Anthony Gordon: Newcastle forward breaks Alan Shearer’s record

In reality, Karabakh played right into Gordon’s hands.

This team had previously drawn with Chelsea and defeated Benfica, Eintracht Frankfurt and Copenhagen.

However, the fact that the fast Gordon played further forward than Woltemade seemed to cool Karabağ off a bit.

As Match of the Day pundit Thomas Hitzlsperger points out, when they finally re-adjusted and fell further in the second half, the damage was done.

“I must say I was surprised at how high Qarabag’s defense was and how they maintained a high line in the first half as Newcastle’s goals were scored,” he said.

“I was thinking, ‘Aren’t they watching Newcastle and their last game?’ Because why did they allocate so much space to Gordon, who was performing brilliantly all evening?”

Gordon has been impressive in such a role away from home in recent weeks; He scored the opener at Anfield last month and set up Jacob Ramsey’s winner against Spurs last week.

Eddie Howe added a different atmosphere to his team with his movements and pace in the middle and the Azerbaijani Premier League champions could not achieve this.

“I think he’s really good at that position,” Howe said. “When I look at the Liverpool game, which I thought was perfect, he scores goals.

“He showed that he wants to play there and then he has the quality to play there. The pressure he put in today was incredible for us. It gave us a platform to build on his work.”

“Of course he scored four goals and naturally he will grab the headlines, but his all-round play was really strong.”