Arsenal were victorious on their return to Premier League action as they sauntered to a 3–0 win on Ange Postecoglou’s debut in the Nottingham Forest dugout.
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season at title rivals Liverpool before the international break and were intent on avoiding a second successive slip-up on their return. Mikel Merino, who scored four times for Spain over the past ten days, should have eased any early nerves but fired straight at Matz Sels from close range.
The home side’s injury curse reared its ugly head once more as Martin Ødegaard seemingly suffered a recurrence of the shoulder problem that saw him withdrawn against Leeds United earlier in the term, with Mikel Arteta turning to Ethan Nwaneri as the skipper’s replacement.
Arsenal’s fitness woes didn’t slow them down, however, and they eventually grabbed a deserved lead at the half-hour mark amid increasing waves of pressure on the Forest goal. It was an unlikely scorer in Martín Zubimendi, who opened his account for the Gunners with a stupendous volley from the edge of the area.
It took Arsenal less than a minute to double their advantage after the restart as two of their summer acquisitions combined. A lofted pass in behind the Forest defence found Eberechi Eze in space and the Englishman slid an inch-perfect ball across the face of goal for the simplest of tap-ins for Viktor Gyökeres.
Forest came inches away from immediately reducing the deficit as Chris Wood redirected Dan Ndoye’s delivery onto the crossbar via the fingertips of David Raya, with Gyökeres responding at the other end by slamming a strike onto the post himself.
Arsenal appeared to be drifting to a two-goal victory but Zubimendi had other ideas. Riding the wave of his first-half beauty, the Spaniard etched his name onto the scoresheet once more as he rose highest to head home Leandro Trossard’s cross and round off an impressive victory for the Gunners.
Arsenal Player Ratings vs. Nottingham Forest (4-3-3)
Subs not used: Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK), Ben White, Piero Hincapié, Max Dowman.
Player of the Match: Martín Zubimendi
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Matz Sels; Neco Williams, Nikola Milenković, Murillo, Morato; Ibrahim Sangaré, Elliot Anderson; Dan Ndoye, Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi; Chris Wood.
Subs: John Victor (GK), Nicolò Savona, Willy Boly, Dilane Bakwa, Douglas Luiz, James McAtee, Omari Hutchinson, Ryan Yates, Arnaud Kalimuendo.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arsenal Player Ratings vs. Nottingham Forest: Zubimendi Scores Stunner in 3–0 Win.
