Arsenal vs Newcastle United

Emirates Stadium forms the backdrop for the first leg of a heavyweight EFL Cup semi-final tie between Arsenal and Newcastle United.

Arsenal’s quest to halt a two-decade title drought in the Premier League suffered another setback last weekend as a ‘soft’ penalty in the second half condemned them to a 1-1 draw at Brighton. Despite stretching their unbeaten run in all competitions to 13 matches (W9, D4), the Gunners still trail table-topping Liverpool by six points after surrendering a three-match winning league streak. Therefore, manager Mikel Arteta will be desperate to reach the EFL Cup final for the first time since 2017/18. An eye-catching 13-game undefeated home run against Newcastle bodes well (W12, D1). However, Arsenal cannot afford to rest on their laurels if they’re to build a lead ahead of their trip to St James’ Park, where they slumped to a 1-0 league defeat at the start of November. 

In the meantime, Newcastle United contested the EFL Cup final as early as 2022/23 but lost to Manchester United. They got the better of Southampton in both legs that year, yet replicating that success against Arsenal is an entirely different proposition. However, the Magpies can draw heart from their recent traveling record of just one defeat from six matches (W4, D1), including a 2-1 victory in North London against Tottenham over the weekend. That was Newcastle’s sixth consecutive triumph in domestic competitions, with the previous five all coming via multi-goal margins. They had also bagged 3+ goals in four in a row before seeing off Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford, confirming their imminent resurgence after a sluggish Premier League start.