Arsenal hosted Nottingham Forest on Saturday and a comfortable 3-0 win made it 2000 top-flight wins for the club as Mikel Arteta marked 250 games in charge of the first team.
Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey and Ethan Nwaneri scored for the Gunners, with Nwaneri netting his first Premier League goal for the club, becoming the second youngest player to score a Premier League goal for Arsenal behind Cesc Fabregas.
Here’s what the managers, players, pundits and stattos had to say after the game …
Arteta on reaching 250 games in charge …
“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. Everybody contributed to the game phenomenally well with a lot of fluidity and enthusiasm in our play, dominance, scoring goals and creating so many chances. Then when that wasn’t enough, we brought the subs and they also had a big impact to help us win the game. We scored three goals, kept a clean sheet, so a lot of positives I would say.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Nuno Espirito Santo on facing Arsenal:
Quality players when they are involved in the game it becomes harder. (Odegaard) is one of them. Trossard created problems and Saka created problems. You cannot give time to players to decide so freely.
Source: Football.London
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✅ Arsenal join Liverpool as the only English clubs to win 𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬+ top-flight league games. pic.twitter.com/BWMCo44obJ
— Football Insider (@footyinsider247) November 23, 2024
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Arteta on the performance …
I think we started really well. The sense I was getting in the last 48 hours after the international break, the boys coming together and were all at it. It was good to see the impact of the substitutes. Everyone has to feel important. It was a good afternoon.
Source: Premier League
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Pat Nevin on Ethan Nwaneri …
I have seen Ethan Nwaneri a couple of times and he’s extra special. Arsenal left Kai Havertz and Declan Rice out and we hardly even noticed it. Arsenal have got bigger tests to come, but they have got some very special players.
Source: BBC Sport
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Bukayo Saka gets assists number 8️⃣ in the Premier League this season 🪄
He’s also top of the assists table 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TyK65HWgp3
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 23, 2024
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Arteta on rotation …
Changing half of the team, I know the risk – you are right or wrong in relation to the result. Today if we had lost, [people would be saying] Mikel is crazy, why is he leaving Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Martinelli, Kai Havertz and other players out, but I sensed and felt the energy in the team that everybody deserved the chance.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Riccardo Calafiori on his return to fitness …
I don’t feel like I’m tired but for sure I’ve missed some games and felt it on the pitch. But then the stadium gave me the energy. The fans and also my teammates helped me a lot, so I felt really good at the end. I cannot wait to show them what I can do on the pitch again, and to show my teammates to help them.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Bukayo Saka 🆚 Nottingham Forest:
13 touches in opposition box
6 shots
5x possession won
4 chances created
4 duels won
2 successful take-ons
2 shots on target
2 fouls won
1 goal
1 assist📊 @Squawka pic.twitter.com/eq4bT33xx6
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) November 23, 2024
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Arteta on returning from the international break
I sensed great energy the last 48 hours, the way everybody came back. I sensed a great togetherness and decided to change the situation and go through what has been a different period for us with all the situations that we have come across and the team. Straight away, from the beginning it was dominant, there was an enthusiasm about it. This is what I demand when we score a goal, it should have been another two or three in the first half.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Nuno Espirito Santo on the result …
They played well and we didn’t play so well. Arsenal were the better team. Second half we became more pressing but they killed us with the second and third goals. There’s not much to say. We have to improve because we did a lot of bad things – especially with the defending. Losing is always very painful. We came up short.
Source: premierleague.com
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Ethan Nwaneri (17y & 247d) today became the youngest Englishman to score a league goal for #Arsenal since Stewart Robson v Southampton in May 1982 (17y & 190d).
— Harvey Downes (@HarveyDownes92) November 23, 2024
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Arteta on Martin Odegaard …
We talk about fluidity and understanding chemistry and timing, he’s one of the best to do that, to manage the tempo of the game, when to accelerate it, when to slow it down. Obviously he’s been missed and it’s good that we had to sub him because he was starting to get tired and fading a little bit.
He doesn’t surprise me because I see him every day, how he looks at himself, how much he wants it, the energy that he puts in and the courage that he has to play in any circumstances. Obviously, when he’s on the team, you can sense something is different. It is difficult to put a finger on it but it’s different.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Arteta on Ethan Nwaneri …
Ethan comes in and he lifts, you could sense the crowd, the energy and how much they love watching this kid play, which is great.
