Arsenal's Mikel Arteta upbeat on Carabao Cup chances despite Newcastle loss

Mikel Arteta remains positive about Arsenal's chances of progressing in the Carabao Cup despite the 2-0 loss to Newcastle in the semi-final first leg.

There might be doom and gloom from the Arsenal fanbase after the 2-0 loss to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, but manager Mikel Arteta is upbeat about his team's chances to turn things around.

Goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon saw Eddie Howe's team register what looked like a convincing win at the Emirates, but the Gunners more than had their fair share of opportunities to score prior to Isak's opener.

Jurrien Timber had a point-blank header from a corner kick sail over the bar, and later in the first half, Leandro Trossard sent Gabriel Martinelli through on goal, and the Brazilian was one-on-one with Martin Dúbravka, but the winger's shot hammered into the upright.

Two chances had gone begging, and then Isak scored, giving fans that sinking feeling. Just six minutes after the restart, Gordon tapped home to double the Magpies' lead, and Howe set up shop.

Despite the scoreline, Arteta is confident in his team's ability to turn things around at St. James' Park next month.

“There’s a long way [to go], it’s just half-time,” Arteta said via arsenal.com. “It’s very disappointing because the performance and dominance in the game doesn’t reflect the scoreline unfortunately. We could have done better in the two goals that we conceded and with the amount of shots and situations that we generated, we should have scored at least two or three goals."

Arteta is right. On another night the Gunners would have hammered home their chances, but that is something we've heard all too often this season.

And we don't have to look too far to see the benefit having a quality striker up top can do for a team, as Isak tormented the Arsenal defense and looked dangerous every time he touched the ball.

Arsenal is crying out for someone to lead the line with authority and be ruthless in front of goal, like Isak. Now, a move for the Newcastle forward in January is very unlikely given the fee it would take to get him out of Howe's grip. Plus, with the Magpies aiming for Champions League football, they will want to keep their stars for a potential European campaign next season.

There is a lot of doom and gloom around the Gunners as this result, and while Arteta and Timber remain upbeat, it looks like a herculean task to turn things around.

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