Eddie’s Wembley bound Mags, get yourselves a pint of Arteta tears

The Mag

·6 février 2025

Eddie’s Wembley bound Mags, get yourselves a pint of Arteta tears

Before starting this, I had a look back at my report from the first leg of this tie at the Emirates.

It feels like an eternity since that match, as the new Champions League format has initiated a previously unheard of four week gap between legs. The fact that falls in January, where weeks have about 12 days in them, means the report from Arsenal seems like something from a bygone era, like reading the Magna Carta or the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Vidéos OneFootball

As a reminder, that first leg was game seven of the nine match winning run, with United looking ahead confidently to a relatively sedate series of four winnable home games and a trip to the bottom side.

While the Gunners faced the tribulations of a pair of Champions League matches, Man Utd in the FA Cup and the threat of Spurs and Man City creating havoc for them in difficult PL fixtures.

It’s a funny old game.

I’d suggest cracks started to show for Newcastle against Bromley, where a changed up side found themselves in trouble that wasn’t really eradicated until Gordon and Bruno stepped off the bench at half time. Wins were indeed secured v Wolves and Southampton, but both matches had moments of alarm, whereas the most recent memories at SJP will be of defeats against Bournemouth and Fulham that have evacuated us from Champions League spots and seen what looks like a bit of weariness setting into a squad shrunk by the departures of Almiron and Kelly.

Arsenal by contrast rose to every challenge, advancing in Europe with something to spare and seeing returning 10 points from 12 in a challenging league run. They did exit the cup to Man Utd, but that gave them the benefit of a free weekend after this, whereas my preference would have been an awkward cup tie to think about. Their destruction of Man City while we came unstuck against Fulham was obviously the most recent reason for distress and I’m willing to bet that Wednesday was a bit of an agitating time for all of you as it was for me.

Personally, I got through it all be reminding myself, that at one point we were 3-1 down on penalties to Forest at the very start of this cup run, so this situation was actually quite sweet by comparison. I also kept listening to Buck Rogers by Feeder to keep alive the belief that we’re gonna make it and drank too much coffee, the caffeine needing to subsequently be offset by alcohol so as I could get to sleep later.

The thing here is that we were entering a rare binary situation: this was either going to be utterly, magnificently elating, or a crushing disappointment on a scale that I’d struggle to match a comparison to. No in between.

The team sheet was the first indication of what might happen and I have to say I was a fan. It’s one thing to play three at the back, but the unstoppable wall of pure denial that is Burn, Botman and Schar seemed like the sort of caper that had zero intention of surrendering a two goal lead. Without getting ahead of myself, these lads were magnificent and I wouldn’t be sorry to see them lined up for any match we don’t want to lose.

The idea of not losing this, was apparently obliterated after mere moments. The general consensus was that the first goal would be a tone setter for this one and the roof almost came off when it arrived after three minutes. Tonali won the ball in midfield and it broke to Gordon who caught the Arsenal defence flat footed with a smart ball over the top to Isak. The Swede, who still plays for us as opposed to the opposition, seemed to be drifting slightly wide but he hit one of his thunderbolts into the opposite corner and the place erupted at the early realisation of the three goal lead we craved.

Unfortunately, we all forgot that VAR is a thing now, after not being around for the Carabao Cup to date and the moment was destroyed by one of those sickening over the top decisions, called because Isak was leaning slightly further forward than the last defender. If I was a silly paranoid idiot I’d be calling out the PGMOL as having some kind of agenda.

We were almost made to pay when Partey played in Martinelli on the edge of the box. Dan Burn cut him in half but the ball broke to Odegaard, who hit the outside of the post, thanks in no small part to the smart reaction of Schar to hustle his shot.

This was a rare moment in the match, as the home crowd got to see Odegaard kick the ball, an occurrence that Sandro Tonali was having absolutely none of throughout this game. Arsenal’s main danger man was basically kept on a lead by the midfield maestro, who had another outstanding game, this time in a more understated, roll-your-sleeves-up way, that is so easy to overlook in these days of YouTube influenced low attention spans.

The moment arrived shortly after as Isak, having his usual easy night against Saliba, reacted to deftly flick on Dubravka’s long ball forward. Gordon’s quick hook forward released Isak on goal and he unleashed another rocket launcher, only to be denied by the post. The rebound seemed to take ages to come out, but it became increasingly apparent that Jacob Murphy was on it, and he managed to produce a controlled finish that went in off the post to fully justified delirium.

