Arsenal 3 - Nottingham Forest 0: clear cut

Today at 01:27 PM

The Gunners dominated the Trees.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Arsenal put Nottingham Forest to the axe, cutting them apart limb from limb en route to a 3-0 victory. It was the controlling yet free-flowing performance that we've known Arsenal are capable of putting in and have been aching to see for a while.

The Gunners look a side transformed with Martin Ødegaard back in the lineup, particularly combining with Bukayo Saka on the right side. The duo were unplayable, linking up time and again with close control and intricate pass-and-move play in and around the box. The pair created the opening goal in typical, world-class fashion (what an appropriate oxymoron for the combination). Saka played it into Ødegaard, who played it back to him with a deft, disguised touch. The Forest defense marshalled Saka well at first, but he kept dribbling across the top of the box until he found a fraction of space, and when he did, absolutely ripped a shot back across the goal into the top corner. An incredible goal that Bukayo Saka made look relatively easy.

Bukayo Saka has taken (another) step forward this season. He had a goal contribution in something like his first 8 or 9 games of the season before missing time with an injury (and 26 goal involvements, 15G and 11A, in his last 28 PL matches for good measure). For most of this season, he's done it despite the defensive focus falling entirely on him. Ødegaard's return opened up even more space for the winger. Forest couldn't double (and triple) team Saka nearly as much as teams had been because of the threat provided by the Norwegian on the interior. And you can say the same for Saka — his presence on the wing draws defenders, giving Ødegaard more space. It's a wicked 1-2 punch.

The goal came minutes after Jurrien Timber nearly opened his Premier League account at the club. He touched the ball home off a set piece, but Mikel Merino was a fraction offside on the initial header. I'm particularly incensed at the (correct) call because it denied us TIMBER scoring against FOREST. The VAR review took an annoying long time, too. If only there was some kind of computerized, automatic technology that could render decisions nearly instantaneously. You could call it semi-automatic offside or something. People should look into that.

For all their dominance, Arsenal only were 1-0 up at halftime, which was annoying. They had their chances but couldn't find a second goal. To be fair, Matz Sels made an incredible save on Bukayo Saka to deny the winger a first half brace. I don't think I was alone in feeling ill at ease at the half because Arsenal had three players on bookings — Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus, and Bukayo Saka — all of whom were booked on calls that the announcers deemed harsh.

It's particularly frustrating because Alex Moreno, the fullback on Bukayo Saka's side, took the winger down from behind minutes into the match and escaped a booking. The foul was in the attacking third, was not an attempt to play the ball, and prevented Saka from dribbling towards the box. That's a textbook booking and one that, for some reason, every team seems to get at least one freebie against Saka and Arsenal. That's a match-changing yellow card not shown. Imagine a fullback having to defend Bukayo Saka for 85 minutes on a caution.

And because we're particularly sensitive to it given Declan Rice's sending off against Brighton, Ola Aina, who had been booked in the first half, picked the ball up and carried it away after being whistled for a foul in the second. What about the letter of the law? We were told the referee has no choice in such situations. Fair play to the announcers, who acknowledged the inconsistency. Fortunately, Arsenal were 2-0 up at that point so it had no bearing on the result. But it's irksome.

That's kind of been the story of the season for Arsenal. Their position in the table is mostly explained by negative variance — injuries, bounces, and questionable refereeing decisions. Mikel Arteta can tinker around the margins, but the biggest difference-maker for the club going forward would be a shift from overtly negative to (at least) neutral variance. With that in mind, you can forgive me for worrying that the match would get blown up by Arsenal having somebody sent off on a second yellow for a technicality in the second half.

Fortunately, Mikel Arteta made a sensible move, bringing on Thomas Partey for Jorginho. Of the three players on bookings, the Italian was far the most likely to pick up a second booking. He has a tendency to foul when he gets beaten, probably because he understands his physical limitations. He'd also been given a warning for committing another "foul" after picking up the yellow. Foul is in quotation marks because the replay showed that he got all of the ball and little to none of the man on the call in question. It's a shame he had to come off, too Jorginho was having a good match, particularly when Arsenal were on the ball.

