Eddie Howe determined to end Newcastle’s trophy drought in Carabao Cup final | OneFootball

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is determined to end the club’s 70-year wait for a trophy after his team reached the Carabao Cup final with a thumping semi-final victory over Arsenal.

A dominant 2-0 win secured the Magpies a 4-0 aggregate victory over the Gunners to move within touching distance of what would be a first piece of major silverware since their FA Cup win in 1955.

Howe is hoping to end their trophy drought in next month’s Wembley final.

He said: “It’s a long time. We’d love to end it and we’ll work as hard as we can and prepare right to try to do that.”

Taking a 2-0 lead into Wednesday’s second leg tie at St James’ Park, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon struck either side of half-time to set up a showdown against either Tottenham or Liverpool.

Liverpool host Spurs at Anfield on Thursday night but Howe insisted his side will not be caught up in the “emotion” of who they may face in the competition’s showpiece on March 16.

“Fate will naturally take its course, I don’t think we’ll engage on the emotion of who we’ll play. That will come in time, of course,” Howe added.

“Two elite teams, two very good sides that we have faced this season, so we know whoever we play will be a tough opponent.

“But I think it’s just a case at the moment of being really pleased to have won today, continued our good momentum and good form and yes, we’ve shown that we can compete against any team in the Premier League.

“At our very best levels, I think we’re a very good team, so I think that should give us loads of confidence.”

Newcastle have now reached the Carabao Cup final twice in the last three years, with their last Wembley outing coming in 2023 where they lost 2-0 to Manchester United.

When asked how it felt to have steered the Magpies to two finals, Howe replied: “I’m fully prepared to take that, thanks. The players always deserve the credit. This group of players, since I have been here have been magnificent for me.

“Again tonight, they’ve gone hard for us. They’ve given everything physically, mentally. I’m very, very honoured to manage that group.”

A difficult performance saw Arsenal struggle to get a foothold in the game, despite having early opportunities to go ahead.

After Alexander Isak had a goal disallowed for offside, Martin Odegaard went close twice for the visitors before Murphy struck just moments later.

Boss Mikel Arteta said: “We had so many expectations, to believe we could turn it around we needed momentum, especially in the first half.

“The game started in the first action almost with them scoring and the goal being denied.

“Then we had two big moments with Martin, they then capitalised the next action and scored the goal.

“Obviously the game shifted, you need to stay cool to score a goal as early as possible, we didn’t manage to do that the first time – I know we had a big chance in the second half then we started to struggle as the game went by.

“We didn’t generate enough situations and establish ourselves in the final third enough. The game started to get away from us.”