Arsenal kicked off the new season with a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest at the Emirates this afternoon.
Excellent first half goals from Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka put us into a comfortable position, but perhaps it was too comfy. We didn’t step on the gas, and late on Forest got one back – resulting in a nervy finale, which included 7 minutes of added time.
Three points very welcome, but we can do better.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Read the Arsenal 2-1 Nottingham Forest report and see the goals here
Arsenal 2-1 Nottingham Forest – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Trossard must start..
Yea, although not for Martinelli
Martinelli suddenly stops scoring when its you know who starts in the centre strike
And suddenly starts scoring when Jesus and Trossard are in the cental striker position
This is so obvious to every fan but Arteta is too headstrong to accept it.
I wish Arteta knew as much about football as you.
Wth?!!!!
Martinelli with the assist of the season in the very first match! Well played!
How can it be the assist of the season?! Ffs
Why not?..
Show me a better one
He looked off match pace in pre season. And Trossard is in form. Heck he even trying to outspring players now.
But top marks to Marty for that assist.
You can’t take Eddie out the team for the next game surely.
Bonus rating: Turner 8 out of 10. We could’ve got 2 more goals if it’s not him
he did look good,
hopefully goes on to have a brilliant season !
No. Doesn’t replace Martinelli or Saka. Balogun or Nketiah would be better strikers. Fans need to tell Nketiah to get on the shoulder. His goal today was too fortunate. 60 odd thousand fans can impact the players. Staring into the stands is a bit American and annoying. Staring at backside is always acceptable. Don’t touch without asking.
Do we not trust MA to select the appropriate frontline? I agree Trossard is the best option – but I also accept that MA knows more than me. It was looking pretty good until injuries
I don’t trust MA to pick the appropriate squad and I also don’t accept MA knows more than me. He’s an employee not a player. Ex is ex. Current is current. I guess if the camera aspect is off then it can skew whether it’s a red or yellow. However, Cesc’s theatrics were a bit much.
See Rice asking too much of Martinelli. Context of forum is important. Don’t forget you can’t watch the majority of English Premier league games on English television…
Rambling Pete, is that you?
I don’t seek to disrespect people – but if you’re claiming to legit know more than trained professionals then it would be useful to understand your credentials
They’re paid professionals. The accreditation relies on being paid in the first place. Also, it’s cheeky, but I witnessed Wilshere’s goal v Norwich, and watching how much Partey and White swapped today does make me wonder how much the fans, tv and streams affects things.
Is that generated with ChatGPT?
No. I do wonder about others, though.
Tosh from the bottom shelf
Erm – not sure where to start with this fog-bank of self-important stuttering…
Actually, fuck it – I don’t have the time to waste.
Spurs fan
You are ChatGPT in disguise and ICMFP!
Cabbage
I would start Trossard in place of Havertz when playing away from home
I would start Trossard over Havertz anywhere, be it home or away…….
Then we will end up with an expensive player who is not integrated into our squad. That was not what I was getting at. Havertz’s movement was actually quite good today, off-the-ball. I think Trossard is already well-accustomed to our style of play. Havertz is not. He seemed to lack confidence. In order to avoid the team essentially carrying him (which is a risk, and arguably we saw shades of that today), he should be integrated gradually. He was never a like-for-like replacement of Xhaka, so there is no reason for him to slot straight into the first team in… Read more »
Don’t get the toxicity amongst supporters re Havertz, I guess its the same as Mikel’s judgement still having doubters, which is baffling.
We are so lucky to have them both.
Havertz’s ceiling is absolute world class, he needs some patience and TLC given the mess he’s just left, the team will gain a new dimension, let’s give him some support!
