Arsenal spoiled Ange Postecoglou’s debut as Nottingham Forest boss as they breezed to a comfortable 3–0 victory over their Midlands visitors in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon Softfootball reports.
Postecoglou was back in a Premier League dugout 99 days after he was dismissed as Tottenham manager but his side were behind on 32 minutes after Martin Zubimendi opened the scoring with his first goal for the North Londoners with an incredible volley that smashed the top left corner of Matz Sels’ net.
Viktor Gyokeres then scored his third goal thanks to a fine assist by fellow summer signing Eberechi Eze, who picked up a wonderful cross by Riccardo Calafiori.
And £51million signing Zubimendi completed his brace on 79 minutes with a clinical header after a crisp cross by Leandro Trossard.
The dominant win puts Arsenal’s Premier League title aspirations back on track following their 1-0 defeat to rivals Liverpool prior to the international break, with a shoulder injury to Martin Odegaard the only sour note of an impressive afternoon for Mikel Arteta’s men.
Worryingly for Arsenal, as captain Martin Ødegaard trudged off in the 17th minute after appearing to suffer a recurrence of the shoulder injury he has struggled with in recent weeks.
Postecoglou failed to win a north London derby during his Spurs tenure and Forest’s last victory at Arsenal was 36 years ago, and Forest might have fallen behind after just seven minutes when Mikel Merino fresh from a hat-trick for Spain saw his point-blank effort diverted from danger by Matz Sels.
Eberechi Eze was handed his first start but it was Noni Madueke on the opposite wing who caught the eye throughout. On the half-hour mark, he danced past Dan Ndoye to the byline only to see his pullback cleared off Jurrien Timber’s toes by Murillo.
A superb display from Martin Zubimendi this afternoon. He was composed and intelligent on the ball and continually cut open the Forest defence with his accurate passes. Defensively he was solid yet again.
Arsenal continue their fantastic home record as of late against Forest. Since they were promoted in 2022, they have only scored once at the Emirates Stadium and have conceded thirteen times.
A real dominance from Mikel Arteta’s team. Ange Postecoglou still remains winless against Arteta after five games between them now.
