Saka on target as Arsenal return to winning ways

LONDON :Arsenal returned to winning ways in the Premier League with Bukayo Saka and captain Martin Odegaard inspiring a comfortable 3-0 home victory against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s side desperately needed three points to revive their title hopes after four league games without a win and the result never looked in doubt after Saka’s early opener.
England forward Saka combined with the influential Odegaard to finish in style after 15 minutes and the hosts should have been further ahead before halftime with Forest keeper Matz Sels making several fine saves to keep his side in it.
Forest began the game level on points with Arsenal but their hopes vanished when halftime substitute Thomas Partey doubled Arsenal’s lead with a curled finish in the 52nd minute and teenaged substitute Ethan Nwaneri added a late third.
Victory kept Arsenal in fourth place with 22 points from 12 games, six points behind leaders Liverpool who face bottom club Southampton on Sunday. Forest slipped to sixth.
Arteta was celebrating his 250th game in charge and the sight of Odegaard and Saka back up to speed was the perfect tonic after a disappointing run of form.
“I think that’s chemistry. You meet somebody and you make eye contact and something flows. It happens on the field and off the field. In football it’s very hard to say,” Arteta said of the duo who proved too much for Forest to handle.
“I sensed a different energy 48 hours before the game. There was something different. What happened was we could train with 19 players instead of 12 or 13 for the first time in weeks.”
Odegaard returned from a lengthy lay-off with an ankle injury in the draw at Chelsea before the international break and looked sharp as he pulled the strings for Arsenal.
Saka also looked revived after missing the latest England camp because of injury, combining to great effect with Odegaard before both were substituted late on with Arteta switching his attention to Tuesday’s Champions League clash away to Sporting.
Forest have been the surprise package this season and occasionally looked a threat on the counter-attack but it was largely one-way traffic in the north London rain.
“We have to improve because we did a lot of bad things – especially with the defending. Losing is always very painful. We came up short,” Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo said.
Arsenal had an early goal by Jurrien Timber ruled out for offside after a tediously-long VAR check but they were soon in front when Odegaard threaded a pass to Saka who skipped past three Forest players before firing a superb shot past Sels.
Sels saved well to deny Leandro Trossard and Saka as Arsenal failed to add to their advantage before the break.
Midfielder Partey, on for Jorginho, was given too much space to bend a superb effort past Sels and 17-year-old Nwaneri put the icing on the cake with his first Premier League goal, a clinical low finish inside the post in the 86th minute.
“That’s a story in itself. He’s brave. You see the reaction of fans and they were singing ‘he’s one of our own'” Arteta said of Nwaneri, the second-youngest player to score a Premier League goal for the club after Cesc Fabregas.