David Hytner’s match report
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“It seems,” begins Ian Copestake, “that the Arsenal manager’s pep talk was ‘Lads, its Tottenham’s old manager’.”
Full time: Arsenal 3-0 Nottm Forest
Kalimuendo has a shot blocked by Gabriel, who celebrates after extinguishing the last threat to a clean sheet. Arsenal have cruised past Nottingham Forest, with Martin Zubimendi scored twice and Viktor Gyokeres getting the other at the start of the second half
It was a terrific day for Andrea Berta all told, with summer signings Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Cristhian Mosquera also playing superbly.
90+1 min A promising Arsenal break ends when Trossard runs into the abundant frame of Milenkovic in the area.
90 min Four minutes of added time.
87 min Arsenal’s substitutes look hungry for a piece of the action. Martinelli’s cross from the right only just evades Trossasd.
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81 min “I really like the way Arsenal are playing,” writes Noble. “I love their dedication and I hope it follows them throughout the season.”
A free-kick was worked from right to left, where Trossard clipped a fine cross back towards the far post. Zubimendi got up early, before Williams, and looped a header over Sels from eight yards. He celebrates with a beaming smile and a pat of his unlikely goalscoring weapon.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Nottm Forest (Zubimendi 79)
Crikey, Arsenal have even got Martin Zubimendi scoring headers.
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79 min: Arsenal substitution Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard replace Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze, who both receive fine ovations.
78 min Neco Williams trips Madueke and is booked. Madueke has been terrific again today.
77 min It feels like the match is petering out.
74 min: Double substitution for Forest Ryan Yates and James McAtee replace Ibrahim Sangare and Morgan Gibbs-White.
72 min Timber’s low cross-shot just evades Rice at the far post. He was set up beautifully by Madueke, who waited for Timber’s overlapping run and weighted a short pass perfectly so that Timber could strike it on the run.
69 min Bakwa curles a superb inswinger cross that is cleared impressively by Mosquera, diving towards his goal to head clear. The early signs are that Arsenal have got a £13m bargain there.
68 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Myles Lewis-Skelly and Declan Rice replace Riccardo Calafiori and the goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres. That means Merino will move up front.
66 min Madueke’s corner is headed on by Gyokeres and onto the roof of the net. Sels got a touch, just to be sure, but it’s a free-kick to Forest as Mosquera was offside.
65 min The impressive Madueke runs Williams to win another corner on the right.
61 min Calafiori is booked for tripping the substitute Bakwa.
60 min: Forest substitutions Arnaud Kalimuendo and Dilane Bakwa comes on for Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
59 min: Gyokeres hits the post!
Gyokeres lends the ball to Madueke in the area and makes a run on the outside. Madueke plays a short reverse pass, allowing Gyokeres to galumph towards the ball and blisters a shot from a tight angle. Sels barely moves and it thumps off the outside of the near post.
57 min A gorgeous flick from Eze releases Merino on the left. He fires an early low cross into Nwaneri, who smashes over from 15 yards.
Eze is really starting to express himself. Few do it better.
55 min I forgot to say there was a VAR check for offside against Eze on the second goal. It was tight but he was onside.
52 min: Wood hits the bar!
This is some save from David Raya. Ndoye ran at Calafiori and blated a cross that was intended for Hudson-Odoi at the far post. Instead it flew straight at Wood, who adjusted his body in a split-second to chest the ball in the general direction of goal. It looped over Raya, who leapt backwards to his left and strained every sinew to fingertip it against the crossbar. Brilliant save!
Moments later there was a good chance for Hudson-Odoi, who dithered for a split-second and allowed Timber to make a vital challenge.
Arsenal double their lead within 47 seconds of the restart. Calafiori drove a long, straight pass down the left that was misread by Savona. Eze ran behind him and fizzed a perfect first-time cross to give Gyokeres a tap-in at the far post.
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Nottm Forest (Gyokeres 46)
The second half is under way, and the match is over.
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46 min Arsenal get the second half under way.
Half-time reading
Half time: Arsenal 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Arsenal lead deservedly through Martin Zubimendi’s sweet volley. They weren’t many chances at either end but Arsenal were in control for 99.94 per cent of the half.
