Long-time transfer target was a constant thorn in the Gunners’ side but suffers hamstring injury scare in Carabao Cup semi-final
Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon has hailed teammate Alexander Isak as the best striker in Europe currently as the latter put on a sizzling display to terrorize the Gunners on Tuesday night to aid Newcastle to a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie.
The goal was Isak’s 15th of the season fittingly displaying his red-hot form, finding the net 14 times in his last 15 games and bringing up his half-century for the Magpies.
And Gordon, who scored Newcastle’s second goal of the night in north London, believes the Swedish international is the best striker in Europe at the moment.
“Very good,” Gordon told BBC Radio 5 Live of his team-mate. “He is the best in Europe, probably right now, with the form he’s in.
“The best quality he’s got is that he’s so humble. He is not scared to pass the ball. He’s very unselfish, and his best ability is his raw ability on the ball.”
Newcastle heads into the second leg against Arsenal next month full of confidence that they can reach this season’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley. Manager Eddie Howe echoed Gordon’s praise of Isak, although he revealed that the striker was forced off early with a hamstring injury.
“First half he was electric, I thought he played really well,” said Howe. “He scored but I just thought his general game was in a really good place.
“He was feeling his hamstring a bit at half-time so we had to manage him in the second half and that was a big blow to our performance.
“I think we rode our luck at times and I think [goalkeeper] Martin [Dubravka] played really well and made some really good saves.
“I thought the set-plays in the main, we got the small details right. Our mentality to defend our goal with the blocked shots, the heroic pieces of defending that we saw in the last 20 to 30 minutes, it’s great for us for the future.
“Very pleased with the players, it was a tough game for us in many respects. We’ve had players struggling at half-time. Really pleased with how we played.”