LONDON: Last season’s Premier League runners-up Arsenal began their season with a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest, who set up a tense finish despite stunning goals from Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka.

The Gunners fans were made to wait to see their team get in the groove – with kick-off at the Emirates Stadium delayed by half an hour due to turnstile issues – but a couple of slick strikes put them in control by half-time.

Gabriel Martinelli’s stunning turn and flick allowed Nketiah to put a deflected effort past Matt Turner – making his Forest debut after joining from Arsenal in midweek – mid-way through the first half, before Saka’s stunning effort into the top corner doubled the lead six minutes later.

Arsenal were cruising towards victory, with new £105m midfielder Declan Rice hitting the post and Forest providing little at the top end of the pitch. But Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal back with seven minutes left caused a nervy end to matters at the Emirates.

Morgan Gibbs-White then curled what would have been an instant leveller over the bar but Arsenal held on for an opening weekend win.

Newcastle fans were encouraged to dream by manager Eddie Howe after their 5-1 thrashing of Aston Villa.

Debutants Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes both scored, while Alexander Isak reminded everybody of his quality with two classy finishes.

Howe said: “We scored five – we could have scored more. Everything clicked for us. It was a tight game decided by our ruthlessness in front of goal. Villa were also in the game, so we’re very pleased. We had to be at our best.

“We knew we had a difficult start [with the fixture list], so you look at this game as a massive moment in our season.

“Now we have to go to Manchester City, which is the hardest place to go. We’ve got to embrace the challenge and then of course Liverpool, but we will focus on City first.”

Villa went into the game on a high having earned more points than any Premier League side other than Manchester City in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign and followed that form up with significant investment in their squad this summer.

France winger Moussa Diaby impressed and scored a debut goal of his own after his £51m move from Bayer Leverkusen, while £31m defender Pau Torres showed some impressive ability on the ball when he replaced the injured Tyrone Mings during the first half.

But the day belonged to Newcastle, whose new signings appear to have settled in quickly to life on Tyneside.

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