45+8 min Anderson spots an imaginative pass to Gibbs-White in the area but then overhits it. Doesn’t matter as the flag was up for an off-the-ball foul on an Arsenal player.
45+4 min Eze strolls past Savona in the area and sweeps a low cross towards the near post. Gyokeres does well to get across Morato but can’t open his body up in time and pokes wide.
45+2 min The injuries to Odegaard and Murillo mean there will be seven minutes of added time.
45+1 min: Chance for Gibbs-White Forest have had a touch in the Arsenal area now. Gibbs-White plays a one-two with Wood, whose deft return pass is a beauty, and curls wide of the far post under pressure from Timber. That challenge from Timber was crucial and ensured Gibbs-White, 15 yards out, couldn’t get a clean shot at goal.
44 min Forest are ending the half quite strongly, although these things are relative and there’s no doubt Arsenal have had the better of the game overall. Apparently Forest are yet to have a touch in the Arsenal area. That speaks … okay, not volumes, but certainly paragraphs.
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42 min “Though I agree that Zubimendi’s goal was a bit lucky, he made his luck by shooting first time from the edge of the area,” writes Kári Tulinius. “All other things being equal, Arsenal need to add more than twenty extra goals over the course of the season to have any realistic chance of winning the title. Having players who aren’t afraid of belting shots from low probability positions is a good thing for the Gunners.”
41 min A better spell for Forest. Ndoye tries to play in the underlapping Savona, forcing Merino to concede a corner. Nothing comes of it.
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37 min: Murillo limps off for Forest
A big blow for Forest, who have lost their talismanic centre-back Murillo to injury. The summer signing Nicolo Savona replaces him in a reshuffled back four. From right to left it’s Savona, Milenkovic, Morata and Williams.
36 min Another dropping ball is met on the volley by Zubimendi, lurking with intent on the edge of the D. This time he strikes it over the bar.
35 min Murillo has limped back onto the field after treatment. Doesn’t look great though.
33 min Murillo is down, a legacy of that crucial – if ultimately futile – tackle on Timber just before the goal.
At first I thought Zubimendi’s goal was a bona fide screamer. It was still a beautiful strike, technically superb, but Sels would surely have saved it without the touch off Murillo.
Martin Zubimendi has scored a memorable first goal for Arsenal. Madueke’s corner from the right was headed away by Milenkobic as far as Zubimendi on the edge of the area. He twisted his body to crack a sweet volley that brushed the head of Murillo in the six-yard box and flew past Sels.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Nottm Forest (Zubimendi 32)
Z is for Zinger.
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30 min Another corner is half cleared by Forest. Madueke collects on the right and zips away from Ndoye into the area. He takes Anderson out of the game with a lovely dummy and guides the ball back towards Timber (I think) at the near post; he’s about to shoot when Murillo makes a vital challenge.
29 min Madeuke’s clips another brilliant corner towards the near post, where Timber’s header deflects behind for another. That could easily have gone into the net.
27 min Eze’s drive from the edge of the area is blocked by Ndoye, the first line of defence in a crowded penalty area. Arsenal are struggling to find an eye in the Forest needle; Madueke has been their best attacking outlet so far.
21 min Madeuke beats Morato with ease – that’s a mismatch – and stands up an inviting cross to the far post. Milenkovic presses himself against Gyokeres to ensure there’s no chance of a clear header; the ball deflects off Gyokeres’s head and well wide.
20 min Arsenal are dominating the ball as you’d expect. Their tempo has been a bit slow at times, though, and Viktor Gyokeres hasn’t yet had anything to feed on.
18 min: Odegaard goes off injured
Bad news for Arsenal. The captain Martin Odegaard is going off with the shoulder injury he sustained earlier in the game; Ethan Nwaneri replaces him.
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16 min Eze trembles the knees of the home fans with a delightful body swerve to beat Williams. Nothing comes of it but it was lovely piece of skill.
14 min Eze’s hopeful shot from 20 yards takes a deflection and bounces through to Selz.
13 min Forest are defending fairly deep. That will surely change once Ange Postecoglou gets to work but it would have been silly to impose a new style after only a couple of days’ training.
12 min Forest’s last victory at Arsenal was in March 1989. It was a bad day for the Arsenal offside trap; lovely touch by Lee Chapman for the first goal though.
Corner to Arsenal!
