Mikel Arteta marked his 250th game in charge of us with the victory he desired as Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey and a first Premier League goal for Ethan Nwaneri comfortably beat Nottingham Forest.
Just as he did last season in this fixture, Saka scored a stunner to get us rolling on 14 minutes, and six minutes after being introduced as a half-time sub, Partey blasted in from 25 yards to double our lead.
Nwaneri was brought off the bench with nine minutes to go and swiftly found the target to round off an excellent victory, which saw us become just the second side in English top-flight history to reach 2,000 wins, but, more importantly, end a run of four league games without success as we aim to catch the leaders across the all-important winter fixtures.
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Saka stars
With Forest coming into this game unbeaten in five away trips this term and sitting fifth in the table, level on points with ourselves, this looked to be a difficult encounter against the Tricky Trees, but we were dominant throughout and quickly set out our stall.
We nearly had the dream start when the ball was in the back of the Forest net after just four minutes. On his first Emirates Stadium appearance in 84 days, Martin Odegaard clipped a free-kick into the box which Mikel Merino headed goalwards but Nicolas Dominguez scrambled it off the goalline before Jurrien Timber drove the loose ball home. However, the celebrations were curtailed by an offside flag against Merino, a tight decision backed up after a lengthy VAR check.
But 10 minutes later, the scoreboard did tick over thanks to some Saka magic. Some brilliant close control saw him collect a lofted Jorginho pass and found Odegaard, who played a clever pass back into the England man. He surged past three defenders across the edge of the area before rifling the ball in the opposite direction past Matz Sels to net in the third successive game against Forest.
Despite the fortnight gap since our last game, we looked sharp in the opening half and on 25 minutes that came to the fore again thanks to an intricate passing move. Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Odegaard, Timber and Jorginho bamboozled the visiting defence, but the Brazilian curled just off target.
Partey time
As the half came to a close, the busiest players were Saka, who was involved in all our bright moments, and Sels who was called into action twice when he flung himself to push away a fierce Leandro Trossard blast, and Odegaard and Jesus combined again to create an opening for Saka which he took, but Forest’s Belgian shot-stopper’s fine low save diverted it past his post as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side escaped into the interval just one behind.
Having seen leads slip away in recent weeks against Liverpool and Chelsea, Arteta would have driven home the message that this was not a foregone conclusion at half-time, and introduced Partey at the break, and that decision took just six minutes to pay off.
Saka was again involved in our second goal, picking up possession on the right nd taking his time before finding the Ghanian on the edge of the box. With acres of space around him, he took a touch before whipping a shot past Sels to give us the cushion we craved.
Forest hadn’t tasted success in N5 since 1989 and never looked like ending that run, failing to trouble David Raya in our goal with a shot on target. Instead, it was more about whether we wanted to extend the scoreline, and when he was introduced off the bench Nwaneri was determined to do so.
Teenage kicks
He went so close to netting a sensational strike when he tricked his way past Brazil international Murilo and whipped the ball towards the bottom corner but saw it flash just wide, but on 85 minutes his big moment arrived.
Fellow replacement Raheem Sterling was the creator, getting down the right and cutting the ball back to the 17-year-old, and he steered it pinpoint into the bottom corner to secure a moment he’ll never forget.
Looking for a crumb of comfort, Jota Silva thought he’d managed to pull one back for Forest late on when he tucked home a Chris Wood knockdown but the offside flag was up, but a clean sheet and a decent margin of victory was the least we deserved on a milestone afternoon for the club, and our manager.
