Key events
5 min: Saka’s second corner is poor and drifts towards the near post, where Scott McKenna heads clear.
4 min: In at Forest on a free after leaving Torino, Ola Aina puts the ball out of play for a corner as he prevents Saka from wriggling past him. Saka’s set-piece is headed behind at the near post by Serge Aurier. Another corner.
3 min: Willy Boly is forced to block and clear a cross from Bukayo Saka, who was trying to pick out Eddie Nketiah in the penalty area.
2 min: Thomas Partey has, as expected, lined up at right-back for Arsenal.
Arsenal v Nottingham Forest is go …
1 min: Forest get the ball rolling after the players take the knee. It’s played back to skipper Joe Worrall, who launches it upfield. Arsenal win an early free-kick down in the corner and Aaron Ramsdale hoofs the ball up the left touchline.
Saturday blackout: “It’s worse than that, Baz,” writes Norrie Hernon. “Blackout starts at 2.45pm, which means TNT Sports might have to dynamite the feed halfway through the second half.”
Not long now: The stadium is not yet full to capacity but those fans who are still stuck outside are likely to miss the opening minutes of their team’s first game of the season. Michael Oliver and his team of match officials lead the players of both sides out on to the pitch.
Those of Nottingham Forest wear white shirts with pale blue … I’m going to say “swirls”, pale blue shorts and socks. Arsenal are in their customary home kit of red shirts with white sleeves, white shorts and white socks.
Tick-tock: More seats still look unoccupied than occupied at the Emirates as the players of both teams return to their dressing-rooms. Arsenal have a big decision to make as starting the game with thousands of fans locked outaside the stadium could prompt all sorts of unsavoury scenes outside the stadium. Here’s hoping everyone gets in safely ahead of kick-off.
Soccer with Jonathan Wilson: Our resident tactics boffin and general human football encyclopedia will be writing a new weekly newsletter this season, analysing the major football stories across Europe for the benefit of – but emphatically not exclusively for – our American readers. You can sign up here …
Some activity: With tens of thousands of seats at the Emirates still unoccupied, the players are out for their second warm-up of the afternoon. Nottingham Forest’s were first out to re-limber up, while Arsenal’s have just joined them on the pitch. This is quite the farce.
This delay: A question to ponder – given the delay in this match’s kick-off time and the new directive for referees to add extra added time for goal celebrations and time-wasting, there is every possibility this game could end after 3pm … on a Saturday in the UK, when it is illegal to show live football between 3pm and 5.15pm. What happens to TNT’s maiden Premier League broadcast in that scenario? Hmmmm …
There are 35,000 fans outside the Emirates
Arsenal have introduced a new e-ticketing system for this season and it appears to be on the blink! Over 35,000 fans are still outside the ground and kick-off has been delayed by at least half an hour as Arsenal’s IT Department turn their new technology off and then on again.
Kick-off delayed until at least 1pm …
With the scheduled kick-off time just five minues away, it has been delayed by 30 minutes. At a guess, I’d say it’s due to turnstile issues as there are a lot of empty seats.
Aaron Ramsdale: With David Raya on his way from Brentford to the Emirates on loan, the Arsenal goalkeeper will be hoping for an error-free game this afternoon. Despite his often excellent performances last season, his position as Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper looks far from secure.
Nottingham Forest: Steve Cooper’s side stayed up last season despite their dismal form away from home. Forest won just once on the road last season, earning three of the eight points they took on their travels. They did, however, beat Arsenal at the City Ground in their penultimate game of the season despite having just 18% possession of the ball. Arsenal coasted to victory in the corresponding fixture at the Emirates, prevailing 5-0 in October.
Those teams: Arsenal’s three new signings all come into the side for the first game of the season, while Gabriel is something of a surprise omission. We can probably expect Thomas Partey to drop in at right-back when Arsenal are on the back foot. Eddie Nketiah comes into the front three in Arsenal’s only change from the Community Shield last Sunday.
Matt Turner starts in goal for Forest, lining up against the club he left a couple of days ago. Ola Aina also makes his debut. Brennan Johnson will play up front, with Taiwo Awoniyi on the bench, alongside Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga.
Arsenal v Nottingham Forest line-ups
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Rice, Timber, Odegaard, Partey, Saka, Nketiah, Havertz, Martinelli.
Subs: Gabriel, Smith Rowe, Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Trossard, Jorginho, Vieira, Nelson, Hein.
Nottm Forest: Turner, Boly, Worrall, McKenna, Aurier, Yates, Mangala, Aina, Danilo, Johnson, Gibbs-White.
Subs: Williams, Kouyate, Awoniyi, Wood, O’Brien, Niakhate, Elanga, Freuler, Horvath.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
Today’s match officials
Early team news
The opening weekend of the season has come too soon for Gabriel Jesus, who is recovering from knee surgery and expected to return in around a month’s time, if not sooner. Oleksandr Zinchenko is also expected to miss out, while Mohamed Elneny and Reiss Nelson are both sidelined. Albert Sambi Lokonga, Folarin Balogun and Jorginho all missed last weekend’s Community Shield but could be available for selection today.
Having missed the entirety of last season through a variety of injuries, left-back Omar Richards has yet to make his debut for Nottinham Forest but is gradually approaching full fitness. The scorer of many crucial goals which helped keep his side up, Taiwo Awoniyi is back in training after recovering from an ankle injury but won’t feature today. Brazilian central defender Felipe is also a major doubt.
Premier League: Arsenal v Nottingham Forest
Having defied the expectations of most fans and neutral observers last season, only to come up short in the title race and get accused of being “bottlers”, Arsenal kick off the new campaign against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates.
Last season’s runners-up have had a busy pre-season, snapping up Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice in what seem like excellent bits of business and all three players are likely to feature today.
Following last season’s summer trolley dash, Forest have had a comparatively quiet off-season, but have brought in Anthony Elanga, Ola Aina and Matt Turner. Following his loan spell from Newcastle last season, Chris Wood has also put pen to paper on a permanent deal. Signed from Arsenal two days ago, Turner could make his debut against his former club. Kick-off at the Emirates is at 12.30pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
