Newcastle United couldn’t resist mocking Arsenal after defeating the Gunners 4-0 on aggregate over two legs to secure a spot in the Carabao Cup final.
The Magpies held a 2-0 advantage from the first leg at the Emirates, courtesy of goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, and Eddie Howe’s squad once again outmaneuvered Mikel Arteta’s team on home turf with an outstanding performance. ..Continue Reading
Jacob Murphy opened the scoring seconds after Martin Odegaard struck the post, before Gordon extended the aggregate lead to 4-0 early in the second half following a misplaced pass from David Raya that put Declan Rice under pressure, allowing the winger to score.
Encouraged by the passionate crowd at St James’ Park, Newcastle dominated Arsenal and will now face either Spurs or Liverpool in the final at Wembley, hoping to end a 70-year trophy drought.
Following the first leg defeat, Arteta had criticized the Puma ball used for the Carabao Cup matches, stating, “it’s tricky that this ball flies a lot” after several missed opportunities.
During the game, Newcastle fans taunted Arteta with chants of “it must be the ball,” and the club’s social media account also joined in the fun.
They captioned a picture of the yellow match-ball by writing, “The culprit:” – which led to a flurry of stunned reactions from supporters online.
Supporters were also persuaded that goalscorer Gordon took a jab at Arsenal during his post-match interview by urging his team to “stay humble.”
Many interpreted this as a subtle reference to Erling Haaland’s remark, which Arsenal used as motivation for their 5-1 triumph over Manchester City on Sunday.
“It is important for us to stay humble now,” Gordon said in an interview with Sky Sports.
“We had a good run and then two results we didn’t see coming, this is a good game to get us back on track but we need to keep our heads down.”
