- Cityzens beat Newcastle United 3-1 for 5-1 aggregate scoreline
After watching Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side cruise past Newcastle United in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup with their goal machine Erling Haaland on the bench on Wednesday, fans threw jabs at the Norwegian claiming the Cityzens performed better and were impressive without his goals on the night.
With their prolific hit-man warning the bench, City were on a great ride and they did it so easily. Two Omar Marmoush goals and a Tijjani Reijnders’ strike ended Newcastle’s title defence embarrassingly while securing City’s place in the final against Arsenal at Wembley
Anthony Elanga scored for Eddie Howe’s side but a defensive horror show cost them. Similarly, City did have issues with their rearguard which remained leaky and if only Newcastle were more ruthless, as the manager pointed out, it might have been his men in the final for a second successive year.
Leading 2-0 from the first leg, City added to their tally to make 5-1 on aggregate. Starting with Haaland on the bench for the visit of Newcastle, City wasted little time putting the game out of the Magpies’ reach. Marmoush opened the scoring after seven minutes and added a second on 29 minutes while Reijnders then made it 3-0 just minutes later.
Haaland did come off the bench in the second half but could not add to his tally and has now found the back of the net just once in his last eight games in all competitions for City.
So, come Sunday, 22nd March 2026, the Wembley showdown between Manchester City and Arsenal should be as fascinating on the grass as well as the sideline where Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta bid to outsmart each other. Remember that the City’s manager was the Arsenal No 1’s tutor from 2016-19 when Arteta was part of his coaching team at the Eithad Stadium.
Indeed, while the Cityzens will be making their 22nd trip to Wembley under Guardiola in the quest to claim his fifth League Cup, the Gunners’ spot in the final is their first of any kind since 2020 FA Cup. At least beating Chelsea on Tuesday night saw them ending a run of four consecutive semi-final losses.
With six points clear at the top of the Premier League, through to the last 16 of the Champions League and in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Arsenal must be excited that the victory keeps their season alive on four fronts as they aim to win their first silverware in six years.
For Manchester City, having done the job in clinical fashion against Newcastle, attention now turns to Sunday, 8th February 2026 as they attempt to close the six-point gap to the Gunners at the top of the Premier League table with a match against Liverpool at Anfield.
