Morning all.
I thought Mikel Arteta was brave yesterday. Very brave. His starting 11 was so very different to what I expected to see that’s for sure. No Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz or Gabriel Martinelli although all four were on the bench. Instead, in came Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard, the latter back on the left where he plays best in my opinion.
Nottingham Forest arrived at The Emirates having not lost an away game so far this season. They’d beaten Liverpool at Anfield, taken a point off Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and have been on the receiving end of a lot of praise for the way they’ve been playing football under Nuno Espírito Santo. So I for one, won’t be under playing Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over them.
Mikel Arteta:
A really happy day. I think I sensed a great energy in the last 48 hours. The way everybody came back, I sensed a great togetherness and desire to change the situation and what has been a different period for us with all the situations that we had to come across.
And then the fact that it was a total effort of the team. Because all the players have to come in and I have to take Jorgi out because of the yellow card. Thomas comes in and straight away scores the goal, Raz comes in and gets the assist, Ethan comes in and scores a goal, Alex gives us a different kind of dominance there, Jakub comes in to get some minutes in the legs.
We certainly started like we meant business and never really let up. A tight offside call from VAR denied Jurrien Timber from giving us the lead but we didn’t have to wait too long before Bukayo Saka rifled home our opener. Jorginho and Martin Odegaard were involved in the buildup but it was Saka who bypassed three Forest players before hitting a stunner.
Just how we didn’t at least double our lead before the break I don’t know but Sels had a lot to do with it.
Thomas Partey appeared as Arsenal came out for the second half in place of Jorginho and six minutes later, he was on the scoresheet. Saka to Partey, one touch and bang. Take that, 2-0. Brilliant. Eight minutes before the end of ordinary time, Ethan Nwaneri replaced the Arsenal captain. Having seen a wonderful strike go just wide of the post, Nwaneri scored our third. Raheem Sterling had got down the right before cutting his pass back for Nwaneri to strike. A perfect way to end the game.
Mikel Arteta’s team totally dominated the game in every department. 66.2% possession, 19 shots with 7 on target, 7 off target and five blocked and our passing accuracy stood at 91%. David Raya didn’t have to make a save because Nottingham Forest didn’t have a single shot on target.
After weeks of disappointing results and a a few less than convincing performances, Arsenal re-found their mojo.
It’s just one game and one victory though but even so, it’s just what the doctor ordered. With a convincing victory, and that was a convincing victory against a very good Forest team, comes belief. Almost everything Arsenal did, they did well. Plus, Jorginho, Jesus, Sterling had minutes on the pitch which they needed. Young Nwaneri too and ended the game with a lovely goal.
Arteta on Ethan not starting more games:
I am always tempted. I think he’s the second-youngest player for the club to score in the Premier League. It’s giving us all the reason and today is another reason to put him there but that’s when I play him and not somebody else. It’s step-by-step, I would say. I am responsible for him, and you have to do that brick by brick. Today he put in another brick, now we have to put the cement, make sure that it doesn’t get dry, so that he can put in another one and another one and that one is going to stick. Then we put one more layer, we want to put five in a row. Believe me, it won’t work and we have to manage that with his expectations and his load as well, which is really important.
I’m pretty sure that had we just gone through a run of games in which we were leading with the win looked safe, Nwaneri would have played more minutes than he has but we haven’t.
Next up, Sporting Lisbon away in what is our only venture outside of London this year…
Catch up in the comments.
I hear Timer was upset with his team mates after the game, for gutting a forest down😜
Good morning Rico.
I’ve just watched Sky’s game of the day and was delighted with the all round performance performance, the best so far this season.
Odegaard was the catalyst for everything good about Arsenal, how much did we miss him during is injury and rehab?
Three spectacular goals, the best by Saka, great twenty yard strike by Partey and a sweet finish by Nwaneri who could have had two.
It’s looking good at the moment, let’s hope it continues.
Morning Geoff, Cicero.
I’ve just done the same Cicero. Thought we looked good. Possibly the best this season.
Even Jesus made a nuisance of himself. lol
Morning Rico and all.
Totaly agree it was a good all round performance, and we lucky to escape any injuries, Saka and Jesus yellow cards were a harsh, considering some of Forest tackles.
Agreed, sensible of Arteta to remove Jorginho at halftime, Hooper would have ended up sending him off I reckon. His officiating in general was pretty drab.
Rather than “pretty drab” Rico, I prefer an oxymoron, “pretty ugly”. 😉
Ha ha Cicero..
Personaly I believe that Forest tactics was to get us as many yellow cards early in the hope that it would prevent us from laying tackle on their players especialy in the box and get us a red card or two.