Newcastle United have beaten Arsenal to advance to the Carabao Cup final and Eddie Howe is rightly coming in for credit.
A return to Wembley in the Carabao Cup final has been secured as Newcastle United completely outplayed Arsenal to win 2-0, 4-0 on aggregate.
The sensational Alexander Isak thought he had settled all early nerves when he fired the ball into the top corner after three minutes, only to see VAR rule it out for offside.
Yet, the raucous St. James’ Park crowd didn’t have long to wait to celebrate again when Isak again tore through on goal, hit the post and saw the rebound poked home by Jacob Murphy.
The goal galvanised Newcastle who ran Arsenal ragged, with Isak giving William Saliba a particularly tough time.
They grabbed the decisive goal just after the break when the high press caused another mistake in a dangerous area and Anthony Gordon tucked home.
Gordon, Isak and Sandro Tonali all put in great performances but a lot of credit is deservedly going in Eddie Howe’s direction.
Eddie Howe completely outsmarts Mikel Arteta
Newcastle have been consistently lining up in a 4-3-3 in recent months and it served them brilliantly during the undefeated run.
Yet, with Joelinton sidelined, Howe adapted and changed to a 5-4-1 formation that worked perfectly.
Howe outsmarted Mikel Arteta before the game even started, lining his side up in a back-four during the warm-up before springing the surprise of a back-five on everyone.
The system had everything: height to challenge Arsenal at set pieces, bodies in the middle to snuff out their midfield and incredible pace on the counter-attack.
Sky Sports’ Keith Downie was full of praise at full-time. He said: “Eddie Howe has done a number on Mikel Arteta tonight.
“The formation has surprised Arsenal and it’s worked a treat. Despite an early scare, Newcastle have coasted this.”
How Newcastle’s plan to beat Arsenal came together
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Howe explained that the plan for the formation change was implanted on Monday, with the short turnaround making it even more impressive.
The manager particularly gave credit to assistant Jason Tindall for his work on set pieces in the week, with Newcastle keeping a notoriously dangerous team from them quiet.
Captain Bruno Guimaraes offered perhaps the best compliment to Howe when he told Sky Sports: “I think he won the game pre-match. The shape was perfect.”
Now Newcastle will face Liverpool or Tottenham in the final on March 16 at Wembley.
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