Arteta on Toon tie: "It's only half-time"

We head to St James’ Park next month trailing by two goals in our Carabao Cup semi-final, but Mikel Arteta believes the second leg provides us with ample opportunity to reach Wembley.

Goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon have given Newcastle United a healthy cushion ahead of the return fixture, but the boss feels that should we put in a similar display in the north-east on February 5, then we are more than capable of pulling ourselves back into the tie.

Mikel points to the 23 shots and an xG of 3.09 that we recorded at Emirates Stadium as proof that we can create enough to hurt the Magpies, and with a touch of quality and luck is adamant that we shouldn’t give up hope of lifting the League Cup for the first time since 1993.

“There’s a long way [to go], it’s just half-time,” he said post-match. “It’s very disappointing because the performance and dominance in the game doesn’t reflect the scoreline unfortunately. We could have done better in the two goals that we conceded and with the amount of shots and situations that we generated, we should have scored at least two or three goals.
 
“With the scenario that we have which has been very tricky, we perform and produce what we can in the game so no excuses about that. Let’s move on, it’s just half-time. The team showed today that we can go up there and win the game in the manner that we need to in order to be in the final.”

Unusually there is a four-week gap between the first and second legs of this semi-final, meaning that there are a host of other huge games coming our way between now and our trip to Tyneside, including a north London derby, a visit from Aston Villa and a game against reigning champions Manchester City.

First up though is the FA Cup third-round clash against Manchester United on Sunday, and Mikel is keen to get to work to analyse tonight’s game, reassess his gameplan and make sure that we return to winning ways against one of our traditional rivals as we aim to build a head of steam before our next Newcastle encounter.
 
Reflecting on the rest of the week, he added: “We’ll focus on the performance of today; what we have done, why we didn’t win the game and understand that and make improvements as with every game, and recharge. We need a lot of energy, we have a big game here against Man United in a different competition, so let’s move on.

“You have to turn things around. Today it was a night that was really important. As I said before, I don’t think the performance and dominance reflect the result, and you have to take it. It’s frustrating, but that’s football.”