Newcastle United went for a dramatic system change in the Carabao Cup semi-finals against Arsenal.

The Magpies switched to a five-man defensive rearguard with Kieran Trippier coming into the side at right-back at the expense of Tino Livramento. Howe also decided on picking a three-man central defensive unit of Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Dan Burn with Lewis Hall left-back.

With Joelinton out with a knee injury, the midfield duo of Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes protected the back five. And Howe named Jacob Murphy, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak in attack.

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The other big news was that Callum Wilson was back on the bench after a hamstring problem. Arsenal were unchanged from their 5-1 hammering against Man City.

Howe said before the game: "We have had mixed success this season in terms of our starts to games. I think we have had some very good starts in our recent run of wins. I thought we'd started games really, really well and were back to the levels in our Champions League season. Yes, a couple of times this season we have been frustrating and haven't started the game in the right way.

"The start to this game is going to be really, really important as it is to any game. We need to set the right intention, we need to set the right body language for everybody to connect with those coming to watch us. I think if we can do that with the qualities we have that will help us a lot."

UNITED: Dubravka, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Hall; Tonali, Bruno; Murphy, Isak, Gordon

Subs: Pope, Targett, Krafth, Livramento, Willock, Longstaff, Miley, Osula, Wilson.