Newcastle United have reached a second Carabao Cup final in three seasons following a superb 2-0 win against Arsenal.

Jacob Murphy opened the scoring for Newcastle in the 19th minute after Alexander Isak's shot cannoned off the upright before Anthony Gordon doubled his side's lead just after the break after the Magpies hunted the Gunners down.

Here are five things we learned from the semi-final second-leg as Newcastle booked their place at Wembley following a 4-0 aggregate victory.

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This was not a five at the back mentality

Newcastle ended the first-leg with a back five, but no one would have predicted Eddie Howe shifting from his favoured 4-3-3 system to a 5-4-1 - even after Joelinton was ruled out of this game through injury. Howe insisted it was an 'adaptable system' and, rather than fixating over the formation, the Magpies boss instead stressed it was 'about the attitude'. Rightly so. Lining up with a back five is one thing; getting 11 men behind the ball from the off was another

Newcastle certainly did not start the game like a side in protection mode. Wor Flags urged Newcastle to 'get into them' and that is what the black-and-whites did.

Newcastle did not let Arsenal settle or play out from the back, and pressed high up the pitch from the off. To the point where Dan Burn and Fabian Schar were even hunting red shirts deep inside Arsenal's half. You would have thought it was Newcastle who needed to overturn a huge deficit - not Arsenal - in the opening stages.

That bravery was rewarded - not only with Jacob Murphy's opener but also Anthony Gordon's second. There were 52 minutes on the clock when David Raya attempted to play a goal kick short to Declan Rice. Schar, of all people, pounced and got there first and hooked the ball into Gordon's path. The Newcastle forward could not miss as Newcastle booked their place at Wembley.

Nerves, what nerves?

There was a reason why Newcastle players and staff insisted it was only half-time following last month's 2-0 win at the Emirates. There was a reason why no dressing room photograph was taken after the first-leg. This tie was far from over.

Newcastle started as if that was the case and set the tone for a relentless opening by racing out of the blocks. The first goal is always important, but it really was monumental in a tie like this.

Newcastle thought they had grabbed it in the fourth minute. Anthony Gordon played Alexander Isak in and the Sweden international only needed one touch before lashing the ball past David Raya to take the roof off this stadium and send Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall wild on the touchline. However, VAR intervened and, following a lengthy check, Isak was found to be in an offside position.

However, rather than growing frustrated, Newcastle took belief from that opening and took the lead for real in the 19th minute. This time, Isak hit the post but the ball cannoned back to Jacob Murphy, who tucked home the rebound. This time, it counted.

Kieran Trippier superb as Newcastle stand tall

Gabriel Martinelli declared buoyant Arsenal were coming to St James' to score 'three, four, five' after hammering Manchester City at the weekend. Yet it has been a long time since Arsenal have done that on Tyneside.

Arsenal may have dominated possession and territory, but Newcastle held firm. Sven Botman, for instance, made a crucial block to get in the way of a Martin Odegaard shot just a couple of minutes before Newcastle opened the scoring and the Magpies' back five were resolute - limiting Arsenal to just one shot on target in the opening 70 minutes.

When Newcastle needed their goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka was there to make an important save to keep out Leandro Trossard's deflected effort midway through the first half. When Arsenal launched an aerial avalanche - the Premier League's set-play masters had 13 corners and 12 free-kicks - Newcastle stood tall with Botman and Trippier among those to make crucial interventions.

Arsenal pushed for a way back into the game, but streetwise Newcastle never gave an inch. At one point, Trippier even stood over Gabriel and gave the Arsenal defender a piece of his mind after the towering Brazilian went down far too easily.

Newcastle even kept Arsenal waiting when the Gunners emerged first after the break. By the time the second half got under way, Bruno Guimaraes crunched into Leandro Trossard. A clear message was sent; Newcastle were not about to throw this away.

Mikel Arteta feels Geordies' wrath

Bruno Guimaraes demanded a repeat of the atmosphere that blew PSG away, when every tackle was roared, while Jacob Murphy vowed to give the fans 'things to feed off'. Eddie Howe stopped short of banging on the table, but even the measured Newcastle boss recognised his side had to use 'every power that we possess' to get the crowd in the game because the Magpies 'needed to make this a really formidable environment'.

St James' has not exactly been a fortress this season - Fulham, Bournemouth, West Ham and Brighton have all won here - but these are the nights where this place is at its febrile best under the lights. Arsenal may have enjoyed an increased allocation, as it was a cup game, with close to 5,000 Gunners fans in attendance up in the gods, but they could not be heard. Remarkably, the stadium was full with a quarter of an hour to go until kick-off as fans waved their flags and roared along to Rockin' All Over the World. It felt like a European night; saxophonist Johnny 'Blue Hat' Davis even performed Local Hero as the players walked out.

The noise was deafening. It certainly did not sound like a nervous crowd. Geordies repeatedly roared 'Eddie Howe's black and white army!' from the off and booed and jeered whenever Arsenal got close to Newcastle's goal. When Arsenal players went down easily, there were chants of 'Same old Arsenal, always cheating!'

Geordies never let up and you suspect they enjoyed that final half-an-hour in particular. By that stage, Newcastle fans felt emboldened enough to chant 'Tell me ma, me ma. I won't be home for tea. We're going to Wembley!' and 'We're Newcastle and we're going to win the cup!' There were even taunts of 'Mikel Arteta - it must be the ball!' and 'You're going to cry in a minute!' following the Arsenal boss' previous moans.

Big-game record bodes well as Newcastle bid to make history

History, for once, was in Newcastle's favour. There have been 32 instances of a side losing the first-leg of a League Cup semi-final by two or more goals and only one of those have progressed to the final. Rather than approaching this tie with any sort of crippling tension, then, this was an occasion these players relished: a chance to move one step closer to Wembley and one step closer to immortality by ending that eternal wait for silverware.

Instead of overthinking being 2-0 in front, on aggregate, Newcastle treated it as a one-off game and were their usual aggressive, front-foot selves from the off as the Magpies so often have been in these sorts of fixtures. Newcastle had already beaten Arsenal twice this season. The black-and-whites knocked Chelsea out of the cup. Eddie Howe's team had defeated Spurs home and away and won at Old Trafford. They had even gone toe-to-toe with league leaders Liverpool and champions Manchester City on home soil.

When Newcastle needed to show another side of their game, and dig in, that's just what the Magpies did. This big-game record, and the lessons learned from the 2023 final defeat, bode well ahead of Newcastle facing either Liverpool or Spurs under the arch next month as the black-and-whites bid to end a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy.