Skully: Geordies everywhere praying for a Spurs win tonight. Newcastle haven't beaten Liverpool in 16 games and that is not going to change anytime soon.

Chris Waddle
Former Newcastle & England winger on BBC Radio 5 Live

Arsenal are out of the FA Cup and out of the League Cup, they can focus now on chasing down Liverpool, who are still in everything, and the Champions League.

They will not be happy with their performance over the two legs, particularly tonight. However it could help them chase down Liverpool.

Ok, we have a new favourite stat from last night's match.

Forget Eddie Howe's tactical influence. This was a Jacob Murphy masterclass.

In 80 minutes on the pitch he registered two successful passes, from five attempted, among 14 touches - with one of which he effectively sent Newcastle to Wembley after 19 minutes.

This is the definition of what Mikel Arteta is talking about when he mentions "efficiency"...

Newcastle, who have an obvious talisman in Alexander Isak, had 17 shots to Arsenal's 34 across the two legs - and won 4-0.

Usually football managers pretend they are happy regardless after a transfer window where they fail to recruit, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted he was "disappointed" that they "haven't achieved it".

"They have been more efficient than us in the boxes and that is the difference in the tie," said Arteta after last night's loss.

"You need to be on the day very efficient. That is what takes you close to winning trophies and today we weren't."

Image source, Getty Images

And that was just from chanting at Mikel Arteta about the ball ey, Jonny?

It obviously helps when, in Newcastle and Tottenham, you have two teams desperate to end their long wait for silverware, but that atmosphere last night and the anticipation in the lead-up to both semi-finals makes you think.

Is the League Cup fashionable again?

For a time, amid talk of schedule pressures, it was talked of as being the competition clubs would sacrifice. But with the competitiveness at the top of the Premier League increasing, and a European place up for grabs for the winner, lifting the trophy seems like a bigger deal these days.

While we're looking at the more tactical aspects of the game, we couldn't not show this touch map from Arsenal forward Kai Havertz.

It may be one of the most sporadic we have ever seen from a player deployed as a number nine.

Granted, not every striker's job is to be that of a 'poacher' and stay in and around the box at all times - but none of us can recall seeing one quite this spread out for a while.

There is no real common area of the field where the ball is picked up - he is quite literally everywhere. It's almost difficult to pinpoint which is Martin Dubravka's area (right) in the Newcastle goal and which is David Raya's (left).

Out of his 44 touches on the night, only six were in the Magpies' 18-yard box. Not nearly enough for an Arsenal side needing to overhaul a two goal deficit before a ball was even kicked...

Arsenal fans may be wishing they could turn back the clocks so their club can go and snap up striker Alexander Isak before he joined Newcastle. Or certainly to back before Monday's transfer window deadline.

After putting five past Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, the toothless Gunners crashed out of the Carabao Cup without landing a blow.

Despite all the talk about their lack of a talisman, Arsenal are actually the second top scorers in the Premier League this season. And, of course, a player of Bukayo Saka's quality would be sorely missed in any team.

But it's clear to see a striker needs to be the club's top priority in the summer, whatever happens before then.

Image source, Getty Images

We'll continue to dissect the fallout from Newcastle's impressive Carabao Cup semi-final win over Arsenal for the time being, but there's plenty else to look forward to today.

We have tonight's other semi-final between Liverpool and Tottenham to build up to, while there are also several FA Cup news conferences taking place before attention switches to that competition on Friday.

From 11:30 GMT this morning we will hopefully hear from Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, followed later in the day by Brighton's Fabian Hurzeler, Manchester United's Ruben Amorim, Southampton's Ivan Juric, and Fulham's Marco Silva.

Image source, Getty Images

Tying in nicely with today's poll, lots of the chat on social media following last night's game is around an Eddie Howe masterclass.

It was certainly a semi-final won by Newcastle, rather than lost by Arsenal.

The moment that stood out to me was when centre-back Fabian Schar robbed Declan Rice of possession on the edge of Arsenal's box, before setting up Anthony Gordon to put the tie beyond any doubt whatsoever.

The average positions of Newcastle's players hints at just how aggressive Howe's side were at St James' Park, with Schar (five) leading a front-footed back three also featuring Svenb Botman (four) and Dan Burn (33).

Some way for you to *checks Google* start your Thursday morning in Christchurch that, Pete. A big win over breakfast.

Newcastle's fans continued to enjoy themselves after the full-time whistle, too.

As did their players.

Some were left wondering whether Anthony Gordon's post-match comments, calling for his team to 'stay humble', was a small dig at Arsenal's weekend celebrations against Manchester City.

He knew exactly what he was doing there, didn't he?

Image source, Getty Images

Amid their jubilant celebrations, Newcastle's fans reserved plenty of attention for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who complained about the ball being used in the Carabao Cup after the Gunners' first-leg loss.

"Mikel Arteta, it must be the ball", rang around the stadium as a party atmosphere broke out, with the home side securing their Wembley date long before the full-time whistle.

Newcastle's social media admin joined in the fun, posting a picture of the ball with the words 'the culprit'.

Image source, Newcastle United

Ah, yes. The ball.

We know what chant Mikel Arteta will have had ringing in his ears as he tried to go to sleep last night...

Our poll today, which hopefully you'll be able to see at the top of this page, asks whether you think Eddie Howe is currently underrated as a manager.

Make sure you have your say and we'll check the results a little later on.