Newcastle United dumped Manchester City out of the League Cup 1-0 on Wednesday and drew a fourth-round trip to holders Manchester United, who beat them in last season’s final, as their reward.
Swedish forward Alexander Isak broke the deadlock in the second half at St James’ Park after a much-changed City dominated possession in the first 45 minutes but failed to take their chances.
Newcastle soaked up the pressure and were transformed after the break, with Isak slotting in at the back post off a low cross from Joelinton in the 53rd.
City had Phil Foden and regular goal machine Erling Haaland on the bench while Newcastle started only goalkeeper Nick Pope from the team that won 8-0 at Sheffield United in the league.
Julian Alvarez had two good chances, including one shot denied by Pope’s outstretched foot, for City who had 68 per cent of the possession but still fewer shots on target than Newcastle.
“It was a game of two halves for us,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, who brought on Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon after the interval.
“First half was tough... I thought we didn’t play particularly well but defended well in that first period because we didn’t have a lot of the ball.
“In the second half we were excellent in most aspects, defensively and offensively, we attacked really well and probably deserved to win in the end.”
It was the third year in a row that City, winners four times in a row from 2018 to 2021, had gone out of the competition early.
Brighton & Hove Albion also went out, beaten 1-0 at Chelsea, while Aston Villa and Brentford both lost at home to Everton (2-1) and Arsenal (1-0), respectively.
Everton’s reward was a home match against Burnley, manager Sean Dyche’s previous club.
Liverpool beat Leicester City 3-1 at Anfield after the hosts went a goal down to the second-tier leaders with just three minutes gone.
Cody Gakpo scored in the 48th to cancel out Kasey McAteer’s opener and Dominik Szoboszlai fired home a thunderous drive to make it 2-1 in the 70th, five minutes after coming on.
