It was a first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal for Arsenal to forget as Alexander Isak's goal and assist powered Newcastle United to a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium, but while Mikel Arteta gave Newcastle credit for their performance,

Mikel Arteta lamented Arsenal’s inefficiency in front of goal compared to Newcastle and Alexander Isak, but backed his players to turn around the 2-0 Carabao Cup deficit – so long as they adapt to the “tricky” ball being used in the competition.

Mikel Arteta has suggested Arsenal's failure to adapt to the Carabao Cup ball was a factor in Tuesday's 2-0 semifinal, first leg defeat to Newcastle United.

Mikel Arteta believes his Arsenal players failing to adapt to the different ball used in the Carabao Cup contributed to them missing a hatful of chances in their defeat by Newcastle. The Gunners were beaten 2-0 in the first leg of their semi-final tie at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night after goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.

Arsenal lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final and Mikel Arteta believes things could’ve been very different if his side had taken their chances.Newcastle

Arsenal were beaten 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium as Newcastle secured a healthy advantage to take back to St James' Park for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg

Mikel Arteta shut down the suggestion that Arsenal ’s players could be struggling with fatigue after the side’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle, saying he ‘didn’t even want to talk about that’ as a potential excuse.

He knew the reason and what was happening, he knew I was struggling that year. I was expecting help from him, not killing me like this.’ 😳

Former Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was one of the club's most influential players before he was forced out following a breakdown in his relationship with Mikel Arteta

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted his side lacked a cutting edge as his hopes of winning the club’s first trophy since 2020 were dented by a 2-0 home defeat against Newcastle in first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Emirates Stadium.

Mikel Arteta has said that Arsenal are "very alert" in the January transfer market after the London club suffered a fresh injury blow with Ethan Nwaneri out for a "few weeks."