He wears our shirt. Of course we support him! Jeez, social media has made people want results immediately. The guy walked into the team a few weeks ago, and we’re also integrating several other new players. There’s a difference between “I’m not sure why we signed him” and “He’s a liability, and he shouldn’t play”. Even if he turns out to be the worst player in our history, *not* supporting him isn’t helping him *or* the team. What did people expect? To play the same starting XI for the whole season? Remember how that went? Yes, it’s a risk when… Read more »
People seem to forget the left 8 does far more than just their involvement in the final 3rd of the pitch. Trossard is a winger/striker, not an 8. Kai shows far more promise in that role, give him time.
Eddie Nketiah the Apex Predator
Did Blogs ever do a photshop of him with T-Rex-like short arms whilst poaching a goal? I feel like I saw that but it might be my imagination filling in what my memory would like to have happened
We need this now.
Anyone else having issues with the ratings? They don’t come up at all for me.
This
Same here
yes
It’s the new rating system, you have to wait 30 min
But they add 8 or ten minutes at the end.
Just refresh the page a couple times. You need at least two warmups.
Same here. I am using Vivaldi browser on Linux. Same as last season when it worked.
Just tried Firefox and Google Chrome and they didn’t work either.
Didn’t work on Android either.
Worked in incognito for me
Can’t say I’m ever in thrall to Andrews’s ratings frankly
Working now. Half-hour later.
You’re what lol
Not loading for me either
Arseblog’s e-ticketing system has failed too 😁
Works for me
Follow the instructions and they do eventually load.
“Flick the switch at the top above John Lukic.”
You’ll then see the rest of the player ratings load. Dixon, Adams, Bould, Winterburn….
At this point in the season, it is all about three points, getting more match fit, and cohesion. The flair will come later.
And it’s most definitely *not* about freak injuries in the 45th minute of a new season! Want to celebrate the win here, but it does feel whenever we start talking about how big our squad is, one thing leads to another and we’re suddenly in “cluster injury” territory super quickly. That one today felt like the most Arsenal thing ever. Keeping everything crossed for Timber and that Zinny’s getting back to full health.
Every Premier league game is all about 3 points. Flair comes once you lift your head up and take a look. Saka has drive.
I ask again, why did we sign Kai Havertz??
Good win, Saka – worldclass, Odegard – worldclass, Saliba – worldclass, Nketia – improved.
Fatgooner we do recognise you under those sunglasses and fake mustache 🥸
Nketia improved, I should fecking hope so against notts forest. He actually got lucky with his goal, if it hit defender turner would have saved it easily. Odegarrd did not look happy that he did not just roll it into him.
If the ball hadn’t gone into the net it wouldn’t have been a goal, too.
So you’re not wrong in suggesting that Havertz from what he’s shown so far is lacking in a lot of stuff you would expect from a PL-level £65m footballer. Like I don’t claim to be an expert in Arteta’s tactics or in ghostly off-the-ball positioning, but I don’t look at that guy and think “yeah Arteta paid £65m for that”. I’m not going to try to dress up what I’ve seen from Havertz to this point, it’s been pretty fucking unremarkable. What I am going to say is I’ve seen highlights of him in his Leverkusen days, and the guy… Read more »
What?
Sorry, what I said was: So you’re not wrong in suggesting that Havertz from what he’s shown so far is lacking in a lot of stuff you would expect from a PL-level £65m footballer. Like I don’t claim to be an expert in Arteta’s tactics or in ghostly off-the-ball positioning, but I don’t look at that guy and think “yeah Arteta paid £65m for that”. I’m not going to try to dress up what I’ve seen from Havertz to this point, it’s been pretty fucking unremarkable. What I am going to say is I’ve seen highlights of him in his… Read more »
Holy shit dude…tldr: Havertz crap today but still too early to judge.
Dude, if you want to post articles then get your own blog; this is a comments section.
I have no opinion on the merits of your argument because there’s no way I’m reading all that.
Then you’re missing a point well made.
So you’ve refused to read a post here cos you think it too long (like you decide these things) yet seem to think we will afford you the same courtesy of acknowledging your lack of opinion about the contents of the original post. Pitiful.
Screenshot this comment and post it again in April
Anyone else wonder what this lot could have had to say about Thierry Henry during his first twelve games if we had platform’s such as this back in the day??
