Newcastle United put themselves firmly in position to reach the Carabao Cup final thanks to an impressive 2-0 win over Arsenal in their semi-final first-leg clash at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
Both sides made changes to their respective starting line-ups, with Mikel Arteta making five changes to the Arsenal side that drew 1-1 at Brighton while Eddie Howe made just one change from the team that edged to a win at another North London team, Tottenham, over the weekend.
It was a lively start to proceedings as Alexander Isak caused problems for the hosts, while Arsenal’s best chance fell to Gabriel Martinelli – whose shot smashed the post after an impressive run from the halfway line.
The breakthrough came in the 37th minute when Sven Botman beat William Saliba to a long free-kick from Martin Dubravka and Jacob Murphy flicked the ball onto the path of Alexander Isak, whose effort thundered past David Raya and in off the underside of the crossbar for his 15th goal of the season and 50th in total for Newcastle.
Arteta’s men went in search of the equaliser but could only hit the wall with a free-kick while Dubravka denied Gabriel bravely from close-range after Declan Rice’s knockdown.
In the second period, the Gunners bossed possession but soon fell behind against the run of play. Jacob Murphy played a fine pass to Isak, whose initial shot was saved by the fingertips of Raya before Anthony Gordon reacted quickly to turn in the rebound.
It was a seventh consecutive victory for Newcastle United in all competitions, while Arsenal suffered their first home defeat of the season.
Both sides meet again in the second leg at St James’ Park on February 5th, with Arteta’s side facing a huge challenge ahead to overturn the deficit, while Newcastle would be hoping to reach another League Cup Final for the second time in three years.