January 14, (THEWILL) — Manchester City took a two-goal advantage from the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final after defeating Newcastle United 2-0 at St James’ Park. The holders will travel to the Etihad Stadium on February 4 with a comfortable cushion following goals from Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
Newcastle dominated the opening exchanges but failed to convert their chances. Yoane Wissa squandered a fifth-minute opportunity when he blazed over from a one-on-one position with James Trafford. The forward came close again early in the second half, forcing Trafford into a save from a looping header that was tipped onto the crossbar, whilst Bruno Guimaraes struck the left post with a curling shot.
City punished that wastefulness when Semenyo raced through a crowded penalty area to fire home from close range after meeting Jeremy Doku’s deflected cross. The Ghanaian, who also scored on his debut against Exeter City in the FA Cup, thought he had added a second when he flicked a backheel past Nick Pope from Tijjani Reijnders’ corner, but VAR ruled it out after Erling Haaland was judged to be interfering with Malick Thiaw from an offside position.
Newcastle pressed for an equaliser in the closing stages. Sven Botman had a header cleared off the line, Sandro Tonali fired wide, and Nick Woltemade missed with a diving header. However, Cherki sealed the victory late on, slotting home after a neat one-two with the returning Rayan Ait-Nouri to leave Newcastle facing a significant deficit to overturn.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
