Newcastle United took to X to throw a dig at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after their 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final win over the north London side on Wednesday, February 5. Goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon secured a 4-0 victory on aggregate for the Tyneside club.
Arsenal came into the clash hoping to overcome a 0-2 deficit from the first leg. However, Arteta's team failed to be prolific in the final third, which cost them a place in the final.
The Gunners were also wasteful when the two teams met at the Emirates for the quarter-final first leg on January 7. Speaking after the clash, Arteta blamed his side's inability to score on the Carabao Cup matchday ball, claiming it was different from that used in the Premier League.
"We kicked a lot of balls over the bar. It’s tricky. This ball flies a lot. It’s just different to the Premier League ball and we have to adapt to that. It flies different, the grip is very different as well," he said via Metro.
After his team failed to find the net again in the return fixture, Newcastle indirectly took a dig at the Arsenal manager. They posted a photo of the Puma-produced EFL matchday ball in the back of a net and captioned the post:
"The culprit," hilariously suggesting that the match ball was the reason for Arsenal's elimination.
The disappointing result comes just a few days after the Gunners scored five goals against Manchester City in the league. Artea will be eager to see his side get back to scoring goals when they next face Leicester City in the league on February 15.
How did Arsenal perform in their Carabao Cup semi-final match against Newcastle?
Having secured an emphatic 5-1 victory over Manchester City on Sunday (February 2), Mikel Arteta's side were high on confidence coming into the Carabao Cup semi-final clash with Newcastle. However, they looked different from the side who graciously outclassed Pep Guardiola's men as they failed to create chances in the final third.
The Gunners controlled the game, recording a 68 percent possession compared to Newcastle's 38. They took 11 shots with only three being on target. The north London club created two big chances but missed two big opportunities as well. They also hit the woodwork once around the 18th minute (via Sofascore).
Gabriel Martnelli suffered a knock and had to be substituted in the 37th minute. Meanwhile, players like Leandro Trissard and captain Martin Odegaard failed to have much impact in the game and were both taken off in the 61st minute.