Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon suggested Alexander Isak is the best striker in Europe after joining him on the scoresheet in Tuesday's 2-0 EFL Cup semi-final win at Arsenal.

The Sweden international got Newcastle's first goal in the first half before Gordon gave them a bigger cushion going into the second leg at St James' Park in early February.

"Very good. He is the best in Europe, probably right now, with the form he's in," said Gordon of his team-mate, whose goal was his 10th in his last nine matches in all competitions.

"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."

But the 23-year-old was quick to point out that, while Isak had done well, it had also been an impressive team performance.

"Everyone to a man was top-level. Coming to this place is so hard and they defend really well. It was always going to be a smash-and-grab kind of game for us, but we executed it perfectly," he said.

"We are a team and that's when we play at our best, when everyone's on the same page. We have to be that ruthless with and without the ball - all the top teams do it."

Manager Eddie Howe echoed Gordon's comments about how difficult the game had been for the visitors.

"Very pleased with the players, it was a tough game for us in many respects, we've had players struggling at half-time," he told Sky Sports.

"I think we rode our luck at times and I think 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."

Man of the moment Isak was substituted in the 65th minute after suffering from a knock and Howe acknowledged that taking him off affected the way Newcastle played.

"First half he was electric, I thought he played really well. He scored but I just thought his general game was in a really good place," he said. 

"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."

Isak himself, meanwhile, wanted to make sure the rest of the team also got the praise they deserved.

"I think it comes down to a team thing," he told Sky Sports. "We have been solid defensively and then we have the quality up front. Jacob [Murphy] assisted me and I tried to be in the right place to finish the attacks.

"We came here with the intention to bring a good result home and we did. We have some time to change things, come back and do the same at St James' Park."