‘Only a job half done’ as Newcastle earn ‘massive’ win at Arsenal

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·07 de janeiro de 2025

‘Only a job half done’ as Newcastle earn ‘massive’ win at Arsenal

Newcastle United have one foot in the League Cup final after beating Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon scored either side of halftime to give the Magpies a commanding lead to take back to St. James’ Park for next month’s second leg.

Vídeos OneFootball

The Gunners pounded the visitor’s goal all night long, taking 23 shots in total, but their profligate finishing proved costly in the end as they squandered six big chances, according to Fotmob.

“Very proud, it was always going to be like that in the second half,” Dan Burn told Sky Sports at full time. “To a man everyone defended brilliant. To get a result here you need to defend set-pieces, but I thought everyone was brilliant.

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“We have had a sticky patch, but we have had a few clean sheets in a row. Seeing the way we defended in the second half was brilliant. It’s only a job half done – they have nothing to lose coming to St. James’ Park.”

Isak echoed his teammate’s statement, telling Sky Sports: “It’s a great result. It’s only the first half. If we don’t go through then this has no meaning. It’s a massive win.”

The Tyneside outfit have found a level of consistency which was missing earlier in the season, winning their last six matches on the bounce.

“It’s difficult to put a finger on but we’ve found out way back to our identity and the basics,” said Isak. “It starts with how we defend. the defence and the midfield put their body on the line.”

Eddie Howe admitted afterwards that his side were somewhat fortunate to come away with a two-goal advantage given how many chances Arsenal created.

“I think we rode our luck at times and I think Martin [Dubravka] played really well and made some really good saves,” the Newcastle boss told ITV.

“I thought the set plays in the main we got the small details right. Our mentality to defend our goal with the blocked shots, the heroic pieces of defending that we saw in the last 20 to 30 minutes, it’s great for us for the future.”

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