Gunners blast three past Postecoglou's Forest

LONDON — Arsenal ensured former Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou endured a miserable return to English soccer with a 3-0 victory over his new club Nottingham Forest on Saturday, while a late Brentford goal denied Chelsea top spot in the table.

Newcastle United's new signing Nick Woltemade enjoyed a dream debut, scoring in the Magpies' first victory of the season, a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Bournemouth continued its strong start with a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion and Postecoglou's former club, Spurs, cruised to a 3-0 win over West Ham United.

Fulham recorded its first win of the season by beating Leeds United 1-0 thanks to a late own goal, while Crystal Palace was held to a 0-0 draw by Sunderland and neither Everton nor Aston Villa could find the back of the net, playing out a scoreless draw.

For the first time in its history, Villa has failed to score in its opening four league games of a season.

Arsenal, however, dominated at the Emirates, as Martin Zubimendi's double and Viktor Gyokeres' tap-in gave Mikel Arteta's men a comfortable home victory, condemning Postecoglou to defeat in his first game as Forest boss.

Spain midfielder Zubimendi struck a stunning volley in the 32nd minute, and then Arsenal doubled its lead within a minute of the restart when Eberechi Eze, making his Gunners debut, laid it on a plate for Gyokeres to score his third of the season.

The game was petering out when Zubimendi put it to bed in the 79th minute with a simple header from Leandro Trossard's cross.

"(Zubimendi) has given us a lot of positive things: his presence, his authority on the pitch, the way he connects with the players and that composure that he has," Arteta said. "If he starts to add assists and goals like this, then it's another dimension of a player."

Arsenal's victory provisionally moved it to the top of the table ahead of title holder Liverpool which was set to face Burnley on Sunday.

Chelsea looked poised to leapfrog Arsenal to the top of the table after Cole Palmer scored an equalizer in his return from a groin injury, canceling out Kevin Schade's first-half goal, and Moises Caicedo celebrated what he thought was the winner in the 85th minute.

But, Fabio Carvalho poked home a late equalizer from six yards out in the 93rd minute after Schade's long throw-in.

"Delighted with the approach of the group, the character we constantly show," Brentford boss Keith Andrews told the BBC.

"The equalizer came very late, but it's what I felt we deserved from the game in terms of the application and the quality the players showed for large parts."

Newcastle's new club record signing Woltemade stole the show in Tyneside in its first game since the departure of former hero Alexander Isak to Liverpool, scoring in the 29th minute when he arrived at the back post to send a header past Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone.

"The fact we haven't won a game puts more pressure on you in the latter stages," Newcastle boss Eddie Howe told the BBC. "The win was all that mattered, but we'd love to win in a better style and score more goals.

"It was great to see Nick score on his debut. Very strong, I was very pleased with him."

Tottenham left West Ham languishing in the bottom three, with the Hammers suffering another blow, as midfielder Tomas Soucek was sent off for a dangerous tackle.

Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall and Micky van de Ven all scored second-half goals in Spurs' first game since executive chairman Daniel Levy's exit from Tottenham.

"So happy that the goal came in the second half, because you never know, the momentum can change after halftime, but we kept going and scored a good goal after, and then 3-0, done," Spurs boss Thomas Frank said.

"So a very good clear win, a good performance, and I think we all know the derby and the importance of the game for the fans."

At Bournemouth, Alex Scott opened the scoring with a brilliant strike from outside the box in the 18th minute.

Brighton drew level in the 48th on a goal from Kaoru Mitoma, but Antoine Semenyo sealed the victory for Bournemouth, making it a third win on the bounce, with a penalty in the 61st for a foul on Evanilson.

"The mood in the camp is perfect. We can't ask for any more, we just have to keep going," Semenyo told the BBC.

Fulham appeared headed for another draw when Gabriel Gudmundsson scored a horror own goal from a corner kick in the 94th minute, stooping to head the ball in with great force.

"An own goal in the last minute of the game, so we have to feel a bit fortunate," Fulham boss Marco Silva said. "It was important for us to keep a clean sheet, because we need to create this habit, and it allowed us to go on and try to win the game."

AFP