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When Ange Postecoglou dreamed it beforehand, he imagined a result to kickstart his Nottingham Forest tenure, silencing a group of opposition supporters that have long been against him in the process. The former Tottenham manager could scarcely have hand-picked a spicier debut assignment. Then reality intervened.
This Arsenal team are not easily pushed around. They give away next to nothing at the back. They crave control of the ball and the flow of the game. Their mission is to suffocate and punish and they made sure that Postecoglou’s return to north London was as uncomfortable as possible – and not only because of the predictable taunts he heard from the stands.
The occasion was illuminated by break-out performance from two of Arsenal’s summer signings. Martín Zubimendi does not score many from his role in front of the back four but here he got two – the first a blockbuster of a volley from the edge of the area, one to draw involuntary gasps as he finessed the technique. The second was a header. When he slapped his forehead during the celebrations, there was an element of both fun and disbelief.
Then there was Noni Madueke, who was given a standing ovation when he was withdrawn towards the end. The winger was dynamic throughout and perhaps the greatest compliment to pay him was that he made light of the injury-enforced absence of Bukayo Saka.
Forest were well beaten, Viktor Gyökeres scoring in between Zubimendi’s goals, Postecoglou never looking as though he had the answers. There is so much for him to do to instil his ideas at Forest, given how stark of a contrast he is to his popular predecessor, Nuno Espírito Santo. This was an inauspicious start.
Mikel Arteta had needed something after Arsenal’s defeat at Liverpool before the international break and the managerial change at Forest did not help his preparations. Unknowns always annoy Arteta, even if he had to think that Postecoglou would not tinker too much. There had simply not been the time.
Arteta’s big selection call was to stick with Mikel Merino in midfield; Declan Rice was among the substitutes and the rotational move advertised the greater depth that Arsenal have these days. They need it because the injuries have started to accumulate. Once again, Martin Ødegaard was forced off early in a game, with a recurrence of his shoulder problem. He was caught by a slide challenge from Morgan Gibbs-White just above the inside of his ankle. It was a painful one.
Arteta replaced him with Ethan Nwaneri and for the manager, it was all about plotting a way through in the final third, working those intricate triangles; nothing long. The goal would come, Arteta told himself, as his team looked in danger of being a little overelaborate in the opening 30 minutes; their tempo generally the same. When the goal did arrive, it was a showstopper.
The crowd had started to sing the name of Madueke as he went to take a corner, which he had won after a jet-heeled burst and pull-back for Jurriën Timber. Murillo dived in to make the saving block and at great personal cost. He hurt himself and would be forced off.
Before Murillo departed, Zubimendi enjoyed his moment. Madueke’s corner was half-cleared to the edge of the area and Zubimendi’s connection on the dropping ball was impossibly sweet, the volley fizzing past Matz Sels, whose line of sight was blocked by Elliot Anderson and Murillo. There looked to be a slight deflection.
Madueke was quick and direct, the ball always under his spell. He tormented the left-back, Morato, whom Postecoglou had started because of an injury to Ola Aina – it was the manager’s only change to Nuno’s last Forest lineup. Postecoglou moved Morato into central defence after Murillo had limped off, asking Neco Williams to swap sides and address the Madueke problem.
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Arsenal controlled the first half with Forest limited to precious little in attacking terms. Gibbs-White worked a give-and-go with Chris Wood before shooting wide in stoppage time, but that was it from them.
Arsenal did not create much themselves before the interval. There was a clear chance on seven minutes for Merino after a set piece fell kindly for him; Sels made a fine block. But there was the sense that Arteta’s team had higher gears into which to move.
Eberechi Eze had a few nice moments off the left on his full Arsenal debut and it was his assist that helped to provide the cushion early in the second half. Riccardo Calafiori went long for him, which was a major break to what had gone before from Arsenal, and Eze’s low cross was made to measure for Gyökeres.
Arsenal were indebted to David Raya shortly afterwards. Dan Ndoye led a rare Forest break and his cross looped off the chest of Wood and looked to be dropping in over the goalkeeper. Raya extended his fingertips to brush the ball on to the bar. On the second phase of the move, Cristhian Mosquera jumped into a saving challenge on Callum Hudson-Odoi. It was Raya’s 42nd clean sheet in 100 appearances for Arsenal.
Arteta’s team turned the screw. Gyökeres smashed a shot against the outside of a post from an acute angle and Rice, who got on towards the end, almost stretched to meet a low Timber cross. Zubimendi’s header after a cross from another substitute, Leandro Trossard, gave the scoreline a deserved gloss.
