"Welcome home." Those words were bizarrely uttered to Alexander Isak by an Arsenal fan waiting outside the players' entrance pre-match and, boy, did Newcastle United make themselves comfy at the Emirates. Anthony Gordon even borrowed Thierry Henry's goal celebration after doubling the visitors' lead.

The Emirates has become synonymous with late goals, but thousands of Arsenal supporters tellingly accepted their fate and headed for the exits long before full-time as Newcastle continued to hold firm and head clear. In contrast, the 6,000 hoarse Geordies behind the goal did not want this night to end. "Don't take me home," they repeatedly sang during the 2-0 win. "Please don't take me home." Understandably so. This Carabao Cup semi-final is far from over, but this was a victory to savour for the away end.

Newcastle, after all, had only previously triumphed once at the Emirates, back in 2010, when boyhood fan Lewis Hall was just six years of age while Arsenal had not tasted defeat on their own turf in nine months. Yet Gordon was among those who felt Newcastle would win the first-leg before a ball was even kicked. Not could. Would.

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Newcastle once crumbled in these stadiums in a previous era, but the Magpies have now come out on top at the Emirates, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Old Trafford. All in the space of eight days.

This committed performance was the pick of the bunch. Newcastle had to dig in at times, and there were some heart-in-mouth moments, but the black-and-whites limited Arsenal to just three shots on target. A whopping 10 efforts were blocked while Newcastle players made 48 clearances. Newcastle even managed to avoid conceding from 11 corners and a dozen free-kicks against the Premier League's set-play masters.

Eddie Howe saluted 'heroic pieces of defending'. Isak felt his side had 'found a way back' to their 'identity'. Gordon hailed the visitors' 'unbelievable' attitude. "Everyone has come off that pitch shattered because we can't physically give more than we have," the goal scorer said following a seventh successive win.

History is now on Newcastle's side and it is not often that can be said. Since 1988, all eight away teams to have a two-goal advantage after a semi-final first-leg have reached the showpiece, but players and staff rightly stressed it was only half-time in the tie. There were no over-the-top celebrations at full-time and no team photograph in the dressing room afterwards. The job was not done yet.

"We know that the game is far from over," Howe said. "We have to do all the same things that we did tonight even better to get through."

By the time that second-leg rolls around, next month, Martin Dubravka may well be an Al-Shabab player. The tearful goalkeeper stayed out on the field, patted his chest, made a love heart sign with his gloves and appeared to wave goodbye to the away end loudly chanting his name at full-time before Dan Burn threw an arm around his team-mate and walked him off the field. If this is to be Dubravka's final appearance for the club, then, it would be a fitting send-off.

Dubravka has experienced some painful afternoons at the Emirates over the years, but those in front of the Newcastle 'keeper repeatedly put their bodies on the line to protect his goal on Tuesday night. From the get-go.

Just nine minutes had been played when Lewis Hall headed Martin Odegaard's free-kick as far as Leandro Trossard on the edge of the box. The Arsenal forward clipped the ball back into the danger area but, this time, Alexander Isak was there to hook it away. When the ball fell to Gabriel Martinelli, Sandro Tonali was there to block the shot. When the ball ricocheted to William Saliba, Dan Burn got in the way. When the lurking Kai Havertz attempted to follow it up, Hall made a last-ditch tackle and Dubravka smothered the ball.

As committed as Newcastle were to keeping Arsenal out, the Gunners were also guilty of missing some big chances - not least in the opening half an hour. Jurrien Timber could only head Declan Rice's corner kick over the bar while Gabriel Martinelli struck the post after racing clear.

Newcastle made Arsenal pay for their profligacy. There were 37 minutes on the clock when Dubravka stepped up to take a free-kick and launched the ball forward. Sven Botman headed the ball on to Jacob Murphy, who helped it on to Isak. The Sweden international still had a lot to do, to lift the ball over David Raya, but he was never going to miss in this sort of form as he scored his 14th goal in 15 games.

Newcastle were not about to settle for 1-0 at half-time, though. The Magpies doubled their lead just a few minutes into the second half.

Jacob Murphy drilled the ball across and Isak, surrounded by red shirts, let fly with a rasping effort. This time, David Raya managed to make the save, but the Arsenal goalkeeper could only parry the ball and there was Gordon to pounce and send the away end into dreamland.

That was the cue for Newcastle to shut up shop after a number of players felt tightness and fatigue, and Howe turned to his bench midway through the second half. Howe switched to a back five and the Magpies were playing a 5-5-0 with a quarter of an hour to go. However, Dubravka ultimately had little to do because those in front of him continued to thwart Arsenal and the Gunners continued to fluff their lines.

Havertz shouldered the ball wide from close range after getting his leap all wrong while substitute Gabriel Jesus headed over from Rice's corner. Arteta partly attributed his side's repeated failure to hit the target to how the Puma footballs used in the Carabao Cup are 'very different' to the Nike balls his players were familiar with in the Premier League. It did not seem to affect Newcastle's goal scorers, though, who were everything that the Gunners' forwards weren't on Tuesday night: clinical.