Newcastle United's phenomenal season continued on Tuesday night as Eddie Howe's side secured their spot in the Carabao Cup final with a 2-1 win over Southampton at St James' Park.

After a 1-0 win at St Mary's last week, the Toon were heavy favourites to secure a spot in the final at Wembley, where they will now likely meet Manchester United, provided Nottingham Forest don't complete a remarkable comeback at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening.

Nathan Jones' side were always likely to throw everything at Newcastle but the home side got off to the perfect start when Sean Longstaff slammed home Kieran Trippier's clever cutback.

Like London buses, Longstaff quickly made it 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate, as he was on hand to smash the ball past Gavin Bazunu from another cutback, this time from Miguel Almiron.

Che Adams' fierce strike brought an end to Nick Pope's impressive run of clean sheets, while Bruno Guimaraes' late red card ensured that the night wasn't perfect, but Toon fans have an exciting final to look forward to, as they bid to end their barren trophy run.

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While Longstaff will dominate the headlines after his brace, there was another fantastic performance from Trippier, just a few days after he signed a new contract at St James' Park.

After committing to a new deal until 2025, journalist Craig Hope lauded him "one of the most influential signings in the club’s recent history" and that influence was clear to see on Tuesday night against the Saints.

As per Sofascore, the former Atletico Madrid man would earn a superb 7.4/10 rating for his performance, which saw him ranked as the second-best player on the pitch behind Longstaff.

Trippier was truly at his creative best, as he contributed a remarkable five key passes in the 90 minutes, which is not only more than any other player on the pitch but also a significant increase on his average of three key passes per game in the Premier League this season.

He also enjoyed 90 touches, which was the most of any player and contributed five long balls, which again goes to show how important he is in Howe's side.

It is incredibly impressive that the right-back can have such a big impact on a team's attacking performance and with Trippier in this kind of form, there seems no reason why Newcastle can't go all the way in the League Cup this season.