Arsenal strike late at Forest…and are Brighton in the title race?

James Richardson (0:05)

It's The Totally Football Show. Today, Arsenal with the worst performance by Gunners at a forest since Dick Cheney went hunting. But the champions get the win eventually. Elsewhere, Seagulls without eagles as they blow away eagles, their City looking charged up with their seventh straight win, Villa's Man's zambi apocalypse and even the cottagers with a win. Lots to discuss in this Totally Football Show.

Yes, indeed. It's Sunday, the 18th of October. And joining us on board today's show, we've got Tim Spears, who's freshly walked into the studio.

Tim Spiers (0:47)

Here we go, warmed up, ready to go.

James Richardson (0:48)

Nice one. Well, you're all full of life and fun because you watch Brighton this afternoon.

Tim Spiers (0:54)

Great game. Great game. I was hoping to see potential title contenders.

James Richardson (0:59)

Yeah, well.

Tim Spiers (1:00)

And I might have done, you know.

James Richardson (1:01)

What do you think?

Tim Spiers (1:02)

Well, you know, most goals scored.

James Richardson (1:04)

Palace? Brighton.

Tim Spiers (1:06)

Next season's championship. And then, yeah, Brighton. Yeah, very good.

James Richardson (1:11)

All right, we'll talk more about Brighton. JJ Bull.

JJ Bull (1:14)

Hello.

James Richardson (1:15)

You didn't watch Brighton.

JJ Bull (1:17)

No, I did not. I instead watched a great game between Leeds and Man City United.

James Richardson (1:22)

Yeah. And then you followed that up with the ever so exciting Nottingham Forest Arsenal, which Daniel Storey joins us. He's back at his, having recently returned from the City Ground. Let's see if we can actually hear Daniel. Hello, Daniel.

Daniel Storey (1:35)

Hello, James.

James Richardson (1:38)

All right. That's often a bone of contention for folks who follow us live on our Sunday night YouTube performances, but I hope you're getting Daniel Storey louder, clear, because you won't want to miss a single word of his Premier League analysis. You didn't get to see Brighton either, did you, Daniel?

Daniel Storey (1:56)

No, I did the double of Leeds versus Man United and Nottingham Forest Arsenal. The latter game was worse, but only because the two teams hated each other in the first game and treated each other with respect in the second. But yeah, not a great Super Sunday, I would say, but I'm not the story.

James Richardson (2:15)

I hear you. You actually called Forest Arsenal the worst game of the season perhaps. We'll discuss that in a second or two, but allow me to just have a quick romp through the results so far. It started on Saturday.

No early goals this time for Chelsea, but they did manage to end Everton's unbeaten start winning 2-0 at the Hill Dickinson. Amy Martinez though picking up a fractured jaw, he'll be out for a while. Elsewhere on Saturday, Liverpool were 2-1 winners at the G-Tech, bringing Brentford's unbeaten start also to an end. There was a first victory for Fulham 1-0 vs Hull. They now have 1-5.

Not only are convicted fraudsters Man City still playing, but they now won all of Maresca's first 7 games in charge. We'll certainly be celebrating that record for ages. Aston Villa continued their excellent recent form with a 1-0 win at Newcastle. On Sunday Bournemouth got their first league win under Marco Rosa, beating Sunderland 2-0. Brighton beat Palace 5-0 to go 2nd briefly.

It was 1-1 between Leeds and Man United. And Arsenal stayed 2nd but top for some people depending on how you feel about life with a 1-0 win. A late goal from Madueke to take them 3 points from the City Ground. On Monday the still winless Spurs take on a conference side who have had back-to-back victories. Follow that with interest. We begin though with Forest Arsenal.

SPEAKER_5 (3:39)

This is The Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

James Richardson (3:44)

Excellent, Forest Arsenal. So, Daniel, Arsenal are scoring with their first shot on target in the 80th minute.

What was the problem before that then? Was it superior Forest defending?

Daniel Storey (3:57)

Forest were far better at the back than they were at South West Park the week before, for sure.

But it was really a result of Arsenal's slow play. They scored three first half goals in the league this season, and two of those were on the opening night against Coventry when they looked electric, moving the ball around really fast, and they basically just stopped doing that since, which is kind of hard to explain, not least because Morgan Gives Wright was missing for Forest and therefore there was far less of a counterattacking threat for them to be worried about. I was just really disappointed with them. Ebebore Cieze was brought off at half time, he was dismal, he just didn't even try and take on a man. Pekai Asaka was fought pretty well by Nico Williams, given he was on a yellow card for 80-odd minutes, and they're finding a way to win, which we keep saying is, we've always had to ask what kind of mark of champions, et cetera and so on, but they are already champions, so we thought that might be liberating in a way, and they're playing more tight than they were last season.