Arsenal secured a commanding 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest this afternoon, displaying renewed determination in the title race.
The Gunners started the game brightly and had the ball in the back of the net within five minutes, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
With Kai Havertz absent and Martin Odegaard returning to the lineup, Arsenal employed a short-passing strategy to break down their opponents.
The tactic was a joy to watch, and it didn’t take long for Arsenal to capitalise, as Bukayo Saka opened the scoring after finding space to unleash a clinical shot.
Forest struggled to respond to Arsenal’s relentless pressure, and the Gunners continued to dominate the early stages of the match.
Time and again, Arsenal carved open Forest’s defence, leaving the visitors chasing shadows.
By halftime, Arsenal boasted 69% possession and were unlucky not to have added a second goal to their tally.
Forest emerged for the second half with greater intent, but Arsenal doubled their lead less than 10 minutes after the restart.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s team made some bold attacking moves in response, but even as Arsenal eased off the intensity, they rarely looked in danger of conceding.
The Gunners remained hungry for more, and the impressive Ethan Nwaneri sealed the win with a third goal shortly after coming on as a substitute.
Nwaneri ready to start.
Some talent.
Maybe Tuesday
Nottingham Forest are the sixth in EPL table, yet Arsenal beat them easily
Odegaard’s ability to do playmaking, cut inside and make diagonal passes are essential for Arteta’s tactics. I hope Nwaneri will replace Odegaard if our main playmaker is unfit
@Gai Hope Arteta’s stubbornness wont stop the tarlented Boy from florishing. I think Jesus should be sold in the summer or converted to left winger he his simply ineffective.
Yes. Arteta should let Nwaneri showcase his talent, otherwise another club could poach him
Jesus had better play LW or AM
I have given up on Jesus
Dominant performance and a well deserved three points as a reward. We focus on the trip to Lisbon next. COYG!!!
This is what I’m talking about. Dominance, goals and doing it our way…👍🏾
City losing☹️
Will it last😱
Well, we all hope so, I’m sure. Sp*rs have scored relatively early though so there’s time enough left for a City comeback. Which way it ends may well depend upon who scores the next goal (if there is one).
0-3 !
😊
Its spurs they are capable of chocking this
Ackshay,
The word your looking for is spursy.😂🤣
It was an absolute collapse
A keep saying the champions is not the same without their generational talent.
This is what you call an convincing win, in the last campaign we kept the cha champions honest down to the wire.
if only Man C had a clinical prolific striker they would definitely win every game
Well done Arsenal a good dominant performance, polished off with three goals.
And don’t forget, it adds to Arteta’s win rate. And so the legend grows.
Very gracious Derek😉
😂
Sue,
I try my best.😉
Movement and close control from odegaard made us dynamic again. I think everyone played well – nice to see jesus and trossard in particular looking bright, and I thought jorginho was great in the first half – but imo it was all down to the moment of odegaard. We’ve really missed that.
Good performance. I thought I was finally going to predict the correct score until Nwaneri’s goal, but very pleased for him, nevertheless. Still don’t see the point of playing Jesus though.
Jesus playing was to save Havertz for Lisbon..same as Jorginho instead of Rice / Party
It’s the whole point of having a squad so you can rotate against the lesser teams…Forest are punching above so lets not say they’re a top 6 team yet
Rice Havertz etc will be back for CL and Jesus on bench…he has to score to earn more starts in bigger matches but we’ll worth playing in these matches for this season
Rotate and people moan, don’t rotate and people moan, Arteta can’t win with some fans.
Neil,
I don’t think that Bertie was complaining about squad rotation.
He was just asking what the point of Jesus was, a question I constantly ask myself.🤦♂️
I watched Arsenal training before the Forest game, and Jesus was banging them in left right and Centre.
Sadly when it comes to match day, the crowd are in more danger than him hitting the target. 😂🤣
The only shot I saw from him was a good effort tbh – he was spending a lot of time dropping back or drifting out wide, and in this game, it really worked because all of the players moved into good positions, but meant he was less likely to get onto things. It is what it is – games like this, it’s brilliant, but in some tighter games, we’ll want someone else
This year it is not City that Arsenal need to watch if we want to win the title. It is Liverpool & Chelsea! We are too much dependent on Odegard & Saka to win the matches. It can’t be sustainable for the entire season. Arteta has to find the solution internally or through purchases in Jan
Vithal,
Although I’m not Shaw there ready, I like you think that Chelsea are a dangerous floater. With the squad they’ve got, if the manager can consistently get the combinations right, although they may not win the league, they can certainly put a spanner in the works of any team on their day.
Liv will start dropping pts when their fixtures turn but the real question is will we capitalise on it. City look absolutely cooked they were lucky to win vs wolves n fulham. Will continue dropping pts without rodri shielding their defense.
@Ackshay
City were completely and utterly demolished on their home turf. Spurs were excellent. Credit to them. 👏🏾
A good 90 minute performance, a well balance team. A great cameo from Nwaneri.
A solid one off performance. Not sure what this combination can offer in the future but horses for courses the rotation worked. Liverpool are beatable but as Tottenham demonstrated tonight, Arteta has to be brave in his decision making.
A solid one off performance
Do I take it you’re not expecting anymore than that one?
Not from that starting line up but with Rice , Martinelli in team we have to be better.
Don’t want to keep going on about refereeing, but did anyone see the Forest player kicking away the ball on our free kick, yet no yellow card? Hmmm…..
Now, now Gmv8,
Is that conspiracy theory, rearing its head again.🤦♂️
A ref doesn’t have to be “conspiring” with anyone in order to be biased (consciously or otherwise).
Note: to be a “conspiracy”, it has to involve two or more people knowingly working together.
Language is important here – and I’d acknowledge that most people do tend to use the wrong words when they’re complaining of referees’ bias / inconsistency / whatever.
Congratulation 👏
Great squad performance, including Sterling who laid on “one of our own” well taken goal.
In the first half, The Arsenal committed four fouls and received three bookings.
Forest committed seven fouls and received one booking.. and so it goes on!
Ken1945
Arsenal radio were tearing their hair out over the yellows
SueP
Am thinking if the gaffer actually have a better win record of some 250 games over our pass legends like Chapman and others, it simply means he’s doing pretty well and may only need a little luck before those silverware starts trickling in?
Credit where credit’s due, Gunsmoke
That damned injury list (and the red cards) when bedding in new players- who also got injured – was underestimated by some people. It was all an excuse for Arteta’s tactics. Hopefully we are through the worst of it- unlike City who are mid way through theirs and it showed last night.
Ken1945,
You say about the bookings, well Merino committed about four fouls that he could have been carded but wasn’t.
Swings and roundabouts.
Watched the game on Sky’s game of the day after City got a mauling from Spurs.
Apart from Odegaard and Saka seamlessly returning to – as Shearer pointed out in MOTD – their almost telepathic understanding, the return of Calafiori was also important for the defence. With White out for several months it was vital for Arteta not to have to tinker at the back. Timber is working his way back too.
An all round excellent performance from a team that wasn’t expected. They delivered very well indeed against Forest who had made an impressive start to the season.
City struggling without Rodri. We struggled without Odergaard. Master and apprentice.