The astute halftime change from Arteta continued on a mini-theme for the day — good lineup decisions tailored to the specifics of the match. It's not clear how many of the changes to the starting lineup were forced through players not being 100%, but when the lineup was announced, I felt like he'd picked a players well-suited to breaking down Forest's deep block. Arteta catches some flack for sticking with his preferred lineup instead of adapting to the opponent and even more for his substitution patterns. It's only fair to give him his flowers when he does it well.

Thomas Partey extended the Arsenal lead early in the second half, curling a shot into the far corner from well outside the box. Bukayo Saka picked up his Premier League leading 8th assist of the season on the tally, picking out the midfielder in space through a maze of bodies. From there, it was cruise control for the Gunners.

Substitutes Ethan Nwaneri and Raheem Sterling combined to give Arsenal supporters a late treat — a first Premier League goal for the Hale End product. Forest seemed to fall asleep for a second on a dropped ball, which allowed Nwaneri to carry most of the way through the Forest half. He found Sterling on the wing, who cut it back for the 17-year old to fire home, low and into the near corner. On replay, it was a deceivingly difficult finish. There wasn't much space to squeeze it in, and Nwaneri found it perfectly.

Equally as impressive from Nwaneri was his dribble past Murillo a few minutes earlier. His stepover left the defender flailing foolishly at a shadow and had me pulling a stankface in my chair. The kid has got it, y'all. The goal makes him Arsenal's second-youngest Premier League scorer, behind Cesc Fabregas. Nwaneri has a combined 11 goals and assists this season across all levels, including 4 goals with the first team.

The focus today will, rightly, be on the Arsenal attack for suddenly (and not surprisingly) reappearing with Martin Ødegaard back in the lineup. But the defense and defensive work across the pitch deserves a mention, too. Nottingham Forest did not have a shot on target all match. They had one good counterattack, which is their bread and butter, that I can remember. It came in the opening five minutes of the match.

Arsenal have an excellent centerback pairing in Gabriel and William Saliba and fantastic fullbacks alongside them. Saliba looked much more like the player we know and love today, which is a relief after a subpar start to his campaign. But the not-so-secret sauce to Arsenal's defensive strength is that everyone pulls their weight without the ball. That starts with Martin Ødegaard, who organizes and leads the press in the attacking third and continues to limit time and space in the middle third. The difference between Arsenal without and with him is night and day.

Shout out to Mikel Merino, too. He did an admirable job as the other half of the Arsenal midfield engine, doing the un-glamorous dirty work that often goes unnoticed. Nobody can do exactly what Declan Rice does in the middle of the park, but I think Merino can do a much closer job than can Thomas Partey or Jorginho. He's also a threat on set pieces, which I've tried to tell y'all! He was a fraction offside but that doesn't change the fact that he rose well above everybody else to win the initial header on Jurrien Timber's chalked-off goal.

As the match ticked down, the announcers noted that Arsenal had been quite good but Forest had not looked themselves. They're so close to getting it. Maybe one day a commentator will recognize that if a team everyone thinks is pretty good doesn't look that good, the opposing team might have had something to do with it.

Forest came into the match having conceded 10 goals in 11. They play a well-organized deep block. Arsenal, specifically Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka, picked the lock again and again, and the Gunners scored 3. Forest are deadly on the counter and use Chris Wood on set pieces / as a fox-in-the-box. Arsenal held them to one counterattack of note, conceded only a handful of set pieces, and kept Chris Wood well away from the ball in dangerous areas. Forest didn't look good because Arsenal took away the things they do well!

Today's win was the 2000th league win for Arsenal football club. Let's hope it portends things to come as we get into the meat of this season. The Gunners are due for a turnaround and this feels like it could be the start.