What I like is that he comes in, in that context, the first thing he does is take a touch, run forward, run past two players and put it inches away from the post. I understand that, I am responsible for him, and you have to do that brick by brick. Today he put in another brick, now we have to put the cement, make sure that it doesn’t get dry, so that he can put in another one and another one and that one is going to stick. Then we put one more layer, we want to put five in a row. Believe me, it won’t work and we have to manage that with his expectations and his load as well, which is really important.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Martin Ødegaard completed 60 of his 67 passes against Nottingham Forest today, with six of those creating chances for teammates’ shots. pic.twitter.com/qHejx2YKMc
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) November 23, 2024
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Mikel Arteta on playing Nwaneri …
I am always tempted. I think he’s the second-youngest player for the club to score in the Premier League. It’s giving us all the reason and today is another reason to put him there but that’s when I play him and not somebody else. It’s step-by-step, I would say.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Arteta on injuries to date …
Instead of 12 or 13 players, we trained with 19 for the first time in six weeks, suddenly you are like, wow, the competitiveness, the level, the quality, the understanding, the competition, everything raises and that’s what we need, every single day. Train at that level and that’s down to the availability of a lot of players, they have not been able to do that and when that happens, the level will raise for sure.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Today was the fourth time this season that Bukayo Saka has been involved in 10 of his teams shots in a Premier League match (10 – 6 shots, 4 chances created).
No other player has done this more than twice this season (only Cole Palmer). pic.twitter.com/yWrS8GpkNl
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) November 23, 2024
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Arteta on Saka’s fitness
We can send you an MRI scan! Very simple. But that’s a communication, it was very clear between the medical staff of Arsenal and the national team. He hasn’t done anything, he was away and he needed time to heal and had one training session.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Bukayo Saka gets assists number 8️⃣ in the Premier League this season 🪄
He’s also top of the assists table 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TyK65HWgp3
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 23, 2024
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Owen Hargreaves on the game …
Nottingham Forest have been unbelievable this season, especially on the counterattack. But it was probably too much to ask of them to turn up and do something at the Emirates. Martin Odegaard was absolutely star of the show.
Source: Premier League
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Emmanuel Petit on Nwaneri …
On Ethan Nwaneri: “It sends a bad message to Gabriel Jesus, who was on the pitch for at least an hour. After ten minutes, Nwaneri scored a goal. He is a promising young guy with a bright future, and I hope he gets more time to play.”
Source: Premier League
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Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri becomes the NINTH youngest goalscorer in Premier League history 🚨 pic.twitter.com/NidWt6yZTv
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 23, 2024
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Riccardo Calafiori on momentum …
We need some really good wins now in a row. From now until March, there’ll be no rest, all the same weeks and we are ready to do this and to win most of the games for sure.
Source: Arsenal.com
Ethan Nwaneri becomes Arsenal’s second youngest Premier League goalscorer (17y 247d), behind Cesc Fabregas (17y 113d) after the Spaniard’s goal against Blackburn in August 2004 🔴 pic.twitter.com/lUFFvJ3tJD
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 23, 2024
I was there, my expectations weren’t too high but we did very well throughout, unlucky not to score more and then didn’t have a shot on target. Let’s keep this going!!!
*they didn’t
You were there and now you are here! 1st in line again. 👏👏👏
Wow. I take it CB pushes buttons for you.
Let’s hope Nwaneri’s career and level is more James Milner than James Vaughan
No disrespect to milner’s achievements and longetivity, but i am sure ethan should aim higher.
It’s hard to have a much better career than James Milner, MBE. Not many guys win the PL with two different clubs, the Champions’ League, and play into their late 30s in the top flight. What interests me about this list though is how half of them are like Milner, and the other half are basically, let’s just say, a story of unfulfilled potential. What I think is a little bit special about Ethan’s goal, even in this select group, is that he orchestrates it all himself. Picks up the ball, drives forward, gives in to Sterling, then gets in… Read more »
What I think is a little bit special about you even in this select forum is that you are able to talk like Wenger.
a lot of disrespect to James Milner. A good player sure, but one of the most boring, uncreative good players I’ve seen in my day. Nwaneri is nothing like him.
This is more like it. Well played!
Also, thank you, Spuds!
Off topic a bit, but as much as I rate Ben I think Timber gives us something extra on the right. Especially in terms of aggression and recoveries. We have five absolutely top class defenders as well as Tomi if he could stay fit.
Agreed, White is a great player, but I suspect Timber has a bit more X factor.
