Newcastle reached their second Carabao Cup final in three years after a 2-0 victory over Arsenal secured a whopping 4-0 win on aggregate in the semi-finals.
Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon scored the Magpies’ goals on the night at St James’ Park, adding to Gordon and Alexander Isak’s strikes in the first leg in a dominant performance over two legs against Mikel Arteta’s men.
Having seen an early Isak goal ruled out for offside, Murphy netted after only 16 minutes to send Tyneside into raptures before Gordon added another in what turned out to be a comfortable night as the toothless Gunners failed to lay a glove.
Eddie Howe’s side will face either Liverpool or Tottenham in the Wembley final on March 16. Spurs currently lead Liverpool 1-0 ahead of Thursday’s second leg at Anfield.
Newcastle vs Arsenal
The tie was almost over only four minutes in when Alexander Isak delightfully finished off Anthony Gordon’s through pass but, after a VAR check, the goal was ruled out for offside.
Martin Odegaard then saw a curled effort charged down by Sven Botman before slicing a right-footed strike off the post for what at the time looked like it could be costly.
And not long later, Newcastle really were in the driving seat a brilliant one-two between Isak and Gordon resulted in the Sweden striker smashing the post with a shot and Murphy was on hand to slide home the rebound.
“DENIED ONCE, BUT NOT THIS TIME!”
Alexander Isak’s effort hits the post but Jacob Murphy is there to finish off the rebound 🎯 pic.twitter.com/YcULFNSHIM
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 5, 2025
Three goals down on aggregate, but Arsenal looked far from down and out though and Leandro Trossard forced a smart save out of Martin Dubravka as the North Londoners looked to put the pressure on.
The Gunners continued to push for a crucial goal before the break but it was Gordon who went the closest on the break before the referee blew the whistle, curling an effort wide before another shot was blocked.
Newcastle dominate toothless Arsenal
Newcastle continued to unsettle the visitors and could easily have found a second when Gordon picked the pocket of Saliba with Raya in no man’s land but the England forward’s long-range effort curled just slightly too wide.
Once again, Arsenal did not learn their lesson as Fabian Schar’s high press fell the way of Gordon, who tucked it past Raya to put the Toon four up and allowed the Geordie faithful to start booking their tickets to Wembley.
St James’ Park is ROCKING! 🎵🔥
Newcastle capitalise on some sloppy play from Arsenal at the back and Anthony Gordon extends the lead ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/eSHmxkmpha
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 5, 2025
Arsenal continued to see most of the ball but failed to create any clear-cut chances. Set pieces were once again their biggest threat but Newcastle were able to deal with them comfortably on the whole.
When they finally did make a connection from a corner in the final minute of normal time, Myles Lewis-Skelly headed over with the goal gaping for a miss which compounded Arsenal’s miserable night.
