via @Arsenal Instagram

Unai Emery needed a performance, he wasn’t going to care where it came from, even if it was against a team in the Championship.

Boy did he land one… for the first time this season, everything went right and he left the fans electrified about the possibilities.

We saw some new players, namely Keiran Tierney and Gabriel Martinelli.

We saw some, ‘like a new signing’ players, step forward Hector Bellerin.

We saw some form return. Hello Ozil and Reiss.

We saw some sustained performances. Saka, Chambers and Willock.

We destroyed Nottingham Forest, even if it did take a while to make things happen.

Some points I’d like to make.

Saka:

Love the kid. What a player. He is so adept at making space. He’s aggressive, hungry to move the ball forward and he has no fear when it comes to that final decision. What a great player we have on our hands. Read that he’s a straight A’s student as well. I like that, good at sport and elite in the classroom.

Mesut Ozil:

The player that has offered us next to nothing for the last 3 years shows up against a Championship side and people are levelling criticism at the manager. Please. That’s too much. Sure, Emery isn’t an elite manager of egos, but Ozil has been dropping tame performances for us for years (Germany / and for Wenger). One good game against Leicester or Forest doesn’t change the equation for Emery… you cannot rely on him. He’s not built for the modern world. He’s antiquated. He’s an expensive quarterback in a world that needs more rounded creators. He gives us something special that we lack, but not often enough. Move on.

Martinelli:

What a fun player. He’s everything you want in a Brazilian. Audacious, arrogant, fearless and deadly. His first goal was a work of art. I think it was a floated ball from Reiss to the right, BIG CAL volleyed the ball across goal where the Brazilian wunderkind put his head on it like peak Kevin Davies. What a goal. The late strike where he smashed it into the top corner was super special as well. He’s a livewire, could he be the most exciting youth striker since Anelka? Maybe…

Tierney:

Calls for him to start against United are early, but all the signs are that he’s going to be a beast of a player for us. He’s extremely fast, he has great delivery and I think he has something very special about him. Fans are going to worship him, I just hope Emery resists the urge to blood him too early.

Chambers and Holding:

Chambers delivery and general production in the last two games have been great. I’m not sure about him as a right-back, but he does have some silk under pressure. Seems like a top guy, too handsome to play next to Sokratis, but would definitely like to see more of him if he can cut out the errors. Also great to see Rob Holding back and on the score sheet, another young player that is a leader, another player we’ve greatly missed.

Key takeaway for the squad:

Whatever my thoughts on the manager, I think we can all agree that the squad is much more exciting this season. I love all the new additions and I think the kids are fantastic. We have to support them, they’ll all have ups and downs, but at least there’s hope this year. This feels special. It’s great to feel excited about the majority of the players who might start. Big round of applause to Freddie and Per on the youth, big hat tip to Raul and Edu for the signings, big round of applause for Emery playing them.

Key takeaway for Emery:

It’s looking very good for Emery now. He has a pretty straightforward run until mid-December. We should rack up more than enough points to be sitting comfortably in the top 4 by then. We’ll be top in Europe. I think we could see a similar run to the one we had last year if we can take down United on Monday.

Over the Unai.

See you in the comments. x