A LATE winner by substitute Noni Madueke earned Arsenal three points after a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.
In front of 30,893 at the City Ground on the banks of the River Trent, a total which included around 3,000 travelling Gooners, Madueke’s decisive goal came in the 80th minute.
Ball at his feet on the edge of the area, Madueke underlined his quality by unleashing a powerful effort that flew into the net, albeit after taking a notable deflection off Daniel Munoz, to leave Forest keeper Mat Sels floundering.
The goal was further vindication of the 24-year-old’s evident talent from a player who once had to endure a section of embarrassingly hysterical Arsenal fans shamefully creating a petition to avoid signing the attacker.
“Very happy (for him),” a pleased Mikel Arteta said after the match, adding: “We’ve seen a different Noni since the international break, and that’s what we need.
“A player with such a conviction, with quality, being decisive because he can deliver like that.”
The triumph ensured Oliver Glasner’s side have yet to score in their five-home games this season, with the increasingly beleaguered head coach suffering a pre-match blow when the influential Morgan Gibbs-White missed the match after picking up a muscular issue during the warm-up.
The Austrian head coach drafted in Nicolas Dominguez and Jair Cunha, with Neco Williams captaining the side, as Ola Aina dropped to the bench alongside Nikola Milenkovic, who returned among the substitutes.
Arsenal made six changes to the side that beat Lille 3-0 in midweek as Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori returned in defence, while Eberechi Eze started for the Gunners after netting his first goal of the campaign during Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League win over Lille. The former Palace attacker alongside Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard in an attacking trident, with Kai Havertz up front.
Following a bustling but attritional opening 45 minutes that saw the teams relentlessly suffocate each other in a half that was high on effort but desperately lacking quality in the final third, it was no surprise both sides failed to muster a single shot before the interval.
In a bid to enliven matters Arsenal boss Arteta made a change at the break with Madueke replacing Eze. The switch was to prove pivotal.
Yet it was the home side that began the restart with more intent, with Rory Delap firing at the near post that saw Gabriel deflecting the effort for a corner that came to nothing.
Following a triple substitution by Arteta midway through the second half, the newly introduced Jurrien Timber dovetailed well with Saka and Odegaard, only for Declan Rice to fire over the ball when well-placed on 71 minutes.
However, just as the home side thought they were to hold the reigning title holders, up stepped Madueke, who fired home to seal all three points.
As the jubilant travelling Gooners sang at the final whistle: “That’s why we’re champions.”