Arteta's more flexible Arsenal far from finished article
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If there was one lesson to take from Mikel Arteta's summer transfers and tactical tweaks as Arsenal edged past Nottingham Forest on Saturday it is that the final push to surpass Manchester City will be the hardest.
Arsenal spent over £200million to bring in Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice and add quality and depth to a squad that came within five points of winning the Premier League last season.
The fact Arteta's side had set the pace for much of the campaign before tailing off so spectacularly towards its conclusion hinted that his pool of trustworthy talent was too shallow.
A former student of Pep Guardiola at City, Arteta has some residual shared opinions with his compatriot on how football should be played – that much was again made clear when he surprisingly axed Gabriel Magalhaes from a Premier League starting line-up for the first time in two years to relocate Thomas Partey to a defacto right-back role.
“Obviously everyone has the versatility. We have to work for the team and it’s a good thing to have so many options,” defender Takehiro Tomiyasu explained after the 2-1 victory – adding: “I think the message from Mikel is just that everyone has to be ready to play. That’s it.”
That change, as well as playing Timber at left-back and deploying Rice at the base of a midfield three behind Havertz and captain Martin Odegaard, could – and probably should – have sparked an exciting early afternoon of football at the Emirates Stadium.
Instead, after a 30-minute delay due to an issue with the turnstiles, Arsenal struggled to get going and only occasionally showed glimpses of what it is Arteta wants to achieve this season.
One such moment saw Gabriel Martinelli superbly pirouette between two defenders to tee up Eddie Nketiah for a deflected opener – another, six minutes later, as William Saliba won the ball back on the edge of the Forest box and set Bukayo Saka drifting infield to curl home a fine finish.
Barring a couple of decent long-range efforts from Rice, that was as good as it got for the hosts – who also lost Timber to an injury just five minutes into the second half.
Arsenal had thrashed Forest 5-0 at home last season before defeat at the City Ground in May ended their title hopes and this result was probably nestled somewhere in between those outcomes.
Arteta, though, acknowledged his concern at the way Arsenal's performance had dropped off after going two goals ahead and that will be punished if repeated against teams with loftier ambitions than Saturday's opponents.
Forest boss Steve Cooper is keen to add fresh faces to his squad before the transfer window closes with the club having placed quality over quantity in the market this time around.
One new addition was goalkeeper Matt Turner, the United States international making his debut against Arsenal – the club from which he joined Forest earlier last week.
The 29-year-old took the decision to quit north London having failed to oust Aaron Ramsdale as first-choice between the post.
“It was always a good stepping stone for my career to be at Arsenal, it helped me to become the number one for my national team and play in the World Cup,” he said.
“That was always the goal and now I find myself playing in the Premier League for another club. You always have to get over here and get a foot in the door and today felt really good.
Brentford's David Raya will join Arsenal on loan in the coming days to provide the competition this season – but Turner has warned his replacement that Ramsdale will be well up for the fight.
“I think it’s a good signing. He’s a goalkeeper with a lot of experience and I’m sure it will make the competition really good at training every single day.
“There’s no doubt that I pushed him every single day. He became a really solid goalkeeper last year.
“I know I pushed him every day in training and I can hold that close to my heart. I’m happy to see him doing well and I'm hoping that he can stay between the sticks.
“(Raya) just needs to work hard because it’s not going to be easy no matter how well you train. Make the most of your opportunities I guess, but Aaron’s a really great goalkeeper.”
Ramsdale 6; Partey 7, White 6, Saliba 7, Timber 6 (Tomiyasu, 50, 6); Rice 7, Odegaard 7; Havertz 6; Saka 8, Martinelli 8 (Magalhaes, 86, 6); Nketiah 7 (Trossard, 73, 6).
Turner 6; Boly 6, Worrall 5 (Wood, 90, 5), McKenna 6; Aurier 5, Yates 6, Mangala 5 (Kouyate, 5), Aina 6 (N.Williams, 72, 6); Danilo 5 (T.Awoniyi, 71, 7) Gibbs-White 6, Johnson 5 (Elanga, 80, 7).