Arsenal 5-0 Nottingham Forest
Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League in style as forgotten man Reiss Nelson came off the bench to replace the injured Bukayo Saka and score twice in a 5-0 drubbing of Nottingham Forest.
England forward Saka took a knock in the opening minute and although he still managed to tee up Gabriel Martinelli to break the deadlock, he later limped off to be replaced by Nelson, who struck twice in three second-half minutes before setting up for the fourth.
Gunners captain then wrapped up the comfortable win.
Nelson had not scored a Premier League goal in 837 days since getting on the scoresheet in a victory over Liverpool but it was an impact that settled the home crowd after Arsenal failed to build on a strong start.
After losing to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League on Thursday, Mikel Arteta surprisingly reverted to the starting XI held to a 1-1 draw at Southampton a week ago.
Some of his players seemed to tire in that game but here they put to the sword a Forest side showing just one change from their shock 1-0 win over Liverpool the previous weekend.
Arsenal made the most of a lively opening as Martinelli stooped to head in Saka’s pinpoint cross after five minutes at the Emirates Stadium.
The Arsenal players celebrated by holding up a Pablo Mari shirt after he was stabbed in Milan last week.
The hosts were well on top and were close to a second when Renan Lodi cleared Martinelli’s effort off the line.
Forest had their moments after Saka left the pitch before the half-hour but the game changed after the break, with Nelson taking centre-stage on his first Premier League appearance since the opening-day defeat at Brentford last season – after which he was loaned to Dutch club Feyenoord for most of the campaign.
He doubled the lead with a finish high into Dean Henderson’s net after the England goalkeeper had done well to keep out his initial effort.
The destination of the points was put beyond doubt just three minutes later as Nelson scored again, turning home a cross from Gabriel Jesus.
He then before slid a pass into the path of Partey, who finished superbly from outside the box to make it four.
Odegaard latched on to a Jesus pass for the fifth with Arteta probably as happy at keeping a first home Premier League clean sheet since March as he was at the clinical display at the other end of the pitch.
