gordon on the left. Gordon’s pass – possibly intended for Murphy – is thighed into the space by Isak, who then thunders a left-foot curler against the post just outside the area. It rebounds across goal to Murphy, who gleefully puts it into the empty net.
Updated
19 min: Great chance for Odegaard! Moments after having a shot well blocked by Botman, Odegaard hits the post from 12 yards. The referee played an excellent advantage when Martinelli was fouled in the D; the ball ran through to Odegaard, who cut across it with his right foot and hit the outside of the post.
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16 min Dubravka dawdles on the ball and is very close to being robbed, I think by Trossard. In the end he did well to dig out a clearance with the ball almost behind him.
15 min Murphy plays a give-and-go on the right but overhits his deep cross towards Hall, who can only volley it into the side netting from a prohibitive angle. Murphy’s cross might have gone out of play anyway.
12 min Newcastle are all over Arsenal at the moment. I’ll tell you how bad it is: even Myles Lewis-Skelly looked flustered in possession a moment ago.
11 min Arsenal need two goals but for now – a bit like Anfield in 1989 – their main focus is to keep it tight defensively and take the sting out of the atmosphere. “If we concede an early goal we’re fecked*,” is how Perry Groves recalled George Graham’s teamtalk that night. “What I want to do is go in at half-time at 0-0, then I’ll be happy.”
* No, obviously he didn’t say ‘fecked’
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9 min It took a few minutes to confirm the offside so it must have been Spandex-tight. What the disallowed goal has done is heighten an already fevered atmosphere. The Newcastle fans, understandably, are shouting for everything.
NO GOAL! Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal (agg: 2-0)
He was offside! Simon Hooper has the unenviable task of telling the stadium why the goal has been disallowed. It looked extremely tight. Not that it matters now, but it was a finish of savage certainty from Isak.
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Alexander Isak has put Newcastle ahead on the night with a majestic finish. Raya’s long goalkick was knocked back towards the centre circle, where Gordon collected and slid an angled through ball to Isak in the inside-right channel. He moved elegantly into the area, composed himself and hammered the ball into the far top corner. It was an awesome finish – but he might be offside. There’s a VAR check.
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GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 3-0; Isak 4)
Eddie Howe wanted a fast start, and by heaven he’s got one!
4 min “I’m unfortunately old enough to remember the days when Arsenal was always referred to as THE Arsenal, I think the only football team to be honoured with such a definite article, as though it were a country,” says Nigel Moore. “Such titles have long since fallen into the colloquial wayside but that’s another story. Looking forward to penalties tonight.”
Don Howe was particularly fond of The Arsenal, wasn’t he? I think George Graham used it quite a lot too, particularly when talking about standards.
3 min The free-kick is headed away.
2 min Rice takes the corner short to Martinelli, who farts around and is dispossessed by Murphy. He runs 70 yards down the left before being fouled by Martinelli, who is a bit fortunate to escape a yellow card.
2 min Rice’s free-kick is headed behind for the first corner. Newcastle have started with a back five, so – surprise, surprise – the warm-up was all for show.
1 min Gordon fouls Havertz off the ball after 15 seconds. The free-kick is about 30 yards from goal on the right…
1 min Peep peep! Arsenal kick off from left to right as we watch.
“Good evening Rob,” begins Krish. “When I read the arricle that claimed Arteta was disappointed at the lack of activity in the transfer window I was reminded of this from the inimitable PG Wodehouse:
Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of Tolstoy’s Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day’s work strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby into the city’s reservoir, he turns to the cupboards, only to find the vodka bottle empty.
Are you trying to get Wodehouse cancelled? Hang on, are you trying to get me cancelled?
There’s an almighty roar as the players emerge from the tunnel. We can say one thing without fear of contradiction: it’s going to be emotional.
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“Arsenal fans of a pessimistic turn of mind will worry that after hubris comes nemesis, and all the good vibes around Myles Lewis-Skelly might be undone with a duff game,” begins Arsenal hobbyist Charles Antaki. “Perhaps this one is a good choice if it does go wrong, since, at 2-0 down already, failure here wouldn’t be unexpected, and one can always tell oneself that it’s only the Carabao/Milk/Rumbelows Cup, and that next week it’s the Dubai sunshine cure. Still, the optimist in us all hopes that the boy continues to do good, and help set the universe a bit more right than it is at the moment.
A remidner of the teams
Newcastle (possible 4-3-3) Dubravka; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Guimaraes, Tonali, Hall; Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Substitutes: Pope, Wilson, Targett, Krafth, Osula, Livramento, Willock, Longstaff, Miley.
Arsenal (possible 4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard.
Substitutes: Setford, Calafiori, Zinchenko, Tierney, Kiwior, Jorginho, Merino, Sterling, Nwaneri.
Referee Simon Hooper.
