Five Reactions after Arsenal beat Forest 

Charlie Ashmore shares five reactions after the Gunners eased past Forest 

1 - New signings take flight

The standout from the match was the decisive contributions of the five new boys in the side. 

Two years ago the loss of William Saliba was disastrous.  

Against Forest Mosquera (again) slotted straight in and didn’t miss a beat.  Martin Zubimendi looked like he was born to boss the midfield and the front three  all contributed positively. 

Noni Madueke looked dangerous every time he had the ball and his corner delivery was consistently good. 

Eberechie Eze gave us the attacking option on the left that had been missing as Gabi Martinelli’s attacking instincts have fallen away and Viktor Gyokeres showed signs of linking the play well - but crucially was in the right place at the right time to tuck away a classic striker’s poached goal.

2 - It’s a squad game…at last

Finally, Arteta appears to have learned the lesson of squad management.  Declan Rice rested and it made no difference so strong is our squad now.  

Martin Odegaard injured and Ethan Nwaneri steps straight in and doesn’t look out of place. 

Good second half subs to ensure players are rotated. 

Hopefully the lessons of the last couple of seasons have been fully taken on board so that when crunch time comes later sin the season we have done our best to ensure our players are fit.

3 - Why a world class keeper matters

The really top keepers never switch off – they can be required to do only one thing in a match but they are always ready to do it. 

David Raya's fingertip save from Chris Wood’s chested effort on goal was essential and stunning – who knows where the game would have gone had that gone in.

4 - Mikel Merino is serious quality

While he wasn’t the headline grabber on Saturday, his performance was superb.  There seems no aspect of the game he cannot master. 

He is intelligent, skilful, strong and adaptable. 

I love watching him.

5 - Toxic online fans 

I said it in my first column of the season in the print edition and I say it again. 

The toxicity of online discourse disgusts me. 

The abuse Madueke got when he signed disgusted me. 

You know who you are and you don’t speak for the vast majority of fair-minded sensible Arsenal fans. 

He was our most threatening player at Anfield and if you didn’t enjoy his performance today you shouldn’t be watching football.

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