African star sets up the City-Arsenal cup final

Manchester City is trying to catch Arsenal in the Premier League title race and will have a big chance in April, when they will host the Gunners. But before that, Pep Guardiola‘s men will have a chance for another trophy. After beating Newcastle 3-1 (5-1 on aggregate) in the Carabao Cup semifinal, Manchester are through to the finals where they will meet Arsenal on March 22nd. The current Carabao Cup holders had no chance since they lost the first match 2-0 and also because they have a horrible record against the Citizens. Newcastle have lost on each of their last 11 visits to the Etihad, in total losing 37-3 on aggregate. In fact, until tonight, they haven’t scored a single goal in Manchester since 2018!

Manchester was clearly a better team even without players like Haaland, Rodri, Cherki and Silva, as Marmoush (twice) and Raijnders scored within the first half and hour, while the Magpies continued their atrocious away record this season. They also lacked a bit of luck as the first goal was a bit unlucky one. The visitors also had four excellent chances but goalkeeper James Trafford was brilliant and saved three of those. Another misfortune for the Magpies – Trafford was bound for Newcastle in June 2025 only to be snapped away by City. He decided to go to Etihad Stadium but is a reserve keeper now as the Citizens brough in Donnarumma which he didn‘t expect.

It was all over in the 7th minute of the game. The match just started and Marmoush bursted into the penalty area. Burn managed to slide in and made a tackle but the ball looped over Ramsdale. Very unfortunate, but who cares, it was 1-0 and 3-0 overall for City. But to the dismay of the visiting supporters, more was to come from the hosts. The Egypt forward scored his second goal (and fifth overall against the Magpies) in the 29th minute, and this time, it was another experienced player who was to blame. Kieran Trippier tried to clear the ball which would go out of play anyway but didn‘t do a good job of it and the ball went up in the air. Marmoush only had to come in and head it to the net from close range. Raijnders added more misery after only half an hour of play after a quick counter attack.

And what about Newcastle? They had three excellent opportunities to score and failed in all of them. Depending how you look at them, it‘s either the lack of concentration from Willock, Gordon and Botman, or the brilliance of Trafford. More misery came for Eddie Howe when his favorite player Anthony Gordon got injured and had to come out in the 43rd minute of the game.

Second half was much more calmer as City didn‘t push too much while Newcastle paid much more attention to defense and the middle of the pitch. Newcastle finally scored at the Etihad after eight years as Anthony Elanga finally found the net. He dribbled his way through two defenders and took a precise shot which Trafford couldn‘t save this time. Former Forest winger had a huge chance in the 70th minute but missed the whole goal. Pep Guardiola then decided to introduce Cherki, Haaland and Rodri into the starting line-up even thou the score on the aggregate was 5-1 but the score remained the same, while Ramsdale had two shots saved from Haaland.

England League Cup

Tuesday

Arsenal - Chelsea 1-0 (0-0)

/Havertz 90+7/

Arsenal win 4-2 on agg

Wednesday

Manchester City - Newcastle 3-1 (3-0)

/Marmoush 7, 29, Rejinders 32 - Elanga 62/

Man City win 5-1 on aggregate