Alan Shearer loves what Eddie Howe did as Newcastle United brush Arsenal aside in Carabao Cup semi-final win

Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon scored in either half to confirm Newcastle’s place in the Carabao Cup final with a 4-0 win on aggregate. The Magpies will now face either Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool in the final at Wembley Stadium on March 16.

Spurs take a 1-0 lead into Thursday night’s second leg at Anfield.

After Newcastle’s win at St James’ Park, Shearer took to social media to assess the match.

“That was a proper performance man,” Shearer said. “Arsenal couldn’t live with the intensity. Better than them tonight in every position.”

Newcastle reached the Carabao Cup final back in 2023 but were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. This time they will be looking to go one better.

The Magpies went into Wednesday’s match leading 2-0 from the first leg at the Emirates Stadium last month with goals from Alexander Isak and Gordon. Isak thought he’d put Newcastle 1-0 up in the opening minutes at St James’ Park only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR.

Shortly after, Isak hit the post but Murphy was there to turn in on the rebound. In the second half Newcastle’s high pressing paid off as Fabian Schar won the ball off Declan Rice to pick out Gordon, who made no mistake.

Following the match, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said: “It was a great night for us. It was a tough game but tactically we were good. The intention was to be aggressive and sometimes when you do that it doesn't always work.

“Today it did. I thought it helped to solidify our plan. We had to retreat at times but we were always in the game.

"The work [on the game plan] started on Monday, which is quick. The Champions League last year helped us to work on those two-day turnarounds. We do tweak things depending on the opposition. We felt we needed more height in the team, we wanted solidity at the back and we had to change in order to win the game.

"The players followed the instruction to the letter, they deserve the credit. Fabian [Schar] had big distances to cover in his job, tracking Declan Rice whether he dropped low or went wide or went central. At times he went right across the pitch. He is a good athlete and is very capable of doing it.”

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