Arsenal returned to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday, beating Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
The headline team news was Declan Rice being rested in midfield, and Mikel Arteta fielding a front three of summer signings, in the form of Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke and — making his first start for the club — Eberechi Eze.
Madueke was the pick of the trio in the first half, both in open play and from set-pieces — and it was after another of his excellent deliveries that Martin Zubimendi opened the scoring, volleying in superbly from the edge of the penalty box.
Just 42 seconds into the second half and the home side were two up, with Eze and Gyokeres combining on this occasion, the winger crossing perfectly first time to his centre-forward after being set free by a long pass from Riccardo Calafiori. It felt like a very new sort of Arsenal goal, something that will no doubt please the fans and Arteta in equal measure.
Zubimendi — who only scored two league goals for Real Sociedad in the whole of 2024-25 — then made it 3-0, heading home late on after a well-worked free-kick move.