10 min Arsenal win the first corner of the game down the right. Could it be?
No. But it might have been. Madueke’s excellent inswinger was headed wide at the near post by Gabriel. That wasn’t a bad chance, though he was off balance because of a slight push in the back from Ndoye.
9 min “I’m a Spurs fan and I loved Ange,” writes Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo. “A lot of us felt split about his firing because he did bring a trophy. Weirdly, seeing him do poorly at Nottingham Forest will probably solve the debate among Spurs fans as to whether he was a hero or a lucky gambler. If he beats Arsenal though, we may all experience a surge of regret.”
8 min Odegaard is down with a shoulder problem, having landed awkwardly after a robust challenge from Gibbs-White (I think).
7 min: Fine save by Sels
Odegaard clips a free-kick into the area from a narrow position on the right. It hits a Forest defender and bounces kindly for Merino, whose close-range shot is clawed away brilliantly by Sels.
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6 min Arsenal are starting to find some rhythm. Madueke cuts inside from the right and teases a dangerous inswinging cross that is headed away well by Murillo.
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4 min Ndoye is down and in pai- oh forget it, he’s trying it on.
3 min A good stat from Darren Fletcher on TNT Sports. The last time Zubimendi, Merino and Odegaard played together was for Real Sociedad in July 2020. Sociedad’s team that day also included Alexander Isak, Miguel Oyarzabal and Robin Le Normand.
2 min “Aha, good, Eze rather than the Martinell,” writes Charles Antaki. “Arsenal fans will see that as double-plus-good news, given that the Brazilian has been rather tepid in the opening games, and of course Eze is the Missing Piece of the Jigsaw. If Gyokeres, the immediately previous Missing Piece, doesn’t start firing, risks being just Missing.”
1 min Peep peep! Nottingham Forest, in their white change strip, kick off from right to left as we watch.
Mikel Arteta says William Saliba trained yesterday but “wasn’t fully ready” so they decided not to risk him.
Ben Fisher on the arrival of Ange Postecoglou
In September 2023, Ange Postecoglou secured a creditable 2-2 draw for Tottenham at Arsenal in his first north London derby. It was a moment – six Premier League games into his tenure – when people wondered whether his team might be the real thing. In September of last year, after another derby against Arsenal, this one at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the manager came out with his famous comment about how he always won silverware in his second season. And here we are again. Postecoglou versus Arsenal in the early weeks of a season; the plot-lines crackling.
It is a little sleepy around the stadium at the moment; too early in the day, perhaps, for any Ange-baiting from the Arsenal support. That will change. It is rare that a visiting manager transcends a game here but that is the unmistakable vibe around Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest debut. He has succeeded a very popular guy in Nuno Espirito Santo at a club where a major power battle has just played out, Edu (the ex-Arsenal sporting director) getting the vote of confidence from Evangelos Marinakis rather than Nuno. Postecoglou’s preferred approach is the polar opposite to that of his predecessor. And he must get it to click immediately. Good thing Ange has never taken the easy path.
Team news
Ebere Eze makes his full Arsenal debut, replacing Gabriel Martinelli in one of three changes from the defeat at Arsenal. Martin Odegaard comes in for Declan Rice, who is rested, and Cristhian Mosquera covers for the injured William Saliba.
Ange Postecoglou makes only one enforced change to the last Nottingham Forest XI selected by Nuno Espirito Santo. Morato comes in for the injured Ola Aina, which probably means a switch to right-back for Neco Williams.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Merino; Madueke, Gyokeres, Eze.
Subs: Kepa, White, Lewis-Skelly, Hincapie, Rice, Nwaneri, Dowman, Martinelli, Trossard.
Nottm Forest (4-2-3-1) Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato; Sangare, Anderson; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood.
Subs: Victor, Luiz, Kalimuendo, Hutchinson, Yates, McAtee, Bakwa, Boly, Savona.
Referee Darren England.
Preamble
Narrative is oxygen in modern football coverage, and we’ll all be gulping plenty of the good stuff this afternoon. Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham Hotspur legend, takes charge of Nottingham Forest for the first time at the home of Spurs’ biggest rivals.
That’s it; that’s your preamble. Any further narrative in such a short space of time and you’ll be at risk of aerophagia.
Kick off 12.30pm.
