Grim night for below-par Gunners as Newcastle put one foot in the final
Carabao Cup semi-final first leg
Arsenal (0) 0
Newcastle United (1) 2 Isak 37, Gordon 51
Ah, Arsenal and the League Cup. Talk about uneasy bedfellows.
The trophy that always seems to end in disaster for them. Leeds, Swindon, Luton, Birmingham City, that 5-1 at Spurs. Wigan in a semi-final for heaven's sake. The litany of inglorious endings seems to be set in stone.
If they are to lift the trophy now known as the Carabao Cup for only a third time, there is quite a mountain to climb now.
Goals either side of half time condemned the Gunners to a first home defeat of the season and ended a run of 13 undefeated games in all competitions.
The away end for fans at St James' Park is so high up in the gods that crampons and oxygen masks wouldn't go amiss. The team may need to gear up for a similarly demanding night in next month's return leg. They have lost 1-0 on their past two visits and won't relish the task ahead.
Mikel Arteta and the Gunners badly need something to show for all their consistency under his leadership. Almost as much as the eternally silverware-free Geordies need it - infamously cupless as they are since 1969.
If there were trophies for calendar years, Arsenal would have claimed 2024 as their own. Unfortunately for them, it does not quite work like that.
There were 7,000 fans down from the north east and their optimism was founded on recent rather than long-term history. Their weekend win at Spurs was their sixth in a row and their side looked brim-full of confidence. It was not misplaced.
An on-fire Alexander Isak looked menacing from the start, Seemingly intent on showing the Gunners what they are missing and on a mission to get his side to Wembley.
Jurrien Timber went close, heading over a Declan Rice corner from close range. Gaby Martinelli went closer still as he raced through from halfway onto a lovely first-time pass from Leandro Trossard and crashed a shot against an upright.
But Newcastle - organised, physically imposing and looking like they wanted it more - got their noses in front against the run of play and never looked back. Dubravka's long punt upfield was nodded on by Sven Botman and Jacob Murphy helped the ball out wide for Isak to thrash into the roof of the net.
Worse was to follow for the Gunners at the start of the second half when David Raya could only palm an Isak snap-shot away to his right and Anthony Gordon was on hand to bundle in the rebound in front of those ecstatic away fans.
Kai Havertz missed a sitter of a header when unmarked six yards out - the ball bouncing off his shoulder. How Arsenal could have done with that going in to give them a foothold in a tie getting away from them. How they could have done with the injured Bukayo Saka.
They won plenty of corners but for once they all came to nothing. They fired in 20 shots but the Magpies always seemed to have 11 men willing to throw their bodies in the way.
There will be no time to dwell on this setback. It's the first of five home games in a row and next up is an FA Cup tie against a Man United, who are bound to be rejuvenated after their 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Sunday, and having the benefit of another whole week off ahead of the game.
Arsenal have been on a great run but it suddenly all feels ominously demanding.
Gunners: (4-3-3) Raya - Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly (Zinchenko 78) - Odegaard, Partey (Jorginho 59), Rice - Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard (Jesus 59)
Magpies: (4-3-3) Dubravka - Livramento, Botman, Burn, Hall - Willock (Longstaff 65), Tonali, Joelinton - Murphy (Kelly 65), Isak (Barnes 65), Gordon (Almiron 76)
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