Ange Postecoglou’s first game in charge of Nottingham Forest ended in defeat as a goal of the year contender headlined a comfortable 3-0 win for Arsenal.
MATCH CENTRE: Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest score, stats
Postecoglou, who was sacked by Tottenham in June only to replace Nuno Espirito Santo just three games into the Premier League season, faced a tough away trip to North London in first test as Forest boss.
Arsenal had the better of the chances early in Saturday night’s game, with a set piece almost producing an early goal in the seventh minute as Ibrahim Sangaré headed a Martin Ødegaard down in the direction of Mike Merino.
The Arsenal midfielder couldn’t execute, however, with a great effort from Matz Sels in goals saving the day.
Arsenal had another opportunity minutes later off a corner as Riccardo Calafiori got a relatively clean look at the ball, only to head it wide.
The Gunners continued to look the most likely to score, with both Ethan Nwaneri and Noni Madueke finding space down the right, but suffered a setback midway through the opening half as an injured Ødegaard couldn’t continue.
That brought Nwaneri into the action and the chances kept coming for Arsenal, with a Madueke corner finding Jurriën Timber but his header was deflected wide.
Still, there was a sense that eventually Forest would break and that moment came in emphatic fashion as a sensational volley from Martin Zubimendi took a slight deflection and beat Sels, who had no chance of stopping it.
Martin Zubimendi (R) celebrates scoring. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)Source: AFP
“That’s an absolutely ridiculous strike,” former Wales defender Danny Gabbidon said on BBC Radio 5 Live of the £51 million ($A104m) midfielder’s first goal for Arsenal.
To make matters worse for Postecoglou, he then lost gun centre-back Murillo — who was a deadline day addition from Juventus — to injury in the 37th minute.
Zubimendi, meanwhile, almost made it two quick goals when a looping shot sailed just over the crossbar.
Having been penned in their own end for the majority of the first half, Forest started to have more success in the final minutes with a nice one-two between Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood creating their first shot.
However, it was otherwise a dominant start from Arsenal and with both Murillo Ola Aina missing at the back, it looked to be an uphill battle for Postecoglou and Forest to regain ascendancy in the second half.
The challenge became even greater as Eberechi Eze found Viktor Gyokeres in the box for a simple goal within just 46 seconds of the second half starting.
Forest almost answered back as a Callum Hudson-Odoi cross was chested towards the goal by Wood, only for David Raya to make a brilliant save and tip the ball onto the bar.
It was a rare opportunity for Forest as Arsenal otherwise threatened to push further ahead, with Gyokeres again going close as he fired a shot in the 59th minute that came off the post.
The chances kept coming for the home side, with Declan Rice almost tapping one home in the 72nd minute before Zubimendi scored his second to bury Forest as the home fans brutally chanted “are you Tottenham in disguise?”.