Not sure this has ever been done before – Newcastle United to make history?

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The Mag

·6 febbraio 2025

Not sure this has ever been done before – Newcastle United to make history?

Newcastle United to make history?

It was after last night’s semi-final second leg that the thought came to me.

OneFootball Video

Could Newcastle United be the very first to do this?

Are there any stat freaks out there who can help me out?

Would Eddie Howe and his players be making history?

By the way, I don’t mean history as in, Newcastle United winning their first trophy since 1969, or first domestic trophy since 1955.

When I say making history, I am referring to all teams/clubs.

Back in 2022/23, Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United team got to the League Cup final by beating League Two Tranmere. Then it was five wins over Premier League teams, Palace who ended that season 12th in the PL table Bournemouth who finished 15th, whilst Leicester and Southampton got relegated.

Have a look at this current Premier League table, on Thursday (6 February 2025) afternoon:

Can you see what it is yet?

Well, so far, Newcastle United in their League Cup run have already beaten the second placed Premier League team (twice!), the third place team, the fourth place team (and the 11th placed, as well as a League Two team).

Liverpool are massive favourites to go through tonight, so if that does happen, Newcastle United will have to play the top of the Premier League team as well.

It is only five weeks to go before the League Cup final and included in this time are two rounds of the FA Cup, so every chance that if playing Liverpool in the final, at that point the top four in the Premier League could all become losers against Newcastle United in our march to glory.

In the history of the League Cup, has any other club ever beaten all of the top four in the top tier to win the trophy?

Indeed, in the FA Cup has anybody ever managed it?

Bottom line is that if Newcastle United do win this trophy, they will have certainly done it the hard way, beating Chelsea, Forest and Arsenal (twice!), plus potentially Liverpool as well. Whilst the alternative would be Tottenham, which is hardly a gift either.

I think that often fans put far too much store by the cups, in terms of success/failure. By which I mean, so much of it is down to the luck of the draw, who you play and whether home or away.

In 2022/23, I think we couldn’t complain about the opposition we were drawn against, even if all but one were Premier League clubs.

This time though, I don’t think Newcastle United and Eddie Howe have really had the level of praise they have deserved.

Back in 1998, Kenny Dalglish absolutely fluked getting to the FA Cup final Newcastle even playing a second tier team (Sheff Utd) in the semi-final.

Ruud Gullit very similar in 1999, he took NUFC to Wembley, playing teams outside the top tier, apart from Everton who finished 14th and Blackburn who were relegated. It was Tottenham in the semi-final but they ended up only 11th in the PL table.

I used to laugh when journalists who were desperate to say how well Steve Bruce was supposedly doing in the cups, yet as soon as we played anybody half decent we got beat, whilst struggling to get past likes of lower league teams such as Rochdale (replay needed), Oxford (replay needed), Newport (late Shelvey goal to take it to penalties), as well as beating the likes of Morecambe as well.

Against the odds, Eddie Howe is massively delivering so far this season, both in the Premier League AND the cups.

Newcastle 2 Arsenal 0 (4-0 on aggregate) – Wednesday 5 February 8pm

Newcastle United:

Murphy 19, Gordon 52

Arsenal:

(In brackets the half-time stats)

Possession was Newcastle 32% (31%) Arsenal 68% (69%)

Total shots were Newcastle 10 (6) Arsenal 11 (6)

Shots on target were Newcastle 3 (1) Arsenal 3 (1)

Corners were Newcastle 1 (1) Arsenal 13 (4)

Touches in the box Newcastle 10 (8) Arsenal 39 (18)

Newcastle United team v Arsenal: