Arsenal suffered a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final with an FA Cup clash against Manchester United up next

Arsenal’s hopes of signing Alexander Isak have been dealt a blow despite Newcastle seemingly needing to offload players this month. Isak enhanced his already growing reputation this week by scoring at the Emirates on Tuesday, as the Magpies secured a 2-0 first leg lead in their Carabao Cup semi-final.

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.

Arsenal’s prospects of reaching the Carabao Cup final look slim after suffering a 2-0 home loss to Newcastle United in which Alexander Isak stared. The Sweden international forward has been linked with a big-money move to the Emirates Stadium,

Arsenal's defeat to Newcastle highlighted yet again the growing need to sign players in the January transfer window

Mikel Arteta said Arsenal's 2-0 defeat to Newcastle in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final did not reflect his team's performance. The Gunners were guilty of missing a host of chances as their hopes of reaching the final at Wembley in March were made to feel distant after an excellent display by Eddie Howe's side.