“Are there any signature Newcastle celebrations that Arsenal could mock tonight?” wonders Matt Dony. “(With apologies for making generalisations…) Arsenal fans have enjoyed siegementalitying themselves more than anyone else over the last few years; in order to make the social media anger worth it, the team may as well go looking for as many beefs as possible. (Beefs? Beeves?) I’m sure we’d all be happy to have some bitter North/South rivalry developing here, and some things-that-no-one-likes-to-see happening on the pitch.”
I don’t think this Arsenal team have too many distinctive celebrations do they? But there’s been plenty of needle between these teams in recent years so there’s every chance of some organic beef.
“G’day Rob,” says Chris Paraskevas. “Over the last month we’ve managed our usual party trick of playing ourselves completely out of form ahead of a ‘big’ ‘cup’ match. That must explain why Eddie Howe has broken out my old favourite, the WM formation, to follow the 5-5-0 from the first leg.
“All I know is that anything even vaguely resembling our 8-0 pre/post-season humiliation against the A-League All Stars will send me into Full Troll Mode, and the NUFC Instagram page will be flooded with my comments (again).
“I’ve been very well behaved lately – I’ve even started having full discussions with the neighbouring Amazonian parrot – but a loss here could send me over the edge.”
The Collins Dictionary defines a hobby as “an activity pursued in spare time for pleasure or relaxation”. Supporting a football team needs to be reclassified, possibly as an addiction.
Newcastle are warming up with a back four and Lewis Hall in midfield. It might be a bluff; might not. This is their possible line-up.
Newcastle (possible 4-3-3) Dubravka; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Guimaraes, Tonali, Hall; Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Updated
Mikel Arteta speaks
There’s a lot of things to manage for both teams. If we score the first goal it will play on their minds. It could be a very long match.
We were very disappointed with the result in the first leg because we created so many chances. In recent weeks we’ve been very efficient; tonight, for sure, we’ll need that to go through.
‘A central tenet of yoga being mugging off the oppo’
On this day in 2011…
Newcastle’s last major trophy was either 56 or 70 years ago, depending on your level of respect for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. They won that in 1969 and the FA Cup in 1955. I’d certainly count the Fairs Cup as a major trophy, though not everybody does.
“Looks like a decent match tonight, both teams up and down, needing something from their season, given that the title is seemingly destined elsewhere...(to be confirmed),” says Jeremy Boyce. “In other news, there is a tasty match up in the Championship tonight, with Frank’s resurgent play-off contenders Coventry City at home to leaders Leeds66%possessionUnited, both on unbeaten runs and wishing to continue that way. Not many matches, but plenty to anticipate.”
Eddie Howe talks to Sky Sports
[Do you go at them even with a 2-0 lead?] I think we have to. We don’t know any other way. We can’t change now; I don’t think that would be right. In saying that, we can tweak our way of doing it and we might have to be adaptable today. We need to find a way to win.
I think the players need to play the game with emotion but not too much emotion. We need to get the crowd in the game. If we don’t, we’re not utilising a major asset. It needs to be a strong start.
[Are you playing three centre-backs?] It’s an adaptable system! If you look at us play we’re constantly changing position. The formation is important but irrelevant – the attitude has to be right. We’ve got to be brave and we’ve got to be ourselves.
Team news
Eddie Howe has made two changes from the defeat to Fulham: Kieran Trippier and Sven Botman come in for Tino Livramento and the injured Joelinton. The inclusion of Botman suggests a switch to three centre-backs, though that’s very unlike Eddie Howe. It might be that Fabian Schar moves into midfield.
Arsenal are unchanged.
Newcastle (possible 5-2-3) Dubravka; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Hall; Guimaraes, Tonali; Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Substitutes: Pope, Wilson, Targett, Krafth, Osula, Livramento, Willock, Longstaff, Miley.
Arsenal (possible 4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard.
Substitutes: Setford, Calafiori, Zinchenko, Tierney, Kiwior, Jorginho, Merino, Sterling, Nwaneri.
Referee Simon Hooper.
Updated
“It is going to be another battle and we know how difficult it is to play there. But we have an amazing team and we trust ourselves. We have full confidence in our squad.”
The small print
The tie will go to extra time if necessary, then penalties
There’s no away goals rule
VAR is being used
Preamble
As well as being a terrifyingly long time in politics, a month is also a long time in football. When Newcastle won 2-0 at the Emirates in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, they looked nailed on to reach their second final in three years. Alexander Isak was Europe’s hottest striker, Newcastle were on a run of seven straight wins and Mikel Arteta was being openly ridiculed for talking balls.
Fast forward four weeks and the landscape looks very different. Newcastle have lost their last two games at home, including a 4-1 shellacking by Bournemouth, and Arsenal are high on life after thrashing Manchester City 5-1 on Sunday.
Newcastle are still favourites to progress and move within one game of immortality upon the Tyne. But if any team can head up north for a big game, knowing they need to win by at least two goals, and get the job done, it’s Arsenal.
Kick off 8pm. A place in the Carabao Cup final is up for grabs.
