Arsenal only edge past Nottingham Forest despite dominant display

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been speaking to TNT Sports in the UK and here’s what he had to say about their opening weekend win:

“Really happy. Always difficult to win the first game and always difficult to win in the Premier League. We should be very happy with the way we played. We deserved to win the game. We merit more and earlier but we didn’t kill the game. 2-0 in the Premier League is a very dangerous result.

“Today we gave them hope and we gave them the goal. You cannot do that in the Premier League.”

On Eddie Nketiah: “He trained like a beast this week telling me I deserved to play. So I had to play him because he gave me every reason with the way he played. When you come to the pitch and you score and you play the way he has done. Great example.”

Courtesy of our friends at FotMob.com, here are the player ratings from Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest. Plenty of green numbers for those Arsenal players.

The Gunners held on in the end but that was hard work!

Mikel Arteta’s side deserved the victory but they hung on late on as a sluggish second half display almost cost them.

Still, they were superb in the first half and aside from an injury to new signing Jurrien Timber, that was close to a perfect start to the season for Arsenal.

Nottingham Forest get one back!

Substitute Anthony Elanga races free on the counter and plays in Taiwo Awoniyi to slam home. Game on.

The home fans are stunned by that but it has been coming. Arsenal have been sloppy in the second half and moments later it was almost 2-2 as Morgan Gibbs-White saw his shot fly just over.

USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner, who just a few days after moving from Arsenal is making his debut for Forest away at his former club, makes a superb stop.

Declan Rice’s low shot takes a deflection and Turner gets down to his left to push the effort onto the post and wide.

Moments later at the other end Rice did well to put off Willy Boly who looked to have a free header from a corner.

Forest have whipped in a few dangerous corners and they are growing in confidence.

But mostly because Arsenal are sitting back and letting Forest back into the game.

Mikel Arteta will want to see a little bit more intensity from his side as they aim to close things out in the final 15 or so minutes.

The second half is underway and oh man, not the end to his Premier League debut that Jurrien Timber was hoping for.

The Dutch international went down at the end of the first half and he came back out for the second. But he went down again at the start of the second half and now he’s off.

Takehiro Tomiyasu replaces him as both he and Timber are playing out of position at left back. We know that position is extremely inverted though.

Fingers crossed Timber’s injury isn’t serious as he looked very solid in the first half.

Well, that was dominant. Arsenal absolutely battered Forest for most of that half as the visitors had once chance on the break and that was it.

The Gunners look so fluid in attack and it they are hungry, winning the ball back and played exactly like they did for most of last season.

New signings Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber have slotted in seamlessly too. After that delay for issues with the turnstiles, it was was the wait for the hosts who were brilliant in the first 45 minutes.

Absolutely sensational goal. That is sumptuous from Bukayo Saka.

The England international with an incredible hit from outside the box. Textbook Saka as he cuts in from the left and curls it into the far top corner. Wow.

Arsenal’s fans are loving this. They could score five or six today.

Eddie Nketiah puts Arsenal 1-0 up and that was coming. Pretty much constant pressure for the opening 25 minutes and the Gunners have the lead they deserve.

Excellent run and skill from Gabriel Martinelli to set up Nketiah who sends Matt Turner the wrong way via a deflection and the home fans go wild.

Chants of ‘Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!’ ring out. Once again the Arsenal academy product is taking his chance with Gabriel Jesus out injured.

Nottingham Forest have sat very deep from the start and are soaking up some heavy Arsenal pressure. It is pretty much one way traffic in north London.

The Gunners are looking bright down their right with Bukayo Saka whipping in some good crosses but at the other end Brennan Johnson did have a great chance on the break. However, the Welsh forward got his finish all wrong as he skewed it horribly wide.

Due to issues with the turnstile system and plenty of fans not being able to enter the stadium, kick off has been delayed by 30 minutes to 8am ET.

Arsenal start their three summer signings with Jurien Timber at left back, Declan Rice in midfield and Kai Havertz in attack.

Eddie Nketiah leads the line in the absence of the injured Gabriel Jesus.

Nottingham Forest start USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner (with fellow American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath on the bench), while another new signing Ola Aina also starts.

Taiwo Awoniyi is only fit enough for the bench, while summer arrival from Manchester United Anthony Elanga is on the bench.

Speaking after Arsenal’s Community Shield win at Wembley against Manchester City on penalty kicks:

“We had three big chances, and when you don’t [take your chances], they come to the other end, you make a little mistake, and they punish you big time. After that, psychologically, it was really difficult because they are so used to playing the clock down, and managing those moments.

“We discussed that we had six subs today, and they were going to have a big impact and they did – Leo scoring the goals and Fabio scoring the last penalty.

“We’ve done it [taken part in a shootout] three times in pre-season. It was part of the plan to get ready just in case we had to do it today, that it wasn’t the first time to do that, and I think that it paid off.

“The energy is great, the positivity around the place, you feel the happiness around everybody at the club. Let’s enjoy the day and then tomorrow, let’s go back to work because on Saturday, it will be a very different, but very tough match as well.”

Forest will be without several players heading into this game as Moussa Niakhate, Felipe, Wayne Hennessey and Omar Richards won’t be available with Taiwo Awoniyi a doubt.

New signing (from Arsenal) Matt Turner could start in goal as the USMNT star is ready to be the starter for Forest this season.

Mikel Arteta has one major injury issues to figure out as Gabriel Jesus has undergone surgery. The Brazilian striker has had knee surgery and is not expected back until mid-September.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is struggling with a calf issue, while Jorginho, Folarin Balogun and Reiss Nelson are not expected to feature.

We should expect all three of Rice, Timber and Havertz to make their Premier League debuts for Arsenal.