Arsenal crumble in cauldron of St. James’ Park to lose League Cup semi-final
Newcastle United (1) 2 v Arsenal (0) 0
(Newcastle United win 4-0 on aggregate)
Murphy 19
Gordon 52
By Kaz Mochlinski at St. James’ Park
Football League Cup
Semi-Final, Second Leg
Arsenal crumbled in the cauldron of St. James’ Park, as Newcastle United responded to the inspiration provided by their passionate home support to reach the League Cup Final at the expense of the Gunners.
Leading 2-0 from the away leg in London, Newcastle repeated the result in front of their own fans to extinguish Arsenal’s hopes of a comeback, with goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon.
Just as in the first game at Arsenal, Newcastle scored one goal in each half, at the same time as comfortably keeping their opponents from breaching the black and white defensive wall.
The Gunners once more dominated possession and kept coming at Newcastle, but they lacked a creative spark to open up a deep-set defence, an issue which goes on recurring when faced with a similar challenge.
Arsenal’s failure to bring in a natural finisher in another transfer window was also highlighted by not scoring over the two legs, despite a total of 34 shots and eight clear-cut chances during the semi-final encounters.
In complete contrast, Newcastle’s front line looked sharper and incomparably more clinical, with Alexander Isak again demonstrating why he is persistently reported to be the forward most coveted by the Gunners’ hierarchy.
Having opened the scoring in the first leg, Isak thought that he had managed to perform the same feat at St. James’ Park after just three minutes, with a breathtaking strike beyond David Raya into the top of the net.
Isak took advantage of Gordon’s brilliant ball through the Arsenal defence to race into a shooting position, taking one touch before unleashing a perfectly-timed effort which had the whole stadium on its feet in awe.
However, the timing of Isak’s run was not quite as ideal, being offside by such a narrow margin that it took the VAR an agonising three minutes before ruling out the goal and giving Arsenal the most immense reprieve.
The Londoners almost profited when Martin Ødegaard was able to conjure some space as he momentarily got away from Sandro Tonali, who otherwise marked the Arsenal captain out of the match in a battle of the two number eights.
Ødegaard was not given more than a split-second to get off a shot as he reached the ball first on a run into the right side of the penalty box, yet he still steered it onto the post, close but not close enough.
Within a minute, in their next attack, Newcastle went into the lead on the night - and effectively ended the semi-final as a contest. At least it was not in the fourth minute and the Gunners had held out into the 19th minute of the game.
Inevitably, it was Isak who again played a big part in cutting open the Arsenal back line, receiving Martin Dúbravka’s goalkick with a flick round the corner for Gordon, the Magpies’ other main threat going forward.
The England winger is continuing on his improving trajectory and increasingly impressing, this time with a magnificent volley from midfield fired through for Isak to chase into his strike range in a spectacular one-two.
The Swede’s first shot past Raya had been with his right foot, while this opportunity fell to him on his left foot and he very nearly equalled his earlier effort, as he sent it flying out of reach of the Gunners’ goalkeeper as before.
Isak’s momentary disappointment when the ball rebounded off the post was short-lived, as Murphy was following up to calmly slot home with a first-time connection on the angle, although it grazed the post on the way in.
The goal was greeted with roars of joy cascading around St. James’ Park, and the noise never seemed to subside, helping the home side to sustain their workrate in constantly chasing and closing down Arsenal.
If the situation for the visitors was not completely hopeless at half-time, then it quickly became almost impossible after the interval when Gordon doubled Newcastle’s lead on the night, exactly like he had done in the previous match.
Arsenal had several times only barely escaped from the hosts’ energetic pressing around the pitch without giving the ball away, but eventually they played themselves into trouble as their routes out from the back were shut off.
First Gordon robbed William Saliba before shooting wide from distance with Raya stranded out of his goal. Then, three minutes later, the keeper tried to force a risky pass to Declan Rice, who was immediately tackled by Fabian Schär.
Gordon was again alert and ready to receive the ball, making sure that he made the most of his second chance, turning it straight by Raya, with the Spaniard having come off his line in possession and unable to get back in time.
Whether the tumultuous atmosphere played a part or not, this was a bad error by Raya in a generally jittery Gunners display at the back. It was Gordon’s gain, and, after scoring in the first leg in the 51st minute, he grabbed a goal in the 52nd minute of the return tie.
Numerous Arsenal fans began leaving the stadium at that point, quite understandably having lost the faith that any kind of an effective recovery could be conjured up in these circumstances.
The Geordie celebrations meanwhile were unrestrained, despite almost 40 minutes still being left to play, knowing that they would be heading back to Wembley in the middle of next month for a second League Cup Final in three seasons.
It rewarded head coach Eddie Howe’s bravery in switching from his usual back four to a three-man defence, specifically for this semi-final, with two wing-backs pushing forward rather than just holding on to the first leg advantage through a last line of five defenders.
Moeover, Howe had three attackers instead of isolating Isak on his own, and the triumvarate won the game for Newcastle by their high pressing and threat of fast counters constantly pinning back Arsenal.
70 years have elapsed since the Toon Army last savoured a domestic trophy triumph, winning the FA Cup back in 1955. They have reached five finals subsequently, but lost them all. Is that finally about to change?
The Magpies have not picked up silverware of any kind since the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969. During the 56 years following that final there have been very few more memorable nights at St. James’ Park than this one.
Newcastle have now overcome four London clubs in successive rounds of this season’s League Cup, in Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford and Arsenal, with the latest success being by far their biggest of the current campaign.
They managed to seal it after two defeats in a row at home in the Premier League, to Bournemouth and Fulham, as well as losing their influential midfielder Joelinton, who was ruled out of the second leg with a knee injury.
That had increased Arsenal’s belief that they could overturn the deficit from the home match, in addition to having just obtained their best result of the season in Sunday’s 5-1 thumping of Manchester City.
Only three days later they were having to come to terms with going out of a second cup competition in two consecutive months, following their elimination from the FA Cup by Manchester United three and a half weeks ago.
The Gunners still have the Champions League and the Premier League to pursue for now, but in the League Cup they have not been successful since 1993, with their most recent final appearance coming in 2018.
With Mikel Arteta as head coach, they have got through to the semi-finals twice, in 2022 and this time. So far, Arsenal under him are yet to record a win at this advanced stage of the tournament, against either Liverpool or Newcastle United.
Arteta has lifted the FA Cup with Arsenal, in 2020 behind closed doors during the Covid pandemic. But there is an expectation around the club for more titles, and this will feel like an opportunity missed.
Newcastle United: (3-4-3) Dúbravka - Schär, Botman (Krafth 80), Burn - Trippier, Guimarães (Miley 91), Tonali (Longstaff 87), Hall - Murphy (Willock 80), Isak (Wilson 87), Gordon
Arsenal: (4-2-3-1) Raya - Timber (Calafiori 78), Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly - Partey (Jorginho 78), Rice - Martinelli (Nwaneri 37), Ødegaard (Sterling 61), Trossard (Merino 61) - Havertz
Attendance: 52,173
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