- Just two years after making the final Eddie Howe’s side will return to Wembley
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When Anthony Gordon scored the goal that would have crashed any website still offering trains and planes to London on the third weekend in March, he picked up a black-and-white scarf and whipped it above his head in front of the Gallowgate End.
The winger was on message, for the locals had brought those scarves to wave, not wear. Extra layers were not needed here, you see. Not amid a furnace of rampant noise and febrile anticipation. Nerves? Those were booted into touch as quickly as Arsenal were.
A bitter, February night it may have been, but this was black-and-white hot from the off. One bare-chested Geordie in the Gallowgate looked like he had a sweat on in the closing stages. Or were those tears? It was that sort of occasion, laced with emotion.
They knew what was at stake, a Wembley final and the prospect of ending a domestic trophy drought that has extended to the biblical definition of a lifetime – three score years and ten. Their prayers were answered. Not that Newcastle needed heavenly intervention. Eddie Howe and his players did the job on their own, during a brave and brilliant first leg in North London and bold and boisterous return here. Next step, the Promised Land.
By the time the Toon Army chorused, ‘Mikel Arteta, it must be the ball’ – the Arsenal boss had said it was to blame for defeat in the first game – they were having a ball themselves. It was 2-0 on the night, 4-0 on aggregate, and while they waved those scarves in one hand, they searched for London hotels in the other.
This, though, was the easy part. Easier than it should have been, really, given Arsenal made noises about coming to Tyneside and scoring another five goals, like they did against Manchester City on Sunday. Five? They did not manage one across three hours.
But for Newcastle, the hard part is bringing home that silverware. They have done this before, negotiated semi-finals. Five times, in fact, since their last domestic trophy in 1955. And five times they have been beaten at Wembley.
With the likes of Gordon and Alexander Isak, never will they have a better chance. Isak did not score, but he and Gordon were the game’s best players. Arsenal don’t have an Isak. They didn’t have a Sven Botman, Sandro Tonali or Bruno Guimaraes, either. To a man, Newcastle were better, like they were at the Emirates.
Howe had vowed to play front-foot, aggressive football on the eve of the game, urging his players not to change their approach. He then named five at the back for the first time this season. The loss of Joelinton to a knee injury, his aggravator-in-chief, was an irritation the Newcastle boss could have done without. It felt like a heavyweight being asked to remove their mouthguard moments before the bell.
But Howe was good to his word, his team came out swinging. They had the ball in the net within four minutes, Isak sweeping into the top corner, and St James’ celebrated as if landing the knockout blow. A VAR offside lifted Arsenal from the canvas.
Still, you wondered which team was chasing the two-goal deficit. While Newcastle went for the kill, Arsenal were trying to kill the clock. The tactic, clearly, was to survive the early barrage of home blows. They failed.
Just as they were starting to show some ambition, to glove up themselves, they got a bloody nose. Martin Odegaard hit the post at one end, with a chance he should have scored, and 30 seconds later Jacob Murphy hit the back of the net at the other, with a chance he had every right to miss.
Gordon, as he had done for Isak’s disallowed goal, set the Swede clear. The striker cracked the angle of post and bar and the rebound presented Murphy with what looked an ugly angle. But for those behind the Leazes End goal, readying to duck, it was a beautiful sight as the winger cushioned home.
This tie was about so much more, but Isak versus Kai Havertz felt like an apt microcosm of it. Arsenal were terrified of Isak in the first leg and those at the back played as if suffering from PTSD. The goal he had chalked off served notice of his threat in behind, yet another run off the shoulder of William Saliba led to the opener. It was not just in behind, he was causing problems short and wide, too.
Havertz, meanwhile, was booked for a petulant shove on Guimaraes in his most energetic act of the first half. It is little wonder Saliba and Gabriel did not look capable of coping with Isak, if containing Havertz is the extent of their exertion on the training ground.
But while the German came up short in attack, his team-mates in defence were just as culpable. It was befitting of Arsenal’s shoddy performance that the goal to make sure of Newcastle’s victory was a gift.
David Raya attempted to play out from the back but gave a ball to Declan Rice with blue lights on it. That was a green light for Fabian Schar, sliding to steal from the midfielder’s toe before Gordon tucked beyond a forlorn Raya.
That was when the scorer picked up the scarf, hurled to the pitch in celebration. Newcastle are going to Wembley, and the Toon Army will march there if they have to.
