EFL Cup review: Man City to face Arsenal in final after beating Newcastle

Football writer Tom Prentki reflects on Wednesday night's EFL Cup semi-final second leg between Manchester City and Newcastle United.

Manchester City will play Arsenal in next month’s EFL Cup final after Pep Guardiola’s side emphatically beat holders Newcastle United 5-1 on aggregate.

The Premier League’s top two will meet in a Wembley showpiece on Sunday 22 March after Newcastle’s dismal away form continued, with Eddie Howe’s side beaten 3-1 on the night at the Etihad Stadium, with Omar Marmoush scoring twice.

Marmoush said: “We showed a very good mentality. We were together as a team. From the first moment we focused on our job.

"It's one of the biggest clubs in the world. We are here to win trophies. We give our best every day to reach these finals and win silverware.”

Howe, whose team beat Liverpool in last season’s final said: “It was the start to the game we didn’t want. It took it away from us. The first half was really difficult, the second half the lads did really well.

“We’re really frustrated we’ve only scored one goal in the two games. We’ve been guilty of missing some opportunities and it could have been very difficult but we have to accept the reality of what we’ve delivered.”

Man City are the recent masters of this competition and had won their last six EFL Cup semi-finals and gone on to lift the trophy on each occasion. They are the second most successful team in the cup’s history having won it eight times, bettered only by Liverpool with ten.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg, Guardiola made the decision to make six changes to the team which drew at Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend, with Erling Haaland one of those dropping to the bench.

The night started perfectly for Guardiola as Marmoush scored in the seventh minute when Dan Burn’s sliding tackle deflected off the Egyptian and looped over Aaron Ramsdale.

Watch: Marmoush's goals v Newcastle

Newcastle should have levelled two minutes later when Anthony Gordon put Joe Willock clean through but James Trafford raced off his line quickly to smother the danger.

Man City were creating pressure of their own and came close to a second when Antoine Semenyo drove the ball across the six-yard box with Nico O’Reilly inches away from making the key connection.

Trafford again raced quickly off his line to deny Gordon before Man City all but cemented their place at Wembley when Marmoush added his second goal of the night as he headed in at the far post, after Kieran Trippier had failed to deal with Semenyo’s cross.

On 32 minutes, ruthless City moved into a 5-0 aggregate lead. The outstanding Tijjani Reijnders put the finishing touch on another swift counter from the home side, after another driving run from the lively Semenyo.

Watch: Reijnders' goal v Newcastle

Howe made a series of changes at half term and one of those, Yoane Wissa, was immediately presented with a great chance to score from Abdukodir Khusanov’s error but shot wastefully over.

Reijnders had a chance to add his second goal of the night after a quick break from Marmoush before another Anthony Elanga, another of Newcastle’s half-time changes, scored a brilliant goal, cutting in from the right and curling beyond Trafford.

Newcastle were continuing to pose problems and Elanga missed a great chance to score again soon afterwards as he skewed Harvey Barnes’ cross wide with the goal at his mercy.

With 20 minutes remaining, Guardiola made a raft of changes which almost brought a further goal as Rayan Cherki brilliantly played in Haaland but the Norwegian couldn’t beat Ramsdale.

Man City’s Premier League home match with Crystal Palace scheduled for 21 March will now be postponed.

Man City report | Newcastle report

What next for Man City and Newcastle?

Next up in the Premier League on Saturday, Newcastle host Brentford, while Man City travel to Liverpool on Sunday.

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