Newcastle reached the Carabao Cup final for the second time in three seasons after a 2-0 semi-final second-leg win over Arsenal contributed to a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon struck for Eddie Howe’s men, extending the advantage they gained in the first leg, to book a spot at Wembley on March 16.
The Magpies will now face either Tottenham or Liverpool, who play in the other semi-final second leg on Thursday night.
Newcastle almost made the dream start at a raucous St James’ Park. Alexander Isak – who came into the game having scored 14 goals in his last 13 games – escaped behind the Arsenal defence and found the net with a brutal, devastating finish.
The Swede lapped up every second of the home fans’ impassioned celebrations, but was quickly brought back down to earth when referee Simon Hooper announced to the stadium over the PA system the goal had been ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
But, 15 minutes later, they scored one that did count. Gabriel and William Saliba were again unable to contain Isak, who smashed an unstoppable shot off the left-hand post. Momentarily, Arsenal thought they were in the clear, until Murphy arrived to mop up and strike into an empty net.
Within three minutes of the second half starting, Gordon pinched the ball from the feet of Saliba and, with Gunners goalkeeper David Raya off his line, tried his luck from 40 yards, with the ball skipping just wide of the left-hand post. But Arsenal handed their hosts a ticket to Wembley very shortly afterwards.
Raya played the ball to Declan Rice, who was pressed and dispossessed by Fabian Schar, with the loose ball springing for Gordon, who struck low into the bottom-left corner.
Any hopes Arsenal had of getting back into the tie evaporated there and then, giving Newcastle a chance to end their 70-year wait for a major trophy in the capital next month.
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