Bukayo Saka’s superb first-half strike helped kick-start Arsenal’s title challenge as they ran out 2-1 winners over Nottingham Forest
Champions Manchester City put down an early marker by beating newly promoted Burnley 3-0 on Friday night. However, Arsenal hit back in the north London sun after an issue with e-tickets saw the match delayed by half an hour with fans stranded outside the ground.
Gabriel Jesus is Arteta’s preferred choice up top for Arsenal. But since his big-money move from Manchester City, the Brazilian has battled injuries and the Gunners boss has had to rely on Nketiah.
The English striker has always struggled to get up to speed with the game when coming off the bench for Arsenal. But his record when starting at the Emirates – something that has gone largely under the radar – is very respectable.
Nketiah’s opener against Nottingham Forest on Saturday was his ninth from 18 starts in north London and will give Arteta plenty to think about once Jesus returns to full fitness.
Midfielder Thomas Partey was named at right-back for Saturday’s early clash with Ben White being shifted inside to play centre-back. Arteta provided a cryptic response when questioned on his teamsheet, telling reporters he is “adapting strategies for different games,” but as the contest got underway the decision made perfect sense.
Arteta predicted that Forest would, understandably, approach the game defensively and decided he didn’t need to play with a flat-back four as Arsenal would have most of the possession in attacking positions.
Partey is no stranger to the right-back position, having played there twice at the end of last season, but operated more in a central midfield position for large parts against Forest – in a similar way to Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool.
The extra man in the middle paid dividends for the Gunners, who enjoyed 84 per cent of the possession in the first half and exhausted Steve Cooper’s men with relentless attacking football.
Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz all made their debuts for the Gunners this Saturday – with mixed results.
Rice did exactly what he was brought in to do. He broke up play superbly and helped limit Forest opportunities. Nonetheless, for the most part, he could have been more positive with his distribution, with many of his passes either going backwards or sideways.
The summer signing from West Ham came very close to opening his account for Arsenal a quarter of an hour before the end, with a long-distance shot hitting the post and he later snatched at a volley as he grew in confidence and continued to press forward.
Havertz had a solid game but will definitely need time to find his feet in this Arsenal side. Playing alongside Martin Odegaard meant both stars got in each other’s way at times.
Saturday’s set-up saw Odegaard operating in a slightly more advanced position, with the Norwegian breaking into the final third to help finish attacking moves. Havertz on the other hand dropped deeper than his teammate, helping to kick-start attacking passages of play without looking to finish off moves.
Timber also had a solid first half but appeared to suffer an injury, which he was unable to shake off after the break and had to make way.
As fate would have it, former Arsenal keeper Turner found himself up against the Gunners in his first match between the sticks after leaving the north London side.
And it’s fair to say the American performed well in the face of Arsenal’s endless attacking onslaught, making a number of quality saves – including an effort from Rice that looked destined to hit the back of the net.
His opposite number Aaron Ramsdale has been in the news of late with Arsenal sniffing around Brentford shot-stopper David Raya.
But the England keeper’s performance showed he wasn’t fazed by the speculation surrounding his future and he’ll be disappointed not to have recorded a clean sheet.