Newcastle wins the English League Cup and secures its first major domestic trophy in 70 years

LONDON (AP) — After 70 long years the wait is over for Newcastle.

The Saudi-backed club beat Liverpool 2-1 on Sunday to win the English League Cup and end an agonizing trophy drought.

Dan Burn and Alexander Isak scored either side of halftime to seal victory at Wembley. And even though Liverpool substitute Federico Chiesa set up a tense finish to the final with a goal in added time, nothing was going to stand in Newcastle's way.

“After 70 years we can now say we are the champions again," a tearful Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes said. "It's one of the best days of my life."

Newcastle’s last major domestic trophy was the FA Cup in 1955. It won the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969.

This was its first piece of silverware since being bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021 - a deal that was expected to transform the fortunes of one of English soccer's most iconic clubs.

Burn’s powerful header opened the scoring just before halftime and Isak doubled the lead in the 52nd minute with a sweeping shot from close range.

Chiesa raced through to pull a goal back in the fourth minute of added time, but Newcastle held on to spark raucous celebrations from its long-suffering fans.

While Liverpool is 12 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and looks on course to win a record-equaling 20th English title this season, coach Arne Slot was forced to wait for his first trophy since succeeding Jurgen Klopp last year.

The defeat ended a painful week for the Merseyside club, which was also knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday after losing to Paris Saint-Germain in a penalty shootout.

‘Even Liverpool can lose’

"It took us 7, 8, 9 months to lose twice in a row," Slot said. “You know that if you go far in tournaments that the opposition you face gets stronger and stronger. And even Liverpool can lose football games.”

There have been near misses and painful lows during Newcastle's trophy wait, including back-to-back FA Cup final losses in 1998 and ’99 and defeat to Manchester United in the League Cup final two years ago.

On this occasion Eddie Howe's team was a worthy winner against a Liverpool team that has been too good for its top flight rivals this season - losing just once in the league.

“You don’t get many shots at a cup final. Today we had to try to take our opportunity and that’s where the players delivered under pressure so well and so impressively," Howe said. “It also proves proves we can mix our game against the very, very best."

More trophies ahead?

Newcastle fans, whose joyous singing dominated Wembley, will hope this is the start of things to come under its new owners.

Despite being backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund which counts its assets at around $925 billion, soccer’s financial fair play restrictions have limited Newcastle’s spending, meaning it has not been able to make the type of lavish signings seen by Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City and Qatari-backed PSG. Last summer it only spent around $36 million and recouped around $100 million in sales.

Burn and Isak were two of the big signings under the Saudi era and they delivered at Wembley.

“Hopefully with one (it) can become more," Howe said about winning more trophies in the future. “There’s no guarantee, I just think it proves we can do it.”

Arsenal closes gap

Mikel Merino led Arsenal to a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the Premier League to close the gap on Liverpool to 12 points.

Arsenal’s title hopes have faded in recent weeks, but Merino’s first-half header settled the London derby at the Emirates Stadium.

“The only thing we can do is try to win our matches. If we do, we are in a better position,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.

Merino rose in the 20th minute to flick Martin Odegaard’s near post corner beyond Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. It was enough to secure a first league win for Arsenal since Feb. 15.

Defeat for fourth-placed Chelsea means it missed the chance to extend its one-point lead over Manchester City in fifth and boost its chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

Arsenal, on 58 points, is 10 clear of four-time defending champion City.

Man United wins

Three days after beating Real Sociedad 4-1 in the last 16 of the Europa League, Manchester United enjoyed a 3-0 win at struggling Leicester in the Premier League.

Rasmus Hojlund ended his goal drought to open the scoring for United at the King Power Stadium and, after having a goal disallowed, Alejandro Garnacho doubled the advantage.

Bruno Fernandes wrapped up three points with a late goal as the visitors climbed to 13th and inflicted a sixth successive loss on the relegation-threatened Foxes.

United's win was marred by a serious-looking injury to teenager Ayden Heaven. The 18-year-old arrived from Arsenal last month and gave an impressive first-half display on Sunday.

But Heaven’s full Premier League debut came to an agonizing end shortly after halftime, with the United center back taken off on a stretcher after lengthy treatment, having been hurt stopping Patson Daka reaching a cross.

Spurs blow

Another setback for Tottenham is likely to increase the pressure on coach Ange Postecoglou heading into the international break after a 2-0 loss at Fulham.

Spurs, in 14th, have only won one of their last five in all competitions and this was a 15th league defeat of the season.

“It’s been a difficult campaign for sure. But I feel we’ve lost too many games that we should have got stuff out of, and this was one of those games,” Postecoglou said. “It’s another international break we go into off a loss and you feel that. We just need to make sure we’re ready for when we come back.”

Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham the lead in the 78th at Craven Cottage and Ryan Sessegnon doubled the home team’s lead 10 minutes later.

Fulham is eighth and four points behind Chelsea in the race for a Champions League place.

___

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer