With a trip to Wembley on the line for the winner of the two-legged tie, both sides would have been forgiven for starting in a cagey manner. Newcastle however, riding high on their incredible form of just one defeat in their last 21 matches, began on the frontfoot and dominated for the majority of the first half.
The Magpies probed throughout the half, and they thought they took a vital lead just before the interval when Joelinton pounced on a goalmouth scramble to volley the ball in, but the referee immediately ruled the goal out and following a VAR review, the on-field decision stood for what looked like a possible handball before the Brazilian fired in.
Southampton coped well with the pressure from their opponents and almost went into the break with a smash-and-grab type goal. Carlos Alcaraz picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and sent a shot on target, but Nick Pope managed to palm the effort away despite the bouncing shot proving difficult to deal with.
The away side continued where they left off after the restart, creating wave after wave of attacks, but wasteful finishing was their only problem - epitomised by Joelinton, who was unmarked in the box, blazing over from just a couple yards out from goal.
The Saints had a great chance to open the scoring around the hour mark as Alcaraz played an exquisite ball to split the Toon defence, sending Che Adams through one-on-one, but the striker wasted a golden opportunity and Pope was able to comfortably save with his feet.
Joelinton - who could have been on a hat-trick - was finally able to get a goal in the 73rd minute. Alexander Isak was set free down the right wing before he squared the ball across the face of goal for the Brazilian to tap in and make amends for his prior embarrassing miss.
That lead looked like it lasted a mere two minutes however, as the Saints immediately equalised through Adam Armstrong bundling the ball in, but following a VAR review, the goal was ruled out for a handball.
Tempers began to flare as full-time approached and Duje Caleta-Car was given a second yellow card, as Eddie Howe’s side successfully defended their one-goal lead to send the Magpies into the second-leg with a one-goal advantage.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joelinton (Newcastle United)
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