Statistics

Stats: League Cup comebacks and two-goal Tyne wins

Martin Odegaard scores against Newcastle in 2023

Last month saw Newcastle United overturn the form books and claim a 2-0 win at Emirates Stadium to register their first victory at our home since 2010. Now, Mikel Arteta’s side will be looking to rewrite history themselves by overturning that first-leg setback.

And if any of our supporters need a few lucky omens to cling onto as we try to reach the League Cup final for the first time since 2018, there are plenty to choose from.

Make no bones about it, overturning any deficit away from home over two legs is difficult. In fact, there have previously been 31 cases of a team losing the first leg of a League Cup semi-final at home, and only two have progressed to the final.

The first of those was Stoke City against West Ham United in 1971/72, but the other was ourselves, and it came in famous fashion courtesy of a north London derby success at Tottenham Hotspur in 1986/87.

After losing the home leg 1-0 to Spurs, David Pleat’s side looked to be heading to the final as they added another goal in the second leg at White Hart Lane to lead 2-0 on aggregate at half-time.

But with the words of the Spurs PA announcer giving ticket details for Wembley still ringing in their ears, Viv Anderson and Niall Quinn netted to take the game to a replay, also at White Hart Lane. After falling behind again, goals from Ian Allinson and David Rocastle gave us a 2-1 victory and sent us through to the final, where we beat Liverpool 2-1.

That fabled fixture is the only time we’ve lost the first leg at home and still progressed in any two-legged tie in any round of any competition, meaning there is plenty of history to be made at St James’ Park.

We’ll need to win by at least two goals to stay in the competition at the end of 90 minutes on Tyneside, but that’s something we’ve managed to do 11 times before at the home of the Magpies, and five during the Premier League era.

You only need to go back to May 2023 for the last time it happened, when Martin Odegaard drilled home from range before we forced Fabian Schar into netting an own goal to hand us a 2-0 victory, while we also managed it two years earlier when Mohamed Elneny and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were on target.

That was before the Black and Whites were rejuvenated following their takeover and the appointment of Eddie Howe, but while home defeats have been far less common during his tenure, there have been six occasions that the Magpies have been defeated by two or more goals since his arrival in November 2022.

The last of those came two-and-a-half weeks ago when Bournemouth stunned Newcastle by winning 4-1, while West Ham United also triumphed 2-0 back in November. In contrast, we have won by more than two goals on six occasions so far this season on our travels.

Should we do that again and wipe out the Toon’s two-goal head start, we would become just the second side in League Cup semi-final history to recover from two goals down after the first leg to progress, following on from Aston Villa's triumph over Tranmere Rovers in 1993 after losing 3-1 at Prenton Park. Villa also went on to win the final that season.

Arsenel celebrate winning the penalty shootout

if a nail-biting penalty shootout is required to determine who heads to Wembley, then the result would really hang in the balance.

That's because both teams have been involved in six shootouts over the past five seasons, and have the same record of winning four and losing two of them. The Magpies were defeated by Chelsea on spot-kicks at the quarter-final stage of the League Cup last term, but did bounce back by beating Nottingham Forest in the second round back in August.

All this shows that while the record books are against us, the comeback we require has, and can, be done. Should we strike twice at St James’ Park, then lightning could do the same as it did at Spurs in 1987, and create another iconic League Cup night for a new generation.