Gary Neville hit out at Arsenal's 'toothlessness' as the Gunners fell 4-0 on aggregate to Newcastle to end their hopes of a Carabao Cup final on Wednesday night. Mikel Arteta's side travelled to St James' Park with a tall order - to overturn the 2-0 deficit after the Magpies beat them at the Emirates in the first leg of their semi-final. But within minutes into the match, the visitors were on the back foot after striker target Alexander Isak found the back of the net to seemingly put Newcastle ahead.

Although the Sweden international's goal was later chalked off by VAR, goals from Jacob Murphy in the first-half and Anthony Gordon in the second burnished a confident performance from the hosts. Arsenal looked less-than for much of the match, just days after thumping Manchester City 5-1 in the Premier League meeting on Sunday. And on the heels of a January transfer window that saw Arteta fail to add much-needed attacking firepower to his squad, Neville offered a brutal assessment of the north London side's fatal flaws on the night.

Gary Neville has been left unimpressed by Arsenal's failure to recruit attackers this January. The Gunners went to St James' Park with a 2-0 deficit to overturn and later conceded two more. Arsenal made Ollie Watkins their striker target in the January window but failed to improve on their offer when rebuffed by Aston Villa. 'This has shown a massive spotlight on the toothlessness of Arsenal’s forward players compared to what we’re seeing at the other end of the pitch,' Neville - who was on co-commentator duties for Sky Sports - said as Arsenal introduced Mikel Merino and Raheem Sterling in the 78th minute. 'They have to (recruit in the position) this summer.

'I was supportive of them not panicking, finding the player they want, I get that. 'But when they bid for Ollie Watkins, they are sending a message to the rest of the squad, the ones up front aren’t good enough. They were never going to get him anyway.'. Neville referenced Arsenal's attempts to capture Aston Villa forward Watkins, with the club submitting a reported £45million bid for the player, which was below his club's valuation.

On the heels of the departure of attacking talent Jhon Duran, however, Villa were loath to let their first-choice striker go to a Premier League rival. Ahead of the clash, Arteta admitted that he had been 'disappointed' by the club's failure to make significant moves in the winter window. 'We had a clear intention which is a window open to explore the opportunities to improve our squad with players that can impact it,' Arteta said on Tuesday.

'We haven't achieved it so we are disappointed in that sense, but as well we are very aware that we only want to bring certain kind of players and we have to be very disciplined with that as well and I think that we will. Mikel Arteta admitted that he had been 'disappointed' by the club's January transfer activity. At the other end of the pitch Newcastle were a composed and ruthless attacking force. 'When you try your best and you do things with the right process and you see the people that we all share the same intentions and wills and after you don't achieve it, for sure there are things to learn from it, there always are, but you have to move on and that's a piece that was important in the moment and now we have to move on.