Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has revealed the strategy that helped his team secure a 2-0 win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday, advancing 4-0 on aggregate.
Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon scored in each half to seal the victory, and Howe, speaking to Sky Sports after the match, explained that they specifically targeted Arsenal’s central defenders, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
“We wanted to put pressure on them [Saliba and Gabriel], and to do that, we had to get bodies in the right areas and press high—that was our approach,” Howe said.
“You know you’re up against elite players, and one mistake can change the game. We had to be ourselves, stay aggressive. If we didn’t, it could easily have been 1-0 or 2-0, and we’d have been on the back foot.”
Howe also discussed the importance of defending set pieces, given Arsenal’s strong aerial threat.
“We worked on set plays because their set-piece threat is so high. In the first leg, we got a bit lucky at times. Our team selection was focused on height, especially without Joelinton, so we needed Dan Burn, Fabian Schar, and Sven Botman. We defended the set pieces really well today.”
Newcastle will face either Liverpool in the final.