A few words on that man Murphy by the way. I have no doubt that if United had thrown £70 million at some Spanish wonder kid who had then had the exact season Murphy has produced, everyone would be declaring our right wing conundrum permanently resolved. Instead, we have a lifelong Newcastle fan who has a telepathic understanding with Isak and a flair for memorable moments and I find his continued success to be one of the most joyful aspects of the modern day United. When this lad clangs in the winner in the final we need to get him his own song.

Arsenal had their best (only) 90 seconds of pressure after the goal, with Dubravka’s fine save ensuring Leondro Trossard didn’t get the chance to make his face look even more punchable, but yet again, I had half an eye on the clock. Even at 3-0 on aggregate the solace of half-time was something that promised relief and I needed the opportunity to rush downstairs for a nerve settler.

There was almost an immediate nerve settler in the second half as Saliba dallied on the ball and allowed Gordon to rob him. With Raya way outside his area Gordon took the opportunity to hit a speculative effort that bounced narrowly wide, although on second viewing he maybe should have scored.

Arsenal fully learned their lesson about piffling about on the ball and it was a good four minutes before they gave it away like that again. I’m still a bit unsure why Schar was on the edge of the opposition’s penalty area but I’m pleased he was as Raya’s awful pass out to Lewis-Skelly was disrupted by Fab’s challenge, breaking to Gordon who slotted a goal in that I might have loved even more than his tremendous finish at the Emirates, 4-0 on aggregate and even with 40 minutes to go, no one was holding back.

The atmosphere was electric and anyone who was there deserves credit for being part of a raucous, scarf-twirling cacophony that never gave up for the whole 90 minutes. If we are to leave this hallowed turf for pastures new, you need to find a way to bottle this kind of atmosphere as we experienced the best night under the lights since PSG were fettled here.

Cries of our going to Wembley were aired without fear of the bums rush, but then we started on Arteta and that was just about as sweet as you can get. “Mikel Arteta, it must be the ball” got many airings and has been picked up on by wider media which makes him look delightfully pathetic, with the follow up of “he’s gonna cry in a minute” rubbing salt into yet another wound.

The main thing tonight was just getting through. I’d have comfortably accepted a 1-0 or 2-1 defeat and progress to Wembley but this was doing it in style. Winning tonight’s match meant that Arsenal had lost only five games this season, and three of them were to Newcastle United. I shudder to think what the internet would make of that.

I was more concerned with the real world though and here’s where the difference resonates. I found myself in the Gunner Tavern in the very late hours and it was full of visiting fans singing, enjoying themselves and generally being very decent about their bad night out. This is so often the case, but the online population of Arsenal fans has dragged the name of the club into disgrace. We all know that natural growth needs our own club to appeal internationally but the masses of crybabies spraying bile and bitterness over everything that goes slightly against their adopted team, is something we can do without thank you very much. I’m sure Michael Oliver enjoyed tonight’s win as much as every other Mag.

At this point I have to confess that my group booked our hotels in a north London bar after the first leg, but thoughts and prayers with anyone undergoing that struggle today. The next step will be to enjoy the second leg of the other semi-final tonight, with the hope surely being that Spurs retain their lead then draw a difficult Europa League trip three days before the final.

As for this game, I haven’t delved into the history books but if we have beaten Arsenal three times in a season before, it’s not been in my time. The salty behaviour of Arteta in our recent successes against his side makes this all the sweeter, and there’s every chance we go for a fourth win in May, or whenever it’s rearranged to if we’re otherwise engaged in the FA Cup final that weekend (they won’t be as they’re out).

Of course that’s greedy talk.

The league cup is once again our main focus and ladies, gentlefolk and friends we’re going to Wembley. I hope the steel that has been displayed throughout this cup run is evidence of approaching the 16th March with the grit in the eye required to get this job done.

Obviously the focus needs to switch as we battle on three fronts but I think we all know that we will think about this at least 150 times in each of the 39 days leading up to the big event.

I’m putting this up the morning after the game, with the opposition as yet unknown, but I suspect the fighting over who should get tickets will be well underway. These are the sort of problems we once dreamt of.

Eddie’s Wembley bound Mags, get yourselves a pint of Arteta tears.

Newcastle 2 Arsenal 0 (4-0 on aggregate) – Wednesday 5 February 8pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Murphy 19, Gordon 52

Arsenal:

(In brackets the half-time stats)

Possession was Newcastle 32% (31%) Arsenal 68% (69%)

Total shots were Newcastle 10 (6) Arsenal 11 (6)

Shots on target were Newcastle 3 (1) Arsenal 3 (1)

Corners were Newcastle 1 (1) Arsenal 13 (4)