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 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 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 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

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 do still have a second leg in a month to overturn this, but that will be at an intimidating St James’ Park, where the crowd will see this trophy as being about so much more than this trophy. The Saudi Arabian project has felt like it has needed a lift after a long lull,