Arsenal 3-0 Nott’m Forest (Zubimendi 32′, 79′, Gyokeres 46′)
EMIRATES — It was exactly the sight Arsenal fans did not wish to see.
Martin Odegaard had insisted in his programme notes that the shoulder injury he suffered during their last home game, last month against Leeds United, was behind him.
He played twice for Norway during the international break to prove it but then he was forced off against Nottingham Forest after just 18 minutes having landed on that same shoulder in a heavy challenge.
With Bukayo Saka already out, the words “injury crisis” crept onto the lips of more than a few observers.
Fortunately, the Gunners look well equipped this season to cope with absences in their forward line.
The £67.5m deal for Eberechi Eze was the most eyecatching, not least because Arsenal gazumped rivals Tottenham Hotspur to sign him, but the £48.5m they shelled out for Noni Madueke already looks like money well spent.
In fact, he seems to have settled so well that Arteta’s greatest concern at this point will be what to do when Saka, who watched from the stands with a cup of tea and a grin, recovers from his thigh problem.
Not that he will have been thinking that as Madueke tormented Forest in the first 45 minutes at the Emirates.
Ola Aina’s hamstring injury had forced new head coach Ange Postecoglou to shuffle the back four.
Morata, a regular left-back for Benfica but deployed only at centre-half for Forest last season, filled in on the left side of defence: it was immediately obvious that this was a mismatch.
When Arsenal went in 1-0 up at half-time, Madueke already led the side in touches in the opposition box (five), duels won (five) and chances created (three).
It was only Forest’s central defensive stability – no Premier League side stopped more crosses last season – that prevented him bagging an assist.
He showed good versatility too, testing Morato’s left and right shoulder, using his pace to make crosses with both of his feet.
When another injury brought the more mobile Neco Williams into the firing line, he changed tack, and it was footwork and muscle in the second half that got him round the Welsh defender.
He ended with nine successful duels, and an Expected Assists count of 0.58, as good as any performance he produced last season.
In the parlance, Madueke is “having a moment” – and at just the right time.
Were Saka fit, he would not be starting on the right wing for Arsenal and might not have got the same kind of opportunity for England either.
He now has five goal involvements in his first nine international caps, and is giving Thomas Tuchel and Arteta both headaches.
Madueke did not end up with a goal or an assist, outshone in that category by Eze on the opposite flank.
He bagged his first assist for the club, picked out by Riccardo Calafiori 40 seconds after half-time and then laying it on a plate for Viktor Gyokeres.
It was his first start since signing and, like Madueke, raises more questions than answers.
His best position for Palace was, arguably, No 10 and some Arsenal fans would see him play there ahead of Odegaard: that might force the captain further back, but Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi are surely first-choice at the base of midfield?
These are good problems to have, of course, particularly in an increasingly gruelling top-level calendar, but Arteta’s man-management will be pushed to the limits if the likes of Madueke and Eze maintain this form.
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At least the Spanish manager does not have to worry about his goalkeeper. There is an argument that David Raya is now Arsenal’s best ever stopper, statistically at least.
He made his 100th appearance for the Gunners against Forest and a clean sheet meant of the 20 keepers who have passed that mark for the club, none has bagged a shutout more often than Raya.
He was rarely troubled by Forest, but his fingertip save to push Chris Wood’s chested effort onto the crossbar was a reminder of how good he has been since joining from Brentford.