Newcastle United knocked out Manchester City with a 1-0 win in the League Cup, earning themselves a place in the fourth round. Newcastle will face the defending champions, Manchester United, in the next round, who defeated them in the final of the previous season.
Despite Manchester City’s dominance in possession during the first 45 minutes, they were unable to capitalize on their chances, while Newcastle’s Swedish forward Alexander Isak scored the winning goal in the second half at St James’ Park. “No problem, I accept everything,” Guardiola told the BBC of his booking. “Congratulations to Newcastle for the victory.”
Newcastle calmly absorbed the pressure and underwent a significant transformation after halftime. In the 53rd minute, Alexander Isak found the net at the back post, courtesy of a precise low cross from Joelinton. Notably, Manchester City had the likes of Phil Foden and their regular goal scorer, Erling Haaland, on the bench, while Newcastle made only one change to their lineup, fielding goalkeeper Nick Pope from the squad that had recently triumphed 8-0 against Sheffield United in the league.
Julian Alvarez had two promising opportunities, with one of his shots thwarted by the outstretched foot of Nick Pope, representing City’s best chances in the match. Despite maintaining 68% possession, Manchester City managed to muster fewer shots on target compared to Newcastle.
“It was a game of two halves for us,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, who brought on Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon after the interval.
“First half was tough… I thought we didn’t play particularly well but defended well in that first period because we didn’t have a lot of the ball. “In the second half we were excellent in most aspects, defensively and offensively, we attacked really well and probably deserved to win in the end.”
Manchester United secured a 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, a team they are set to face again in the league next weekend. Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Albion, who had been in good form, suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Wednesday. In other matches, both Aston Villa and Brentford faced top-flight opponents at home and ended up on the losing side. Aston Villa was narrowly defeated by Everton 2-1, while Brentford fell to a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal.
