Mikel Arteta expressed his admiration for Liverpool‘s transfer business on the eve of this game, but Saturday’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest was an early positive advert for Arsenal‘s summer recruitment strategy.
While Liverpool smashed the British transfer record twice in one summer by acquiring Florian Wirtz and then Alexander Isak, the Gunners signed eight players for a combined fee of more than £260 million in an effort to avoid last season’s mistakes.
And for a while, this felt a lot like last season. Arsenal were primarily a threat from corners, they suffered another injury as Martin Ødegaard trudged off after just 18 minutes and the return of Ange Postecoglou managing a team wearing white gave this a distinctly familiar feel.
That was until the new boys made their presence felt. Noni Madueke had been Arsenal’s most dangerous player in the opening half an hour but it was another summer arrival, Martín Zubimendi, who broke the deadlock with a stunning 32nd-minute volley.
Madueke’s corner — of course there was a corner involved somewhere — was headed out to the edge of the box where Zubimendi caught the ball so sweetly that Murillo‘s slight deflection should not detract from the purity of the strike.
Ødegaard was replaced by Ethan Nwaneri — who signed a fresh contract last month after speculation he could potentially leave — before Eberechi Eze, making his full debut, provided his first assist for Arsenal’s new centre-forward Viktor Gyökeres to take his tally to three goals from four appearances.
Zubimendi appeared to shock even his own teammates by scoring a header from substitute Leandro Trossard‘s 79th-minute cross.
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The combination was a demonstration of Arsenal’s recently acquired strength in depth. Last season, the loss of Bukayo Saka, Ødegaard, William Saliba, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, with Declan Rice on the bench, would have had a debilitating effect on their ability to maintain a title push.
Of course, mid-September is too early to judge whether they will last the pace better this time, but there were encouraging signs. Cristhian Mosquera deputised for Saliba with an authoritative display while Madueke had the beating of Morata from the first minute and threatened throughout.
And instead of relying on the inconsistencies of Gabriel Martinelli and Trossard to define the occasions, the pair could be introduced for late cameos with the game won and a brief opportunity to impress.
Postecoglou made an immediate impact at Tottenham Hotspur, but perhaps it was unfair to expect the same at Forest given he has not had a preseason to work with this group, many of whom were away on international duty.
They appeared to press higher up the field and tried to show some sort of attacking intent early on but that quickly fizzled out as Forest offered little while looking vulnerable on the break.
Forest lost a player to injury — Murillo on 38 minutes — as Postecoglou encountered so often at Spurs and eventually lost the game, something the Australian experienced 22 times last season, leading to his sacking. It turned into a chastening afternoon, the red half of north London probably the worst place he could go for his first game.
“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” sang the gleeful Arsenal fans before later embarking on a rendition of: “Are you Tottenham in disguise?”
Forest have spent big themselves to sign 13 players in total but while Postecoglou is at the beginning of his journey in working with that squad, Saturday’s result showed the benefits Arsenal could enjoy this season of adding effectively to a settled group.
This week in particular demands consistency of performance with the Champions League throwing up a tricky trip to Athletic Club on Tuesday before Manchester City visit the Emirates on Sunday. It is exactly the kind of run which would stretch the Gunners last season. On this evidence at least, they are better equipped to tackle it now.
