This was a very comfortable win for the Arsenal in the end, with lots of positives after Arsene Wenger made lots of changes and gave some crucial experience to young players like Maitland-Niles, Akpom, Holding and Martinez. And there was much needed maych time for the likes of Kieran Gibbs, Gabriel and the Ox as well
The EFL cup clash away to the Championship club Nottingham Forest also allowed the boss to give the new signings Lucas Perez and Granit Xhaka another run out and they rewarded him and gave him some selection decisions to make by scoring the first three goals to give Arsenal a 4-0 win and put us into the next round.
Even though it was comfortable in the end, with the Gunners totally dominant in the second half, we had to ride our luck early on, when the former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner could have had a goal and an assist in the opening exchanges.
Kasami’s glaring miss was the best chance for the home side and they paid for that miss when Xhaka produced another powerful long range after his opener at Hull on Saturday. There was a deflection and the Forest keeper should have done better but we were in front and never really looked back.
The win was sealed on the hour mark when Lucas Perez got his debut goal from the penalty spot after a clumsy tackle by Mancienne. He took it well but his second was much more impressive and showed the strength, speed and finishing that Wenger bought him for.
It was almost the perfect night for the Spaniard with a decent chance for a hat-trick but let’s not be too greedy eh? It was great to see a fine finish from Chamberlain in the dying minutes to cap a good game and make it four without reply. All in all a great night for the players involved, Wenger and the club in general.
Bob.