Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta has expressed his disappointment with the team’s performance in the 2-0 loss to Newcastle United in the second leg of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
The Gunners crashed out of the competition after an aggregate 4-0 loss to the Magpies, the first leg also ended 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in January.
Arteta’s men failed to replicate their impressive performance against Manchester City as they struggled to make things happen at St James’ Park.
Jacob Murphy opened the scoring for the hosts with a rebound from Isak’s shot in the 19th minute.
Anthony Gordon increased their lead with a simple finish in the 52nd minute to seal Newcastle United’s place in the final at Wembley.
Arteta has urged his players to swallow the defeat, and to recharge ahead of the other objectives this season.
He said: “We need to swallow this one, it is a tough one. We had a lot of expectations. We knew the difficulty of the task because of the result we brought from London. but there is nothing we can do right now.
“I was very disappointed that we didn’t make Wembley and in the manner as well,” Mikel said post-match. “we had a lot of hope and belief that we could generate momentum in the game to be in the tie.
“In the first half we had two moments where if we would have scored a goal things would have been different, but the ball comes the other way and they score the goal and then it gets much harder. We needed a goal at that moment, we didn’t get another chance.
“We never got that goal to give us some belief, and generate certain expectations and momentum in the team, and then slowly the game started to get away from us and when we conceded the second goal, it was really, really tough.
The Gunners boss admitted that Newcastle United were the better side over the two legs.
Arteta said: “They’ve been much better than us in our boxes. They’ve been much more efficient in the game at home as well. I think we generated 24 shots, and had a lot of chances but we didn’t manage to score a goal in two legs, so that tells you the story.
“We are really hurting at the moment, we really wanted to take the team, the club to Wembley again and we put so much into it and unfortunately we could not deliver that.
Newcastle United will take on Liverpool or Tottenham in the final of the Carabao Cup on March 16.
The Magpies will be hoping to end their 56-year wait for a major trophy.
Eddie Howe is determined to make history by winning the trophy.
He said: “Fate will naturally take its course, I don’t think we’ll engage on the emotion of who we’ll play. That will come in time, of course.
“Two elite teams, two very good sides that we have faced this season, so we know whoever we play will be a tough opponent.
“But I think it’s just a case at the moment of being really pleased to have won today, continued our good momentum and good form and yes, we’ve shown that we can compete against any team in the Premier League.
“At our very best levels, I think we’re a very good team, so I think that should give us loads of confidence.”
Liverpool will be hoping to overturn a 1-0 defeat in the first leg against Tottenham at Anfield on Thursday to stand a chance of qualifying for the final.
