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Arsenal paid the price for their inefficiency in the 2-0 loss to Newcastle, much to the annoyance of Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal will face an uphill battle in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg after a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle at the Emirates that leaves Mikel Arteta's side on the brink of elimination.
In what is now becoming a concerning theme, the Gunners, on another night, would have been a couple of goals to the good before Alexander Isak scored the games first goal.
Gabriel Martinelli hit the post, along with Jurrien Timber heading from point-blank range that sailed over the bar, was the story of the night as the Gunners didn't take advantage of their chances.
But Newcastle did with Isak and then Anthony Gordon scoring to give the Magpies a commanding lead as things now get far tougher for the Gunners in the return leg at St. James' Park.
Arteta was left lamenting the missed chances by his team while the Magpies took theirs.
"It’s the result," Arteta said via arsenal.com. "If you look at what both teams produced and the domination of the game, it’s not a result that reflects the story of the game. But the reality is that they were super efficient with the chances that they had and we weren’t, and at this level in these kind of scenarios, you need to impose yourself and win the game."
The final stats show that the Gunners had a whopping 23 shots to just seven with 70 percent possessino to Newcastle's 30, but that is misleading.
After the Magpies went 2-0, it was park the bus time for Eddie Howe's side, and they saw off the toothless Gunners with ease. Kai Havertz could have and should have cut the deficit in half, and yes, we are still wondering how he missed.
The game showed the exact area that the Gunners are struggling with and have struggled all season - the lack of a true striker to take advantage of all these opportunities that are going begging.
Isak looks like the perfect signing for the Gunners, but with Newcastle's Champions League assault in good shape, that move looks unlikely.
It was yet another performance that saw Arsenal's good work further up the pitch to go waste as chance after chance went begging, but that has been the tale of the Gunners' season.
And now, there's every chance that we will have yet another trophyless season under Arteta, barring a huge turnaround next month in the second leg.