Newcastle reached the final four after their victory over Brentford this week.
Howe said: "I think we were guaranteed a tough game, whoever we got. I watched it with interest last night, I thought the game (Tottenham's victory over Manchester United) was an unbelievable game to watch.
"I think when you get to this stage of the competition, you know the quality is very high. We play Arsenal and we've had some good games against them in the last couple of years, so I look forward to that."
On the second-leg being at St James' Park, Howe added: "I don't think there is a whole lot in it but I think that probably would have been our preference but I think any game against Arsenal is difficult, home or away but as I have said, we've had some good competitive games, I think they've been really tight, so I think that's something on the horizon for us to really look forward to.
"But that's in the background of my mind, the focus very, very quickly is Ipswich. We've prepared for the game and we're looking forward to it."
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