Mate – they were saying it about none other than Martin the Viking, far more recently.
I call it the Instagrat Generation.
Nah – strike that… I’m changing it to the Instagrat Brats.
Work to do but 3 points make the weekend a brighter prospect. Did enjoy Rice not being able to help himself singing North London forever in the huddle
Havertz is a signing too far… Arteta trying to force it will disjoint the rest of the team… I fear we’ll look back just like we did with Willian. Partey and Rice as a base is formidable and Smith-Rowe a good option. Instead Arterta will mince around trying to work Kai into the team.
Hi friend, it’s been one game.
Yeah too much hate on Kai! He was decent. Eorked all around the pitch. Maybe he is not so noticable like Rice, but he dies his job and it is very intriguing and nice. Becouse it opens up spaces for everybody else:)
“Decent”? He was a lifeless shadow all game. Trossard did in a fraction of time 20 times more. To be honest, aside from the price tag Kai hasn’t shown do far anything to merit being ahead of ESR or Trossard. And the best football we’ve displayed in preseason has been without him.
We’ve won all our games with him.
“We’ve won all our games with him.” That’s just false. He played against United, and as always, Havertz was a useless ghost the whole match. Anyway, we’ve lost 1 game in like, three months. One has to be shameless to suggest Havertz has been fundamental for that run. We’re right now one of the strongest teams in the world, that’s why we’ve doen well. The fact is, Havertz has been playing like crap for more than two years now, underperforming terribly both for club and country. And in the 4, 5 games he’s played for us so far, he has… Read more »
Oh, yeah – the United game which doesn’t matter.
I didn’t say he was fundamental either, and I think he can and should improve. I just don’t see that calling him a ‘dud’ after just a couple of games is anything other than premature.
13 goals in 37 games for Germany ain’t too shabby but then he’s got better players around him like Gundogan, Sane, Gnabry, Muller and Kimmich. Too early to write the guy off as a dud
I think the main issue the fanbase have with Havertz is that we don’t actually know what his job is i.e. where does Arteta see him exploiting his best abilities for Arsenal: as a striker, a wide attacking midfielder or an attacking midfielder?
I completely agree, and I find many fans bending inside out trying to justify a weird, blind fanboyism around this guy. New toy syndrome maybe? Since preseason Havertz is giving me some serious William 2.0 vibes. Of course I want ot guy to succeed at the club and take us through the roof, who doesn’t? But the truth is, Kai has been deplorable for the last 2 years and so far with us he hasn’t shown anything different. Dude is not worth 60mil. To make matters worse we have Smith-Rowe warming the bench becasue of him. I want him to… Read more »
I agreed with you man.
The whole Ozil vibe is there to be seen.
I’m really hoping we can get to see more from Kai. Even though Rice cost much more , there is a certain expectancy what you will get with Rice. But Kai…. I’m keeping my finger cross for now
Me too. I just don’t see him above ESR or Trossard at the moment. I think that’s what I dislike the most about him at the moment. That he doesn’t even show the attitude of a guy fighting for his place. And the best buts of football we had during pre-season were precisely when he was off the field.
“So far with us”
*checks calendar*
🤦♂️
Man, he has already had 4,5 appearances for us, and do far he hasn’t shown anything different so far from what he has shown at Chelsea for the last two years. I fear this will become one of those cases were we want him to succeed so bad we fail to look at the reality. Like those marriages with the “I can change her” syndrome. Dude I really, really want him to prove me wrong, but I just don’t see it coming from a guy that has had more mediocre years than good ones throughout his career.
Smith-Rowe let’s himself down at CM by drifting too far into LW and not getting goal side when Arsenal are without the ball. He can be slow to track back too and I was bemused by his round the clock tracking in pre season. I’m a great fan of Smith-Rowe but in my opinion Havertz demonstrates everything needed in a CM of 2 infront of a holding mid, that is to be as box to box as possible and not shy in either box. He’s vastly different from his Chelsea days and is switching on defensively. Nothing to be said… Read more »
I can’t read anymore
He will but why wait, I can put you out of your misery now. You’re wrong.
