Newcastle Defeat Arsenal to Reach League Cup Final

Photo : EPA

Newcastle United reached the League Cup final for the second time in three years by beating Arsenal 2-0 at St James’ Park, completing a 4-0 win on aggregate.

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Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard missed a chance to score and make the game closer. Soon after, in the 19th minute, Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy scored from a rebound after Alexander Isak’s shot hit the post.

Arsenal had already lost 2-0 at home in the first leg and played poorly again. Their defeat was confirmed when Anthony Gordon took advantage of a mistake by Arsenal’s defense in the 52nd minute and scored.

Newcastle, who haven’t won a big trophy since 1955, will now play against either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the final at Wembley next month. They want to do better than last year when they lost to Manchester United in the final. Tottenham has a 1-0 lead before the second leg on Thursday at Anfield.

Only once has a team come back from a 2-goal deficit in the League Cup semi-finals to win. After Arsenal’s big 5-1 victory over Manchester City on Sunday, many thought they could come back in this match, but it didn’t happen.

The game changed in the first half. Arsenal’s captain, Ødegaard, had a chance to score but missed, hitting the outside of the post. A minute later, Isak’s shot hit the post, and Murphy calmly scored the rebound.

Arsenal’s problems got worse when Gabriel Martinelli was injured and had to leave the field before halftime. With key players like Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka already injured, this could hurt Arsenal’s season even more.

William Saliba made a mistake when Gordon took the ball from him and almost scored from far away. Then, Gordon intercepted a bad pass from Arsenal’s goalkeeper Raya and scored easily to make it 2-0.

With the game won, Newcastle played out the rest of the match comfortably. Arsenal now has to focus on catching up with Liverpool in the Premier League after their loss.