Carabao Cup: We targeted two Arsenal players – Newcastle coach, Howe on 2-0 win

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Carabao Cup: We targeted two Arsenal players – Newcastle coach, Howe on 2-0 win

Newcastle United manager, Eddie Howe, has revealed the game plan that saw his team beat Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday night.

Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon scored in either half as the Magpies won the tie 4-0 on aggregate.

Howe, speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Howe admitted they targeted the Gunners’ central defenders, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

He said: “We wanted to get pressure on them [William Saliba and Gabriel] and in order to do that we had to get bodies in the right areas and press high – that is how we decided to do it.

“You know you are playing against elite players and one mistake can make things difficult. We had to be ourselves, be front foot. If not then it can quickly be 1-0 and 2-0 and then you are on the back foot.

“We had to work on set plays as their set play threat is so high. In the reverse fixture there were some moments where we got a bit lucky. Again our team selection was based on having height, especially without Joelinton, we needed Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and Sven Botman. We defended the set plays really well today.”

Newcastle will take on either Liverpool or Tottenham in the final.