Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest
by Layth Yousif
at Ashburton Grove
ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta admitted it was a “beautiful day” as he marked his 250th match in charge of the club with a win.
Arteta’s Gunners eased past Nottingham Forest 3-0 to re-establish their Premier League title credentials after an indifferent spell prior to the latest international break.
Excellent goals from Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey and substitute Ethan Nwaneri sealed a 3-0 victory that put the north Londoners back on track with a dominant display against the side that started the day in fifth place in the table.
Arteta made five changes to his team with a nod to a busy forthcoming pre-Christmas fixture list that will go a long way to shaping the club’s season.
The Basque’s bold decision paid off as his side overpowered Nuno Santos’s side to such an extent that the visitors failed to muster a single shot on target — with even Arteta’s substitutions yielding two scorers from the bench.
On marking game 250 with three points, Arteta said: “It’s a beautiful day, especially for me, because that’s a big number and it’s a huge privilege to be where I am.”
Precocious Nwaneri (17 years and 247 days old) became the second-youngest player to score a Premier League goal for Arsenal, behind only Cesc Fabregas (17 years and 113 days in 2004).
However, despite all the hype, Arteta also explained why he was managing Nwaneri’s minutes “step by step” after easing past Forest.
“He’s giving us all the reasons to play, another reason to put him there,” said the Arsenal boss.
“I am responsible to build a career for him. You have to do that brick by brick. Today he put another brick.
“Now we have to put cement, make sure it doesn’t get dry so we can put another one and that will stick. Then we put one more layer, one more layer.
“If you want to put five in a row believe me — it won’t work. We have to manage not only his expectation but his workload as well, which is really important.
“You can sense how much the crowd loves watching this kid play and the energy.”