Timber is class. Want to mention Raya as well. The calmness he projects is contagious. What a decision from Arteta when most of us and lots of dopey pundits said it was a terrible mistake. It was genius
A friend of mine is a journalist and Ajax watcher for a big newspaper in Holland. At the time when Arsenal bought Timber I told him I didnt get it becouse I thought he was going to be second choice for the CB and RB position. Why would he go to Arsenal and sit on the bench. He told me he spoke to Timbers agent who told him that Arteta wasn’t pleased with Ben White and he was bought to replace him. Didn’t beleave it at the time because Ben was doing great and I thought it was Arteta’s way… Read more »
“Wasn’t pleased with White.”? Have you heard the way Arteta speaks about the guy? Ben White is clearly a player the manager rates very highly and depends upon.
Brave line up from Miki today, even without Ben & Tomi it’s great to see our squad looking a lot stronger, obviously our captains return changes the dynamic up front, an emphatic victory was what we needed and got, not a day to point out negatives only positives, a good start to get our winning momentum going.
We will have reeled in Liverpool by Xmas day .
They have to play city, Everton, spu#ds, while city play pool, utd, villa…. it’s on again and we will catch them
I’m really proud of the display. Arsenal laid down a marker here against a difficult opponent: this was a reminder of how good we can be. I’m also proud of the manager for using his squad and recognizing the game that was going to be played, prioritizing his small space playmakers against this stubborn low block, resting certain people and giving chances to others. Top man management. I also thought he nailed it tactically. The Saka-Odegaard pod was cooking anyway but instead of pushing Timber high, he brought Trossard to that side during spells of high possession too to give… Read more »
Lovely analysis, a good day all round!
Good analysis.
Thanks Doc, always enjoy your comments and your views on games, players, tactics….
Thanks guys
Yes really insightful – I really agree with what you say about props to Arteta for getting his selection right. He had tended not to mix it up as much as some expect, so great to him nail it today. Hopefully will give him confidence in his whole squad going forward.
Well put! Love the use of the squad, we’ve criticised Arteta so much for not doing it enough (in fact that might be the only thing I’ve consistently criticised him for personally) so only fair to give him kudos when he does finally do it. The almost positionless aspect of our midfield is a sight to behold at times, seeing Ode drop deep next to the centre backs while Calafiori or Zinchenko are on the right side of midfield and Timber is storming up ahead, the opposition players and managers must be thinking, how the f do we prepare for… Read more »
Our real big test is against a Champions League team on top form on Tuesday. I think it will be a very interesting game to gage how good we really are. We did pretty good against Inter and at the very least deserved a draw.
I agree about the game against Inter, but tomorrow may revolve more around how well Sporting adapt to life without Amorim.
I must be the only one who left out a chuckle at Özil being amongst the players in that 2000th PL win pic?! 😄🤷🏾♂️
What a player he was tho, if only the work rate/mentality was the same as he apparently shows at the gym nowadays 🏋️♂️ 💪🏾
Fucking horseshit Liverpool penalty. The ball was going out for a goal kick if he doesn’t touch it. They said about 100 times his hands were out, he was fucking jumping!!! Are players supposed to do a fish flop now with their arms at their sides?
That was not a great display from Liverpool. Once again, they did just enough, but the goals they scored were from a penalty, a goalkeeping error and another passing error. Luck will run out. My main takeaway from that game is Tyler Dibling… 🤯🤯🤯. He’s just 18 and playing like THAT for THAT team against THAT team… the dribbling, the running power, the work rate, the sheer acceleration I’ve seen before but that pass he plays for their second goal was stunning. I don’t often say this after so few games but in his case it’s so clear to me:… Read more »
Agreed on all accounts Tyler s the real deal and Liverpool are so leaky at back both fullbacks a walking time bomb. Intresting to see what happens with Kelleher and Allison but Caomihin looked like a man under pressure today . I’m Irish and love him he’s a great keeper but today looked very much so the man who knows what’s happening next weekend . Ya I wouldn’t worry about them and their honeymoon period under Slot, they did something similar last year then lost all traction . Back to yesterday again and we all know of Martin and Sakas… Read more »
Agreed he was good, but I’d really like us to sign, Cunha or J. Pedro. They’ve both got strength and goals
Here I was thinking Mikel is some tactical genius, but actually he has the heart and feeling of Wenger and that is actually his super power
I’d love to sit down one day with a Mikel and just chat about the power of intuition.
He genuinely seems to have levels on the subject