Man City beats Newcastle 3-1 to advance to English League Cup final

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — It's Manchester City vs. Arsenal in the English League Cup final.

The current top two in the Premier League will go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium next month after City beat Newcastle 3-1 on Wednesday to complete a 5-1 win on aggregate in the semifinals.

Both City and Arsenal are still in contention for a clean sweep of trophies this season. The League Cup is the chance to lift the first piece of major silverware this term and to potentially inflict a psychological blow in the race for the title.

“We’re here to win trophies and we give our best every day to reach these finals and win the silverware,” City forward Omar Marmoush - who scored two goals on the night - told Sky Sports.

Arsenal currently leads the standings by six points ahead of second-place City. Both teams are through to the round of 16 in the Champions League and and fourth round of the FA Cup.

The League Cup final is on March 22.

“It’s a pleasure to play against Arsenal, the best team right now in Europe, maybe the world,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “As much (as) we (can) play against them, it will make us a better, better team.”

Two first-half goals from Marmoush at the Etihad effectively finished off Newcastle in a semifinal where City led 2-0 from the first leg. Tijjani Reijnders added another before the break.

Newcastle scored a consolation through substitute Anthony Elanga and prevented what looked like being a rout after the first 45 minutes.

Arsenal booked its place in the final with a 1-0 win against Chelsea on Tuesday to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory.

The final will continue the recent rivalry between the clubs, which has seen City beat Arsenal to the title in 2023 and '24. On both occasions Arsenal had led the way before being overhauled.

Mikel Arteta’s team is ahead again this season and aiming to win the title for the first time since 2004.

The League Cup would be Arteta’s first major trophy since his debut season as Arsenal manager when he won the FA Cup in 2020.

He was formerly Guardiola’s assistant at City and victory in the final would see him finally beat his former boss to a major trophy.

Guardiola, meanwhile, will get the chance to win a 16th major trophy since taking over at City in 2016 and his fifth League Cup.

City is looking to win it for the ninth time and move within one of Liverpool’s record haul of 10 in the competition.

Arsenal has won the trophy twice - most recently in 1993.

This year’s final will be a repeat of 2018, when Arteta was part of Guardiola’s coaching team as City triumphed.

Marmoush bundled in City’s opener in the seventh minute when Dan Burn’s tackle rebounded off the Egypt international and into the net.

His second came from another defensive error in the 29th when Kieran Trippier's attempted clearance looped up for Marmoush to head in from close range.

Reijnders drove home the third from inside the box three minutes later.

Elanga's goal came in the 62nd and Newcastle had chances to score more.

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

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

-mu9-, left, and Manchester City's Abdukodir Khusanov fight for the ball during the English League Cup semifinal soccer match soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Omar Marmoush celebrates after scoring during the English League Cup semifinal soccer match soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates their second goal during the English League Cup semifinal soccer match soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Omar Marmoush celebrates after scoring during the English League Cup semifinal soccer match soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Omar Marmoush celebrates after scoring during the English League Cup semifinal soccer match soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia General Assembly ended its annual session early Friday without a plan for new equipment to overhaul the state's voting system by a July deadline, plunging into doubt the future of elections in the political battleground.

The lawmakers' failure to offer a solution after months of debate raises uncertainty about how Georgians will vote in November and leaves confusion that could end in the courts or a special legislative session.

“They’ve abdicated their responsibility,” Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper said of inaction by Republicans who control the legislature.

Currently, voters make their choices on Dominion Voting machines, which then print ballots with a QR code that scanners read to tally votes. Those machines have been repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump following his 2020 election loss, and Trump’s Georgia supporters responded by enacting a law in 2024 that bans using barcodes to count votes.

But state law still requires counties to use the machines. No money has been allocated to reprogram them, and lawmakers failed to agree on a replacement.

“We’ll have an unresolvable statutory conflict come July 1,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Cornelia Republican who backed a proposal to keep using the machines in 2026 that Senate Republicans declined to consider.

Republican House Speaker Jon Burns said he would meet with Gov. Brian Kemp and “take his temperature” on the possibility of a special session.

Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman said he Republican governor will examine the situation.

“We’ll analyze all bills, as well as the consequence of those that did not pass,” Chapman said Friday.

House Republicans and Democrats backed Anderson's plan, which would have required that Georgia choose a voting process that didn't use QR codes by 2028. Election officials preferred that solution.

“The Senate has shown that they’re not responsible actors,” Draper said. She added that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor, seemed more interested in keeping Trump's backing than “doing right by Georgia voters.”

A spokesperson for Jones didn't immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.

Joseph Kirk, Bartow County election supervisor and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said he’ll look to the secretary of state for guidance and assumes a judge will rule to instruct election officials how to proceed.

“This is uncharted territory,” he said.

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is also running for governor, said officials are “ready to follow the law and follow the Constitution.”

Burns told reporters that his chamber was seeking to minimize changes this year.

“You can’t change horses in the middle of the stream,” Burns said.

Anderson said without action, the state could be required to use hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots in November.

Election officials say switching to a new system within just a few months, as advocated by some Republicans, would be nearly impossible.

“They made no way for this to happen except putting a deadline on it," Cherokee County elections director Anne Dover said of the switch away from barcodes. Dover said one problem under some plans is that a very large number of ballots would have to be printed.

Lawmakers seemed more concerned about scoring political points than making practical plans, Paulding County Election Supervisor Deidre Holden said.

“If anyone is resilient and can get the job done, it’s all of us election officials, but the legislators need to work with us, and they need to understand what we do before they go making laws that are basically unachievable for us,” Holden said.

Supporters of hand-marked paper ballots say voters are more likely to trust in an accurate count if they can see what gets read by the scanner.

Right-wing election activists lobbied lawmakers for an immediate switch to hand-marked paper ballots, but the House turned away from a Senate proposal to do so.

Anderson said he wasn’t sure if a special session could escape those political crosswinds, but said Georgia lawmakers must fix the problem.

“This is a legislative problem,” Anderson said. “It’s a legislative solution that has to happen.”

FILE - Voting machines are seen at the Bartow County Election office, Jan. 25, 2024, in Cartersville, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)