Believe me, I really, really want to be wrong on this one.
That Paul Merson is still alive?
‘Willian vibes since pre-season…’ Yeah, so let’s write him off after the terrible, endless run of… a couple of friendlies and TWO actual matches???
No doubt, you were one of the ‘gurus’ on here telling us Ode was a dud, a few months after he came on loan!
Did you listen to what joe Cole had to say about KH pre-match?
Joe Cole was very upbeat about Havertz! Good to see one precocious talent recognise another one
I seem to recall similar things being said about many Arsenal players. Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp among them. According to fan wisdom (much of it admittedly generated on the tabloid back pages) neither Bergkamp nor Henry could score in their early time with Arsenal and both were a waste of money and their inclusion risked ‘upsetting the squad’. And then, suddenly, they weren’t. We all want players to be at 100 mph from their first minute but that really isn’t the reality. I would advise some patience. See how things turn out in a few weeks or months. To… Read more »
And, a lot more recently, a certain ‘has-been’ Mr Odegaard… there are some proper muppets on here, unfortunately – the Instagrat Boys who want plug ‘n play success before the ink’s dry on a new player’s contract.
Odegaard is actually vastly over-rated. Goes missing in our biggest of games. Did fck all in those 3 games we bottled last season that lost us the league. But of course he could turn up on one leg and not touch the ball for 90 mins and blogs would still give him a 9.
Have I wandered into a Spurs fan forum by accident?
Agree, I still think Arteta uses 8-5-1 formation just so he can play him without sacrificing our starting front, playing him for 90 minutes was also a weird decision.
You’re 110% wrong on that formation pilgrim
Good performance overall for a season opener. Ode, Saka, Gabi & Eddie all did very well. Impressed with Rice too. Kai will add quality options.
Kai wasn’t all that impressive but worked hard and he’s great at pressuring. When he starts to click with his runs into the box it will be a beauty.
Bonus rating: Matt Turner conceding 2 goals that weren’t his fault and playing a pretty good game on his return to the Emirates. 8/10 dawgs
Made a fantastic when Rice hit the post!
He pushed it onto the post. It was a great save.
definitely outplayed emi today!
Anyone writing off Havertz after one game is a simpleton. Just because he came from Chelsea and the fans of other clubs want to see him fail and the intellectually challenged pundits think he will, doesn’t mean he will. I thought he was fine today and I hope there’s plenty to come from him.
Once he gets used to the system, he will be a top signing, so called fans jumping on the he is shit wagon after one game need to wobble their heads ffa
100%. He also needs to get used to the intensity we play with and that Arteta demands, he did it in spurts today but you could see he’s used to a club where this isn’t the norm.
Love to see a player with his profile adopt the Giroud role at the end – the team dropped back to defend deep and he battled a lone furrow up top and used his size well, a thankless task but he helped secure the 3 points.
On a wider note, this disease of people over-analyzing pre-season games as well as the first game of the season needs to end
Yes, the Champions League final in which you score the winner against the best pressing team in the world is a training exercise compared to basement dwellers Forest at home.
He also looked pretty good at killing the game off near the end, or endless 7 minutes. Lots of high blood pressures as a result of this stupid new rule.
might be a bit much to complain about added extra time while we hold up the community shield.
Much better than fine. He’s learnt to track back, tackle and gets into the box well. His aggression is something special and owed to Arsenal. He should have done better to lay Saka off second half. Havertz was roughly LW at the time and Saka had found space brilliantly. Key thing is his brain is concentrating more defensively and he overhit the lay‐off. The balance will be found. Astute signing.
Replying to myself but who knows might have been Havertz one to Nketiah 1st half.
My fault – ratings should be there now!
