Alexander Isak reacts to Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest moment that left him laughing

Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak has revealed his thought process when stepping up to take his penalty against Nottingham Forest.

The Magpies won 4-3 at St James’ Park with the Sweden international scoring twice in the first-half.

Callum Hudson-Odoi handed the visitors the lead just six minutes in but United responded through Lewis Miley before Jacob Murphy made it 2-1.

A handball by Ola Aina then presented Isak with an opportunity from 12 yards and he converted, though it wasn’t without a bit of fortune.

The 25-year-old floated his effort down the middle of the goal and despite getting a hand to it, Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels couldn’t keep it out.

Wheeling away in celebration, Isak was spotted laughing with his teammates, perhaps a sign that he recognised he got a tad lucky.

Reflecting on the penalty, Isak told Sky Sports News (via the BBC blog): “No, I already made my mind up I was going to go down the middle. It counts so it doesn't matter.

"The most important thing was to win. We want to win more comfortably, but it was a big win.

"It was a brilliant first half, the reaction after conceding was really good. We dropped a bit second half and conceded sloppy goals. I'm obviously happy to win the game."

Alexander Isak reaches 50 Premier League goals

Isak has now scored 50 Premier League goals since joining from Real Sociedad for a club-record £60million in August 2022.

He is seventh quickest player to reach that after Erling Haaland, Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mohammed Salah and Fernando Torres.

Asked about Isak’s performance against Forest, Howe said: “Yeah, I think if you've got that striker in your team, you've always got hope. You've always got an ability to win games. And even if you do go behind like we did today, you know you've got Alex, you've got other potential match winners in your team.

“It's a massive thing. I thought he played really well in that first half. We got him the ball a lot in the attacking areas. He drifted wide a lot as well. It was great to see. And then in the second half, he suffered because the team suffered and we couldn't get him the ball as much as we had.”

In other news, Eddie Howe reveals funny exchange with Yasir Al-Rumayyan after 'crazy' Newcastle United win.