Forest - on the bus. Bukayo, we recognised you!

A beautiful Saturday morning in London, with early refreshing rain giving way to a brilliant blue sky and shining sun, set the perfect stage for an early kick-off.

Arsenal fans, a vibrant sea of red and white, converged on Islington from all directions, many of them fuelled by their classical beer-heavy weekend breakfasts.

About 30% of the worn jerseys were already having "Eze" on their backs, the Emirates pitch in an immaculate condition and Big Ange was giving an interview to Crouch one hour before the game. Apparently, his tactical instructions for the team on the day required no more than five minutes! Our old friend from the "Toilet Bowl" looked like he already had a bag of excuses ready for whatever the match might throw at them.

Intriguingly, the Arsenal goalkeepers emerged for their warm-up a full fifteen minutes before the rest of the squad. The most impressive part of an otherwise standard routine was witnessing Mr. Raya deliver sixty-metre goal kicks with three distinct trajectories, each landing precisely in Kepa's chest. The kind of kick that usually just goes "in the zone" was elevated to a completely new level by the magic Spaniard. Another moment of pure footballing aesthetics came from observing young Max Dowman practicing diagonals with his mentor Declan. Rice, with pinpoint precision, delivered forty-metre passes from both feet, giving a clear answer what makes our corner routines so successful.

Around twenty minutes later, our attacking line-up for the day, featuring the electrifying Eberechi Eze, began their shooting practice. Essentially, they were working on entering passes into an undefended box followed by a shot. The finishing from most of our players, however, was frankly disastrous – shots either blocked by the goalkeeper (Kepa or the third-choice stopper) or sailing directly into the stands. The only player who consistently found the corner with no chance for the keeper was our new number 10. The quality of his strikes was simply unmatched in the entire squad. The only teammate who came close was our captain himself, who curled a beauty into the top corner from outside the box. Little did I know then that our main goalscorer of the day had almost entirely skipped the shooting practice!

Big Ange, on the other side of the pitch, was seemingly preparing a rugby team. Chris Wood, two of Nuno's centre-backs, tall number 6, and the powerful left-back I didn’t see before looked like they were either gearing up to throw a bunch of louts out of the night club. Murillo, in particular, looked almost as wide as he was tall, the human embodiment of a ripped SpongeBob, if you will.

Saka’s literal back-up

And that rugby setup has well and truly backfired! Noni Madueke was waltzing into the Forest box like it was his own bedroom, and their number 4 had absolutely no clue how to stop him. Our right-winger was basically the main man for Arsenal's threat in that whole first half, and it was such a refreshing watch… wait a minute!

Noni’s dribbles were excellent and he provided a couple of very decent crosses in the six-yard box. I was telling my mate that a common Arsenal’s problem is that they usually try to find that final, guaranteed touch a bit too close to the keeper. Teams like Forest then just pile eight players in to physically block the ball’s trajectory. What we need is Madueke to start finding teammates closer to the edge of the box, where there's usually a couple of free Arsenal players ready to shoot.

Lo and behold, in the very next attack, Zubimendi bagged his debut goal for Arsenal from that exact area! His brilliant shot didn't need to fly into the top corner; it just needed to be on target and powerful enough so that any touch from a forest of defenders would make it impossible for the keeper to save. That's exactly how Fabian Ruiz scored against us in the Champions League semi-final last season, and we need to be doing more of that to open deep blocks.

The disappointing part of the first half, though, was that a whopping 80% of our attacks came down the right side. Not through the middle, where Nwaneri a couple of times opted out of a central pass to find Madueke. And certainly not through the left, despite having Calafiori and Eze over there – a pair of talents with the ability to conjure up a bit of magic and cause absolute chaos. And they didn't take long to demonstrate it in full glory, taking just 40 seconds after the break.

Ricky threaded a stunning 50-metre pass behind the defender's back to find Eze. And Eze, once and for all, answered the question of whether he can play on the left wing. A timely sprint with a one-touch pass to the ripped Swede made it 2-0. Pure beauty, pure class, pure directness – that's exactly the sort of prescription we had from last season.

