Arsenal claimed all three points from their opening fixture of the 2023-24 Premier League season, beating Nottingham Forest by the 2-1 scoreline.
The Gunners appeared to be in no rush to force proceedings, dominating possession and building up a head of steam as they confidently tested Nottingham Forest early on, and just as the commentary began to comment on how quiet things had been for the recently departed Matt Turner, he was beaten.
Gabriel Martinelli was doing some fine work down the left, taking two defenders out with an explosive burst of pace before playing in Eddie Nketiah in the box, who made no mistake in firing it home. That scoreline was short-lived as Bukayo Saka cut inside from the right to place a curling effort well out of reach of Matt Turner at the far post just minutes later.
Forest will have been happy to have made it to the break without conceding again, but there was little to be excited about in the second half. The visitors were forced to try and be a little more adventurous after the break, but Arsenal were unable to capitalise.
Arsenal continued to dominate the possession extremely well, and with the two-goal advantage there was no reason to take any risks. The Arteta team contained their opponents well, and the next best chances had both fallen to new record signing Declan Rice.
A low drive from outside the box bounced away off the outside of the goalframe, before an ideal chance fell to him inside the box around the 80 minute mark, only for him to fail to connect cleanly and his effort bounce up towards the top corner before being denied by Turner.
Just as Arsenal looked happy to settle for the 2-0 win, they were hit on the counter by a devastating counter-attack, which was neatly tucked away by Taiwo Awoniyi, who also netted against Arsenal last season.
Arsenal did have two more chances to regain two-goal advantage, with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka both looking to break in behind the defence, only to fail to keep total control, but Gunners eventually held on to the win 2-1.
