Match Day LIVE
Match Week – Semi finals Carabao Cup.(English football League Cup)2025/2026
Manchester City vs Newcastle United .
Venue – Etihad stadium
Date – February 4, 2026 .
Time- 8 pm .
Embattled Cup holders of the English League Cup , Newcastle United have a big river to cross tonight when they face Man City in thr second leg semi final of the Carabao Cup .
They are seeking to over turn a two goal deficit in the first leg at St James Park ,at New Castle Upon Tyne in an intriguing semi finals show down this Wednesday at the Etihad stadium.
The winner tonight in this all English Premier League match will face Arsenal who dismissed Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate , last Tuesday in another semi final encounter
The Citizens are favourites to win tonight with a commanding 2-0 win at St James Park ,three weeks ago with strikes from Antionine Semanyo and Riyad Cherki , for their 23rd domestic Cup finals under the tutelage of Pep Guaediola
Before today’s encounter , the Citizens have failed to reach the finals just once in six appearances in the semi finals , losing only to Man United Way back in 2009/2010 and they are up for another victory in the English Cup finals since 2020/2021 season.with only Liverpool winning (10) times against City ‘s (8)..
After the first leg win of the Carabao Cup at St James Park , their football fortunes have dwindled with seires of losses including but not limited an off record draw at away to Tottenham Hotspurs in a 2-2 draw in North London last Sunday .land it was the first time , City led with 2-0 in the first half , only for Spurs to come back with ease in the second half to secure the much needed draw , 2-2. , and this is the first time they have led and failed to win since April 2018 defeat with Man United 3-2
Coincidentally City have scored six goals in the first half this season 2026 and conceded six as well in the second half without scoring again .
Their sudden below average performance against Spurs further highlights how second half performance has become a growing concern with the Citizens , allowing six goals in second half after leading in the first stanza this season .And they are behind temporary league leaders , Arsenal with six points margin and with 14 matches to go this season ., though the tides can change at any time , the title can go either way depending on who manages their tactics and pulls play very well.
Man City will be at home tonight at the Etihad their fortress where they have had an upper hand this season with commanding victories , where they have won 14 out of 18 matches at home in all competitions ( drew 2 and lost 2) as well as having beaten the Magypies 11 times at home this season with one of them being a comprehensive pummeling of the Magypies 4-0 victory back in February 2025 , recording a statistics of 37+3 goals .
Defending Champions in the EFL Cup , Newcastle , on their way to this stage of the competition , dismissed , Bradford City , Tottenham and Fulham ,but their record and historical 10 game winning run ended with their defeat against City 2-0 at St James Park in the first leg semi finals stage , dating back to the 2024/25 season .
Eddie Howe , the Magypies , Coach still believes that Newcastle is still in contention against City despite a 2-0 deficit on their back , which will make them the second team to get an out of the world come back to reach the EFL Cup finals after Aston Villa against Tranmere lost 3-1 at away and won 3-1 and later won on penalty shootout in the 1993/94 finals .
It’s going to be a very tight match for the Magypies who have lost 17 matches out of 18 visits to Man City and have won only once in the last 22 years against City and that was in the fourth round of the 2014 EFL Cup match when they claimed a 2-0 away victory in October 2014 .
The Magypies performance this season has been on the down side as they have only prevailed in three matches out of 16 games on the road in all competitions this season , they have drawn five and lost eight ,most recently losing to Liverpool last Saturday 4-1 after leading by a lone goal leaving them 10th on the league table and six points behind the top five .
As they file out against City , Wednesday , their only consolation is based on history with their previous wins against the Citizens , with two wins in the EFL Cup in 2014 as well as in 2023.and a 2-1 win against Man City last November ,2025 .
In football anything can happen , they will attempt to beat City in same season twice for the first time since 1983/84 .
Predictions .
Newcastle need to up their game this night against City by not conceding early goals ,though they will take the game to Man City but should be very careful let not what happenes to Chelsea happen to them and they lost with a late minute goal from injury returnee and German International , Kai Harvetz who scored Gunners late winner against the Blues . 1-0.
They also have the record against City of having previously conceded an early goal in the first 20 minutes inside the first half in their last eight visits out of seven at the Etihad and went ahead to lose .
The Magypies have enough Arsenal in their attack to rough ride a leaky City rear guard , and get the needed goals and possibly win the game but on the other hand , City also posses an extra terrestrial football prowess and pukka play in their kitty to reduce an inform Newcastle too to a mere village team and get to the finals tonight .
Man City 3-1 or 2-1
Happy Viewing and Happy Semi Finals of the English Football League Cup, 2035/2026season.
Uche Anaba .
Uchefreetips 2026 (C).
Email -ucheanaba@gmail.com
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