FA Premier League
ARSENAL 3 (Zubimendi 32, 79, Gyokeres 46)
NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0

THE biggest takeaway from this convincing victory over Nottingham Forest was watching Arsenal trash a top eight team without William Saliba, without Bukayo Saka. Martin Odegaard went off injured early again and Declan Rice began the game on the bench after doing much of England’s heavy lifting during the international break. Kai Haverz also remains on the sidelines.

The Gunners had become reliant on a strong starting eleven with not enough in reserve last season, but today (Saturday) the fruits of an overdue transfer window investment were all around. No longer was there no panic at playing without the star names. In fact in Odegaard and Havertz’s cases at least, there may be concern that the back-up will soon be starting out of choice rather than necessity.

This was a match where the outcome could be felt from the early moments and there was no new manager bounce for the visitors with former Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou looking familiarly baffled on the sidelines. His new club could have lost by double the final scoreline had Arsenal really wanted to move through the gears.

It was the new recruits which won it. Martin Zubimendi has been quietly showing why he was so coveted by Liverpool and sought after by Mikel Arteta before he joined from Real Sociedad this summer. His calm composure on the ball is an important addition but few of his new admirers will have realised he can also thump a swerving volley into the back of the net from the edge of the goal.

Arsenal had looked dangerous throughout the first half an hour, using Noni Madueke and Eberachi Eze effectively on the wings and Viktor Gyokeres to tear defenders out of position. But it was this strike from Zubimendi, whizzing home with a slight deflection which broke Forest’s creaking resistance.

“He’s given us a lot of positive things, his presence, his authority on the pitch, the way he connects with the players and that composure that he’s having.” said Arteta.

“If he starts to add assists and goals like this, it’s another dimension of a player.”

Mikel Merino was denied at short range by Matz Sels in the Forest goal and Madueke beat his man a host of times, albeit without finding a killer final pass.

The contest was settled before some fans had come back from a half time pie, however, when Eze escaped down the left and snapped a cross into Gyokeres’ feet that left the Swede with a tap-in finish – the sort of fox in the box, bread and butter goals that Arsenal have needed to add to their repertoire for at least two seasons.

Then it was just a matter of how many they would score. At the other end, Chris Wood almost scored with a freak goal when the ball cannoned up off his chest and onto the bar but the defensive unit for Arsenal looked stronger with Christian Mosquera proving an able deputy for the missing Saliba. There will be tougher moments than this to judge his quality, of course, but tall centre back looks another sensible acquisition.
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Arteta said: “This kid wants it a lot and he’s so willing to learn. He’s got some great qualities that fit very well in any position that we want to use him in relation to the connections and the qualities of the other defenders.”

By the time, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli were introduced as substitutes it was  a little like two returning uncles from another time were visiting a reunion. They almost seemed like from another team from another age as they ran onto the pitch,

Trossard in particularly was clearly keen to show he should be part of Arteta’s ongoing plans and showed some energy and enthusiasm. He dug out the cross which found Zubimendi to place his header beyond Sels for the third and final goal.

The 26-year-old Spaniard is not the tallest player in the division and his ability to out-jump the Forest rearguard may point to problems that Postecoglou is facing in his second Premier League assignment. In the meantime – with Forest in their white away shirts – he endured the chant ‘are you Tottenham in disguise’ ringing around the stadium. The display, after all, had hallmarks of the tepid fare that Spurs ended up 17th in the table with last term.

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With his side at the top of the table – until others play, at least – Arteta was inevitably asked about how far his team might go this season and whether it had gone up a level from  seasons of second places.

“It doesn’t matter what we talk about, what we want to do, it’s what we have to do.” he said. “There are a lot of things that we have to get better at to be able to score even more and be more dominant in certain phases of the game and go game by game.”

And with the return of the Champions League this week, the manager added with a smile: “I’m now preparing to win in Bilbao which is going to be incredible. I hope you all go because it’s one of the best places to go, north of Spain, that’s where I’m from. I think you’re going to enjoy it guys and an incredible stadium atmosphere to play football.”

ARSENAL: Raya, Timber, Calafiori (Lewis-Skelly 68), Gabriel, Mosquera, Zubimendi, Merino, Odegaard (Nwaneri 18), Eze (Trossard 79), Madueke (Martinelli 79), Gyokeres (Rice 68)
SUBS NOT USED: Arrizabalaga, Dowman, Hincapie, White

NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Sels, Williams, Morato, Murillo (Savona 37), Milenkovic, Sangare (Yates 73), Anderson, Ndoye, Hudson-Odoi (Kalimuendo 60), Gibbs-White (McAtee 73), Wood (Bakwa 60)
SUBS NOT USED: Boly, Douglas Luiz, Hutchinson, John Victor