Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon has been accused of winding up Arsenal after their Carabao Cup semi-final win.

Eddie Howe’s side booked their place at Wembley with a 2-0 victory at St. James’ Park on Wednesday night. Gordon found the net in the first leg and rounded off the scoring in the reverse fixture, but his post-match comments seemed to rub further salt into Arsenal’s wounds. "It is important for us to stay humble now," Gordon told Sky Sports. "[The final] will be a big occasion but it's so far away. It feels amazing. A proper team performance and we got the win."

Arsenal players and fans had revelled in digging out Erling Haaland during their 5-1 win last weekend as the striker had told Gunners boss Mikel Arteta to ‘stay humble’ in September. Having heard Gordon’s interview, Gary Lineker and Micah Richards accused the Newcastle star of deliberately mocking the Gunners by using the same line.

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“Have you seen the little s***housery going around with Gordon in his interview afterwards, saying, ‘We just need to stay humble,’” Richards told the Rest is Football podcast. When Newcastle legend Alan Shearer asked if Gordon had done it deliberately, Richards replied: “Do I think it was deliberate? He had it all over his socials and everything!”

Lineker was “100 per cent” certain that Gordon had intended to rile up the Gunners, while Shearer also saw the funny side. It followed Myles Lewis-Skelly copying Haaland’s go-to goal celebration at the weekend. It was revenge for the Arsenal youngster, who Haaland appeared to ask in the reverse fixture: ‘Who the f*** are you?’

The levels of friction between rival teams has become a hot topic in recent days. Premier League chief Tony Scholes spoke about cracking down on goal celebrations that mock the opposition.

It was not a subject at the front of Howe’s mind, though, as he praised his Newcastle team’s pressing of Arsenal’s defence. "We wanted to get pressure on them [William Saliba and Gabriel] and in order to do that we had to get bodies in the right areas and press high -- that is how we decided to do it," Howe said.

"We were playing against elite players and one mistake can make things difficult. We had to be ourselves, be front foot."

Newcastle previously reached the Carabao Cup final in 2023 and will hope to finally end the club’s 70-year wait for a trophy against Liverpool on March 16. They are currently sixth in the Premier League, two points off the top four, but Newcastle’s immediate focus will be on the FA Cup fourth round as they travel to take on Birmingham City on Saturday.