I feel like we could have done with at least 1 conventional full back today
Yes. The pace on the right was lacking, such was their goal. I reckon Timber’s injury was due in part to having to pivot on his wrong side. His left foot isn’t quite good enough to justify LB. Tomiyasu has a great ability to play with his weak foot, not quite Cazorla or Bruyne esque, but it shows in his stance and accuracy. Tierney can get caught out but it’s up to the fans, captain, teammates and manager to communicate to him. I don’t know why he isn’t and I don’t like Tierney not starting. Too much talk about him… Read more »
Agree. Partey was not “solid”–he got spun badly at least once and it created a dangerous situation. He’s not a right back! How many times does Arteta need to see him get burned down the line? Tomi would have been better there, or Timber with Tierney out left. Much more secure and plenty of offensive firepower. Arteta can’t just keep using the same tactic and not expect to have it taken advantage of.
I thought Partey did ok in what must have been a very unfamiliar role but yes, he got spun badly for City’s goal in the Charity Shield and got spun badly today at times. This is probably symptomatic of a midfielder playing in the backline
The 1out of 10, says it all.
Still not sure what to think of Havertz. He was moving all over with lots of runs behind the play into the box and popping into space, but so often was open and his teammates wouldn’t pass it to him. However, when he would get the ball he would 100% of the time look for the safest play usually passing it back somewhere away from pressure. That’s fine some of the time, but against a packed in defense like they had in the first half we need to take some chances (like the other attacking players do) in order to… Read more »
I trust MA but don’t expect him to pick the best scored to win the game. He has to find a way to make his new, expensive signings work and that means the cohesion of the team might suffer a little bit. It’s the only way he’s going to integrate them into the squad. Patience people, we might drop a few points but there’s no other option..
So why would we purchase players that are difficult to integrate into the team?
Glad we won. Of course it’s the first match of the season. But that second half. Whoa. A good team destroys us down our right side if Arteta insists on playing Partey there. Sure he can invert but forest could have scored a few down that side if they were better. Ben white is one of the best left backs in the league. Saliba and Gabriel were excellent last year. Why mess it up with these gimmicks. Pep can do things like start silva as a fullback but city are rarely dispossessed. Get an established back 4. Play them until… Read more »
That’ll be the Haaland who… erm… was he actually on the pitch in the Shield final?
Seems we’ve also worked out how to play against him?
The bonus rating should be a 10/10. Nobody else is this good at doing THAT 😁
Was Havertz bored or is this how he usually plays? No urgency, slow, what the actual fuck?
Havertz and Rice were both gassed after 70 min. Welcome to the Arsenal, this is a big step up from the mid table clubs they came from.
I wouldn’t have minded seeing Jorginho and ESR, but unfortunately we wasted a sub slot by sending out Timber for the 2nd half.
I can’t believe Partey at inverted RB…and gabi on the bench?! Wtaf. Sure, if you want to experiment then do it during the fkn pre-season we just finished! We got away with one today.
Joining the Trossard Must Start campaign . . . . . As well as the ESR Needs More Minutes lobby.
Thoroughly enjoyed the first half where it looked like we would hand a team with precisely zero ambition what they deserved i.e. a complete hammering. Many have stated the game would have changed dramatically had Forest converted their early chance. Really? The visitors would have had something extra to grimly cling to for the rest of the game making the 2nd half an even tougher watch for everyone. When your formation is ’10’ you don’t really get to call out tactical nuances. That said, we sucked for most of the 2nd half and once again it was a white knuckle… Read more »
Eddie cannot rotate with Havertz. Only with Martinelli.
Expect the third dimension of Havertz’s play once Jesus comes back.
I love the sacrifice he makes for the team.
This is like Sudoku…
If Timber and Zinchenko are out. Will we see Tomi or KT come in at LB?
If Gabriel is playing then White is RB. But we don’t have someone to invert to build play. So it will be Partey at DM and Rice left 8. And KT is an option. Trossard as a 9 to drop deep and build.
If Partey is RB, then Saliba is LCB. Then we must use Tomi.