Newcastle United stand on the edge of greatness. Opportunity awaits. They have a shot at immortality in their sights. All they have to do is pull the trigger.

With a 2-0 lead heading into the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Eddie Howe’s side are in a wonderful position to reach a second domestic cup final in the space of just three years.

This is the biggest game of the season and, if ever St James’ Park needed to be at its raucous, partisan and intimidating best, it is now.

This is the time for the Geordies to roar like the warrior clans of old when invaders from north or south strayed on to their land.

Arsenal have wilted in this environment before. By a strange quirk of fate, Wednesday night’s game comes on the 14th anniversary of one of their worst capitulations – a 4-0 lead that evaporated into a 4-4 draw, secured by the late Cheick Tioté’s first and only goal for the North-East club.

Newcastle supporters need to do everything in their power to make it happen again. They pride themselves on the atmosphere they create, especially under the lights, in cup competitions.

This is what being a Newcastle supporter is supposed to be all about. If the team need to embrace the moment, if their star players – Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali – need to step up and deliver on the big occasion, so too do the fans, from first whistle to last.

Arsenal have already lost at St James’ Park this season, just as they did in the last. Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool have all failed to win there this campaign.

Newcastle can be a formidable side on home turf, a horrible team to play against, with the most intimidating fans to face in the country. This is the perfect time to show why.

Having waited 20 years to play in the last four of a cup competition during those bleak, depressing years under former owner Mike Ashley and the mediocre ones that preceded it, this is everything the supporters yearned for.

Newcastle are not merely taking part anymore. They compete for silverware and can dream once more of ending that embarrassing trophy drought; a talented, hard-working team who are again challenging for Champions League qualification.

Yet, as ever, there are strange emotions at play on Tyneside. When you have had a shot at glory and missed so many times before, it weighs heavily on the mind. Newcastle have lost plenty of cup semi-finals and finals since they last lifted a domestic trophy, the FA Cup in 1955. That fear of failure has seeped into the foundations.

It is not just the club’s history that filters into conversations. When you have been defeated in successive home games by Bournemouth and Fulham, a run of 10 wins in 12, in all competitions, can instead be perceived and talked about as two losses in three in the league.

Off the pitch, another transfer window has shut without a first-team player being signed. There is an unease, a feeling the club have stagnated because of the constraints placed on them by financial rules. There is frustration and disappointment because fans need to see signings to believe in words such as ambition and progress. All of that needs to be forgotten for the time being at least.

Howe admitted as much in his pre-match press conference, but he wants to harness different sorts of emotions, the positive vibes that have, along with Saudi Arabia’s millions, fuelled and driven the club’s transformation from relegation battlers to great disruptors. This is not the time for nerves and apprehension to creep in.

Asked if this was, in fact, a great time to be a Newcastle manager and player, Howe replied: “Yeah, absolutely. Nerves and excitement are closely linked to each other as emotions and you have to focus on that side of it, the positive side much more than the negative side.

“I understand the brain can go in different directions, but ultimately when you look at this game, we are in a cup semi-final, what a great opportunity we’ve got – and that’s if it’s 0-0.

Howe: ‘Players need to rise to occasion and leave a legacy’

“So forget any talk of a lead, it’s 0-0 and we are at home. What an opportunity to attack the game and embrace everything in front of us, to be at our best. That is what we are going to try to do.

“It’s the case for all the players, not just the big-name players, to show on the pitch they can rise to the occasion. That they can leave a legacy and do something that everybody talks about for years and years. What a great position to be in.

“I think, for supporters and anyone connected with Newcastle, there will be a range of emotions. You have to channel those feelings. What I have tried to do with players is to channel those thoughts into excitement.

“It is a game you want to be involved in. I don’t think we want to look at it in any other way. What an opportunity for us.

“And I am not necessarily talking about the scoreline leading into the game, I am talking about the game itself. It is a game we are going to try to win and I think that is the best way to attack the game. Look at it purely as a one-game opportunity to get to a cup final.”

This is potentially an era-defining moment for everyone at Newcastle United. A chance to prove that they are not typical Newcastle any more. That this team, this manager, are different. They just have to take a deep breath and take the shot.