47 min Arsenal move down the left but are forced backwards and Forest counter, Delap doing well to slow down Konsa before accelerating again and crossing low, Williams just unable to get on the end of it.

Half-time email: “Arteta’s risk aversion has served him and Arsenal well,” reckons Kári Tulinius. “If Pep Guardiola hadn’t been playing with house money, he’d have a lot more silverware on his mantelpiece. But it can sometimes be counterproductive. For example, in terms of each individual match, the sensible thing to do is to start Declan Rice, because he’s the best Arsenal have got at dead ball deliveries. However, he seems to be permanently a tick below full fitness these days, which makes him less effective in open play. By contrast, Luis Enrique, Jürgen Klopp and Zinedine Zidane both have a high tolerance for risk.”

Yes, I agree – Arteta has been given the funds to build near-enough two teams, so the profiles he has are his choice. And that’s part of today’s problem, but I also think the players need to take responsibility and move the ball quicker, with more risk in their passing. We’ve not seen much of the full-backs in attack, either; can they get forward to create 2v1s?

38 min On Havertz, he’s more a big-game striker, I think, good at moving defenders about and a reliable finisher when the pressure is on, than he is a regular centre-forward. His goal record just isn’t good enough and he doesn’t have the pace to threaten the last line; I actually wonder if he might work as an attacking midfielder, because hie has the feet to conjure – when he broke through at Leverkusen, he was more magic man than target man.

15 min “Last week Forest controlled possession against Palace but messed up so many of their chances in losing at Selhurst Park,” says Eric Peterson. “I actually like Forest’s chances today as much as I did last week. It’s more in their DNA to make the opponent drown in their possession and catch them out on their break, no matter who the manager is. And with Arsenal’s occasional tendency to possess without thinking ahead on how to use it, that could play into Forest’s hands. Unless Arsenal take the lead, in which case please disregard all this.”

Without Gibbs-White, though, that tactic loses a lot of what makes it work: an individual able to make the difference, while also contributing physically. For now, though, they’re defending well.

5 min As Arsène Wenger liked to say, an “internal solution”. Meantime, Arsenal probe for gaps the, when Forest clear, Delap puts Konsa under pressure; can you guess what happens next? Yup, he barges through him as cute as Coldplay, and allows the defender to escape a potentially tricky situation with a free-kick.

3 min “You mentioned that the Arsenal’s midfield and attack aren’t strong enough,” says Bill Hargreaves. “Any particular areas or ideas for upgrade?”

The midfield is strong enough and, with Odegaard playing well, it probably has just enough guile – even if it lacks goals. Up front, they tried for Vincius, who stopped where he was, opting not to risk on a player they weren’t certain was better than what they have. At some point soon, Dowman will too good to leave out…

1 min Forest will, of course, miss Gibbs-White, who, though he’s scored only once this term, is the player who elevates them. Meantime, Odegaard sends Havertz away down the right, but his cross is overhit.

Artetz says your capacity to react to going behind, as Arsenal have in their last three league games, is part of the game. He knows Glasner is an extraordinary manager who’ll have Forest organised, so “you have to insist and insist” – that’s a lovely phrase.

Glasner says Arsenal good at managing space and being patient, waiting for chances. They defend well as a team, but he thinks his team can create two or three chances and see what happens.

Email! “I don’t want much from this Arsenal team,” writes Charles Antaki. “All I ask is they score a couple of goals early, dominate the other team into hopeless submission, then entertain us all with a fine sporting display of skill, inventiveness, charisma and more goals. I’ve been watching their games for years, and have ground my teeth through long anxious matches enough times to qualify for a bit of credit in the bank. Winning the league last year was all very well, but I want to sit back and wallow in pure unadulterated enjoyment. Isn’t it about time they did the decent thing?”

They’re trying, but they don’t yet have the class in midfield and attack to take teams apart in that way – especially given that, though the standard at the top of the Prem is relatively low, from immediately below that and all the way to the bottom, it’s never been higher.

Forest will want – and probably need – to make this game a mess. If it’s open and played through midfield, Arsenal will open them up because, with the guile they’ve added by buying Guimaraes, along with an in-form Odegaard, they have the ability to exploit space. For that reason, Forest need bodies everywhere, especially in the middle of the pitch, forcing them wide, where Saka might just’ve lost the spring in his acceleration following last season’s achilles injury while, on the other side, Eze isn’t going to go on the outside.

Arsenal, meanwhile, make six changes to the side that handled Lille in midweek, Arteta reaping the benefits of having a full squad built to his specifications.

At the back, Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori replace Jurrien Timber and Myles Lewis-Skelly; in midfield, it’s Burno Guimaraes, not Mikel Merino; and in front of him, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz replace Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyökeres.

Nottingham Forest (3-4-2-1): Sels ;Jair Cunha, Diomande, Murillo; Muñoz, Schlager, Domínguez, Williams; McAtee, Ndoye; Delap. Subs: John Victor, Sangaré, Hudson-Odoi, Wood, Kalimuendo, Yates, Netz, Milenkovic, Aina.

Arsenal (4-3-3-): Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori; Guimarães, Rice, Ødegaard; Saka, Eze, Havertz. Subs: Meslier, Mosquera, Timber, Gyökeres, Madueke, Merino, Zubimendi, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Ashington)

Arsenal spent the summer trying to by forwards and rightly so: they lack elite attacking quality, and well though they’ve done over the last few seasons, it has unarguably cost them.

The best summer acquisition though, was not a player, but the Premier League trophy or, more pertinently, the status of champions, also known as freedom. It meant they didn’t need to fritter money on someone they knew at the time wasn’t of the standard they were seeking in the hope they might contribute a key moment or two which pushed them over the edge. Instead, they could attack the season with confidence and without the desperate pressure of flailing failure, developing a style that could made the eyes bleed into a knowing, aggressive flow.

Of course they’re still a magician and matchwinner short but, in the meantime, they’re still much better than they were. These days, a tousing at Brighton can happen to anyone, so what’s of greater significance is the response: a comeback win against a confident and physical Leeds, then a Champions League win with a rotated team. Or put another way, Mikel Smugteta is an even better manager than Mikel Angsteta, and just as freakishly intense.

Forest, meantime, have made a confusing start to the season, decent performances at Liverpool and Villa undermined by home defeats to Leeds and Coventry, the latter then followed last week by a gubbing at Palace. They are surely far too good to become embroiled in a relegation struggle, but the possibility will linger as long as the identity of those who are not remains unclear, while only Spurs have mustered fewer than their five league goals.

All of which makes for some pure, uncut and concentrated “this league” action; let’s get involved.

Kick-off: 4.30pm