Gyokeres actually had a pretty decent game. I don’t expect him to pull goals out of thin air like Henry or Aguero, but he was active, pressed a lot, linked the play a couple of times, was there to finish Eze’s cross, and almost bent the near post. A good Saturday for him, and a smart move from Arteta to try out the alternative option right after the goal.

Not long after, Trossard and Martinelli were given their instructions by Arteta on how to spend the remaining 20 minutes on the pitch. On the one hand, it meant the crowd wouldn’t see Max Dowman again. On the other, someone like Martinelli needs these minutes much more than his teenage teammate. Leo Trossard, despite delivering a brilliant assist onto Zubimendi’s head, demonstrated exactly why Eze was brought to the club. With a unique opportunity to run into the box without much supervision, he stalled with his decision and was eventually caught up by the Forest defence. That kind of indecision has already secured a warm bench spot for Martinelli (who, incidentally, demonstrated flawless ball control technique in the warm-up, but couldn’t replicate any of it in the game) and could well secure one for Trossard too.

What I absolutely love about most of our new signings is that fresh bravery and belief they have in themselves. Zubimendi had no hesitation taking the shot and scoring his first ever career goal from outside the box in the top flight. He didn't think twice about jumping for a header against a massive Forest defence and was duly rewarded for that.

Mosquera put in another massive display at centre-back. He won several duels against Chris Wood using his body, but even when the New Zealand striker got to the ball first, Mosquera made sure he’d use his speed and agility to nick the ball away on the ground. For now, he looks like an absolute steal at 15 million pounds.

I’m already champing at the bit to see what Hincapie has to show us, but unfortunately, we might wait a bit for his debut given the upcoming run of games.

Matured Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta made a couple of very important decisions in this game, showcasing a maturity we perhaps didn't see last season::

1. He didn’t force Saliba on the pitch early and fully trusted Mosquera to do the job.

2. He benched “unbenchable” Rice, opting for Merino after his stellar international break.

3. He had the good sense to sub off Gyokeres early, ensuring our main man up front wasn't overplayed

4. He probably recognized that our senior left wingers are in bigger need of gaming time to get their confidence back than Max Dowman.

And most importantly he subbed in Nwaneri for the injured captain in the first half when it was still 0-0 on the screen. Demonstrated trust and promises to the young player that he will be developed in this position is priceless not only for Ethan, but for Dowman watching on from the sidelines as well. Arteta could have easily shuffled Eze to number 10 and brought on Trossard, but he backed Nwaneri and it all worked out.

The interesting detail I noticed is that our second choice striker was Merino and not Martinelli as many have anticipated when he was not sold in August. To be fair, I think that Merino is better suited for the false 9 role than for the left eight. He's a bit too slow for a Premier League midfielder and lacks the ability to seamlessly turn with the ball and drive an attack forward. I know he shone for Spain, but let's be honest, it was Bulgaria and Turkey. With all due respect, club football is far more organised than the international game, and most Premier League teams boast better individual talent than those two nations.

I totally get Arteta's sentiment after Merino bagged four goals, but I'm not convinced we're fluid enough with him in midfield.

When can we finally bet our flats??

It was a perfect win on a perfect day, but let's not get too carried away. Unfortunately, it's highly unlikely that Ange's Forest will nick any points off our title rivals. His brand of football will become more open and vulnerable against the top teams stacked with individual talent.

The mid-block we faced definitely wasn't the deepest or toughest in the league. The real test comes in two weeks at St. James' Park. Without Isak and Gordon, their firepower is severely reduced, so we should be set on keeping a clean sheet. The final challenge will be navigating Newcastle's midfield minefield and slotting one or two past Pope. If we can do that, we can probably do anything!

Liverpool got away with yet another three points. That's the third time in four starting gameweeks, and it simply can't be sustainable. If they keep bailing themselves out and collecting points like this, I'll seriously start questioning football karma, but deep down, I don't think they will.

Our next stop is Athletic Bilbao and the disposition is simple. We need to win while having a sensible rotation. Nwaneri, Mosquera, White and Lewis-Skelly should all get starts. Dowman should play a big role on the right wing, maybe even from the first minute. And probably either a Trossard or Martinelli to keep Eze fresh for the week-end.

European clubs don’t have experience facing us, so let's kick off our Champions League campaign with a bang!