Arsenal and Newcastle meet at the Emirates for the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night, live on talkSPORT.
The Gunners secured their place in the last four by beating Crystal Palace last month while Eddie Howe’s side knocked out Brentford.
The Premier League rivals now clash, aiming to book a spot in the showpiece final at Wembley to take on either Tottenham or Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta will want to win the first leg to ensure they head to St. James’ Park with an advantage considering the Magpies’ recent fine form.
Anything but a victory would put the semi-final tie in their opponent’s hands and that would delight Howe and his squad.
Arsenal vs Newcastle: How to watch for FREE
This Carabao Cup semi-final first leg will take place on Tuesday, January 7.
Kick-off at the Emirates is scheduled for 8pm.
The game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and ITV.
ITV 1 will show the first leg of this semi while also showing the second leg of Tottenham vs Liverpool in the other tie.
That means fans can watch this game on TV for free while also being able to view the game online or on mobile devices at ITVX here.
talkSPORT will have live coverage of the game too, with commentary coming from from Jim Proudfoot and Martin Keown.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
Arsenal vs Newcastle: Isak eyes history
Alexander Isak won’t be getting a rest in midweek despite the recent busy fixture schedule.
And Newcastle would be silly if they did rotate the Swedish star.
Isak has been in incredible form this season, scoring in all of his last seven Premier League games and finding the net nine times in total in that run.
He’s scored 14 in all competitions and is widely considered to be one of the best strikers in Europe at the moment.
One of his first goals of the campaign came in a win against Arsenal back in November.
That leaves him on the brink of ending a 22-year wait for a Newcastle player to score in two different games against the Gunners in one season.
The last player to achieve that feat was Laurent Robert in 2002, so Isak can put his name in the history books should he continue his scoring form.
- Arsenal have won all four of their League Cup meetings with Newcastle, scoring 12 goals and conceding none. The last such match saw the Gunners win 4-0 at St James’ Park in the 2010-11 fourth round.
- Newcastle have lost 12 of their last 13 away games against Arsenal in all competitions (D1), since a 1-0 win in November 2010 in the Premier League.
Arsenal vs Newcastle: Team news
Arsenal have a plethora of injuries to deal with ahead of this semi-final first leg.
Ethan Nwaneri has stepped up to replace Bukayo Saka in the last couple of weeks, but now the teenager is set to join Saka on the sidelines.
Nwaneri will likely miss this game with an issue picked up at the weekend, with Ben White, Raheem Sterling and Takehiro Tomiyasu out too.
The Gunners are set to be boosted by Jurrien Timber’s return from suspension but Kai Havertz has missed the last two games through illness and will be battling to be fit.
As for Newcastle, they will have Fabian Schar back after suspension.
He’s likely to replace Sven Botman at centre-back, as the Dutchman only just returned from a long-term injury on Saturday.
Martin Dubravka will continue in goal as Nick Pope is still out while Callum Wilson, Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles are the other absentees.
Harvey Barnes, Joe Willock and Kieran Trippier could potentially be handed a start if Howe rotates following a busy festive period.
- Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus has been involved in 13 goals in his last nine starts in the League Cup (11 goals, 2 assists), netting a hat-trick against Crystal Palace in this season’s quarter-final.
- Newcastle have lost just one of their last 15 matches in the League Cup (W10 D4), going down 2-0 to Manchester United in the 2023 final. One of those four draws, however, resulted in a shootout loss to Chelsea last season.
- Arsenal have progressed from three of their last five League Cup semi-final ties, though did get eliminated in their last appearance at this stage in 2021-22. However, the Gunners haven’t won the first leg in any of their last seven semi-finals in the competition (D4 L3).
- This is only Newcastle’s third appearance in the League Cup semi-finals, but they’ve progressed to the final in each of the previous two (1975-76 vs Tottenham, 2022-23 vs Southampton).
- Arsenal have scored 11 goals in their three League Cup matches this season, netting at least three goals each time – they’ve never scored 3+ goals in four consecutive games in the competition.
Arsenal vs Newcastle: What has been said?
Arsenal’s Thomas Partey is looking forward to playing for a place in the Carabao Cup final.
He said at the weekend: “I’m very excited, we have to prepare well.
“We know how difficult it is to play against them, the quality that they have, the players they have, we have to be ready for them.
“It’s going to be amazing; we know how big the supporters are and the big part they play in the games that we play, and we’ll need them for this game.”