The Carabao Cup takes centre stage this week, as Arsenal take a break from their struggling attempt to win the Premier League and face Newcastle in the first leg of this semi-final. The Gunners dropped more points in the title race over the weekend, drawing 1-1 with Brighton. However, manager Mikel Arteta quickly pointed out that Brighton needed a “strange” penalty to equalise against his team.
Although the draw was disappointing, it did extend Arsenal’s unbeaten run to 13 games in all competitions, which is a positive sign as they aim to reach a league cup final for the first time since 2017/18. Their 13-match unbeaten home run against Newcastle suggests they have a good chance, and the fact that their last six wins over Newcastle were by two or more goals could give Arsenal hope of taking a strong lead to St James’ Park.
Newcastle will be determined not to let that happen. They won 2-1 against Spurs in north London on Saturday and are in great form, having won their last six competitive games. Despite their poor record away to Arsenal, they’ll be feeling confident.
Newcastle have actually reached a League Cup final more recently than Arsenal, defeating Southampton in the 2022/23 semi-final to get to the final. With only one loss in their last six away matches, they’ll be confident of securing a good result to take back to the North East for the second leg.
