Ange Postecoglou hasn’t even had time to settle in as Nottingham Forest boss, but he has already been given a real worry.
Nuno Espirito Santo has become the first managerial departure of the new Premier League season, after being sacked by Nottingham Forest.
Nuno’s departure was confirmed in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and Forest haven’t waited around to find their new boss.
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Ange Postecoglou has become the new Forest boss, making a return to Premier League management after leaving Tottenham Hotspur over the summer.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is a big fan of Postecoglou and has now secured the Australian’s services.
Ola Aina in action for Nottingham Forest FC v Manchester City FC
Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Ange Postecoglou suffers immediate Nottingham Forest concern
Postecoglou arrived at Forest’s training ground on Tuesday morning and is now preparing for this weekend’s game against Arsenal.
Those preparations have already been dealt a blow, with Postecoglou still settling into his new role at the City Ground.
Forest defender Ola Aina was substituted with an injury just 10 minutes into Nigeria’s 1-1 draw with South Africa.
Birmingham City’s Bright Osayi-Samuel took his place at right-back, leaving Forest to sweat over Aina’s availability for Postecoglou’s first game.
Forest will hope that this was just a precaution, but Aina now faces a long flight back to England with an injury concern lingering over him.
Aina’s strong one-v-one defending could be crucial against Arsenal, especially with recent Gunners signing Eberechi Eze potentially in line for a first start.
Neco Williams could switch to right-back if Aina misses out, though loan signing Oleksandr Zinchenko will not be able to face Arsenal on the left side.
Mikel Arteta’s verdict on Ange Postecoglou
Postecoglou’s first game as Forest boss being against Arsenal is quite the twist of fate.
The Australian counted the Gunners as his biggest rivals during his two-year stint as Tottenham boss.
Now set for a fresh start at Forest, Postecoglou will encounter Arsenal almost immediately.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has previously praised Postecoglou, admitting to BBC Sport in 2023 that he really likes the former Celtic boss.
Arteta noted that he knows players who love Postecoglou and felt that he belonged in the Premier League.
“I really like him. I had players and I know players that had him and they always speak really, really highly of him. That’s not a coincidence,” said Arteta.
“You can tell straight away he’s fitting in the right way. That’s the beauty of this league that we have top, top managers,” he added.
Postecoglou is no longer Arteta’s direct rival in North London, but he would still love to mark his first Forest game with a big victory this weekend.