Carabao Cup post mocks Mikel Arteta’s bizarre comments after Newcastle United defeat

Eddie Howe’s side will take a 2-0 lead back to St James’ Park when the two teams meet in the second-leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday 5 February. Goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon either side of the half-time break were enough to secure the win and a big step towards a return to Wembley for the Magpies.

Arsenal, meanwhile, will be disappointed to lose on their home turf on a night where Mikel Arteta’s side had chances but just couldn’t find that finishing touch to punish their opponents. Whilst many looked towards the quality of Isak as the difference between the two sides, Arteta instead blamed the ball used on Tuesday night as a reason for his side’s profligacy in front of goal:

“I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar and it's tricky that this ball flies a lot. We discussed that as well, so there are details that we can do better.”

As an EFL-ran competition, the Carabao Cup uses different footballs to the Premier League and those used in European competitions. Alas, the Carabao Cup X account did not let Arteta off with those comments, quote tweeting a video of Arteta talking about the ball with a meme of rapper 50 Cent looking exasperated.

The post has been viewed over 3.5m times and has received over 100k likes.