Eddie Howe vows Newcastle United will learn from Wembley pain in League Cup final

LONDON – Eddie Howe hailed Newcastle United’s “huge” League Cup semi-final win against Arsenal, as the Magpies boss vowed his side would learn from the pain of their last visit to Wembley.

Chasing a first major trophy since 1969, they swept to a 2-0 victory over the Gunners on a memorable night at a raucous St James’ Park on Feb 5.

Jacob Murphy’s first-half opener and Anthony Gordon’s strike after the interval sealed a 4-0 aggregate success that sent Howe’s team to their second League Cup final in three seasons.

Newcastle were beaten by Manchester United at Wembley in 2023, but Howe is confident the lessons from that loss will provide experience and motivation in the final against Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur on March 16.

“It is huge. The first appearance there was a bit unexpected, but we want to be there regularly, so it’s not a surprise this time,” he said.

“We are there on merit. Our run has not been easy this year, so we’ve done the hard yards.

“Hopefully, we can learn from the last experience. We have come a long way since then. I would love to think we can go to Wembley and perform better.”

The Magpies are bidding for their first major trophy since the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 56 years ago, with their last domestic silverware being the 1955 FA Cup.

Despite the high stakes, they finished the job in nerveless fashion after winning 2-0 in London in the first leg in January.

Organised superbly by the astute Howe, they outplayed Mikel Arteta’s side thanks to superb performances from Sweden striker Alexander Isak and England winger Gordon.

Howe acknowledged he had tweaked his defensive system, switching to a back five to nullify Arsenal’s set-piece threat. Arteta had no answers to his tactical masterclass as Newcastle beat the Gunners for the third time this season.

“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,” Howe added.

“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.”

While Howe and company can look forward to the final, Arsenal were brought down to earth with a bump after their 5-1 rout of Manchester City last weekend.

That swaggering performance kept alive their hopes of catching English Premier League leaders Liverpool, who are six points clear of the Gunners with a game in hand. But just three days later, Arsenal – already eliminated from the FA Cup – found another potential route to silverware closed off on Tyneside.

“We had momentum in the first half and didn’t capitalise. They scored immediately after and the momentum shifts,” Arteta said.

“We needed a goal early in the second half and we didn’t get that and the opportunity passes. They have been more efficient than us in the boxes and that is the difference in the tie.” AFP