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.

In between those two moments, to make it worse for Mikel Arteta, Arsenal missed even more chances while Anthony Gordon took one for Newcastle. That was another goal largely against the run of play, and another where Isak’s ability to take the ball and move with it while evading challenges with pure smoothness was so glorious.

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."

Arsenal goalscorer Ethan Nwaneri was substituted at half-time against Brighton & Hove Albion because of a muscular injury, Mikel Arteta has said. The 17-year-old opened the scoring for Arsenal in the first half with a composed finish but Brighton secured a 1-1 draw thanks to Joao Pedro’s penalty,

Arsenal's season looks to be on the brink after the Gunners shipped two goals to Newcastle at home in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final clash