“He’s not a squad player anymore” – Jacob Murphy stars as Newcastle beat Arsenal to reach Carabao Cup Final | OneFootball

Jacob Murphy got his moment in the spotlight as he helped Newcastle United beat Arsenal to seal their spot in the 2025 Carabao Cup Final.

Newcastle went into the second leg of their Carabao Cup final 2-0 up on aggregate, having secured a big win at the Emirates Stadium in January. And they replicated that scoreline at St. James’ Park thanks to goals from Murphy and Anthony Gordon.

Although Gordon ran the Arsenal defence ragged, alongside Alexander Isak, this was Murphy’s match. In fact, it’s been Murphy’s season.

Again, Isak has been getting all the plaudits for Newcastle this season, and rightfully so. He’s lead the Newcastle line superbly. And he ran Arsenal ragged on Wednesday night. It was his shot off the post that rebounded to Murphy for the opener.

Since the start of the 2020-21 season, when Murphy had returned from a handful of consecutive loan spells, the Englishman has had to make do with a squad role. In that season, Murphy made 31 appearances across all competitions, but didn’t hit 2,000 minutes. And 11 of those appearances came from the bench.

In 2021-22, Murphy played 34 games but hit just over 1,500 minutes. In 2022-23, the number of games played went up to 43 across all competitions, but the minutes dropped to 1,461. He came off the bench 27 times during the 2023-24 campaign.

Last season, Murphy was hampered by injuries, but returned to be a regular starter. And he finished the campaign well. With 28 games across all competitions, Murphy was directly involved in 11 goals, scoring three and providing eight assists. He played just under 1,597 minutes. And he’s built on that campaign, massively.

Murphy’s goal against Arsenal was his fifth across all competitions this season, making it best single-campaign return for Newcastle. The 29-year-old hasn’t really been a goalscorer, especially not in the cups. In fact, it was just his fourth domestic cup goal during his career, three of which have now come in the Carabao Cup.

The Englishman has added a further nine assists across all competitions, with 14 direct goal involvements. Again, it’s his best such return in a Newcastle shirt across a single season. And four of those involvements have come against north London sides. Murphy also provided an assist against Arsenal in their semi-final first leg, adding to Premier League assists home and away against Tottenham Hotspur.

It’s Murphy’s form that effectively brought an end to Miguel Almiron’s time at St James’ Park, after the Paraguayan had been an almost-guaranteed starter on his work rate alone.

“Murphy has gone from probably a squad player, a sub coming off the bench, a good guy to have around the changing room.” former Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given said of Murphy before the game.

“Call him what you want, he’s brilliant around the changing room by all accounts as well. But he’s really stepped up to the plate this season.

“He’s not a squad player anymore. He’s a starter. Eddie Howe and his staff have probably worked hard with Jacob at the training ground. And Jacob has really stepped up to the plate. He’s a top performer.”

With 10 minutes left to play, Murphy was taken off by Eddie Howe, leaving the field to a standing ovation. Alongside his goal, Murphy also won two tackles, made two clearances and won possession three times in the defensive third. He was everything Howe needed him to be.

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