Arsenal returned to the top of the table with a comfortable 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates on Saturday.
It was a relatively swift outing for the Gunners, who were in control right from the start. Forest struggled to cause Arsenal too many problems in the first half, but they kept their shape and the hosts at bay for the most part.
It took a stunning Martin Zubimendi volley from outside the box to open the scoring at the Emirates. The Gunners doubled their lead 46 seconds into the second half. Eberechi Eze drilled the ball into the six-yard box, and Viktor Gyokeres was there to tap it in.
The Swede, who some fans have argued has struggled to get going at Arsenal, was delighted at getting his third goal for the club. In an exclusive interview with TNT Sports after the game, Gyokeres was asked about the team’s and his overall performance:
“We came back here and we wanted to give a better performance than we did in the last game, and I think we did that, so it was a great day.”
When probed about whether there was any better feeling than scoring at the Emirates, the former Sporting CP striker said:
“No, it’s a great feeling to score and to win as well.”
The first half also saw a big blow to Arsenal, as Martin Odegaard had to be substituted with a shoulder problem. Nonetheless, Arsenal looked sharper as the game wore on, with Forest finding it difficult to deal with Madueke and Eze on the wings.
In the 59th minute, Gyokeres came close to getting his second when rattled the crossbar with a thunderous effort from the right. Regarding settling in at the London club, the 27-year-old said:
“Yeah it feels great. The guys, the team have been amazing, it’s been really easy to get into the group. This is the time where you have to settle in with everything, and it feels good.”
While Gyokeres and Zubimendi stole the show with the goals, Madueke and Eze were largely unplayable down the wings. Gyokeres assessed how good the duo is:
“Those two are amazing, in their positions they always do something special and we could definitely see that today.”
Asked about Zubimendi’s two goals, he admitted he was a bit surprised that the Spaniard had that in his repertoire:
“I haven’t seen him do it in training to be fair so it’s great to see him pull that one out today, and then the header as well, was surprised with that also, it was great to see him score two.”
Viktor Gyokeres now has three goals in his first four matches for the club, with his first two coming in the 5-0 thrashing of Leeds in August.
