Premier League: Arsenal back on top of table after thrashing Nottingham Forest; Saka injury worry for England

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Bengaluru, October 30: Arsenal, who were briefly usuroed by Manchester City are bak on the top of Premier League after Reiss Nelson scored two and assisted another in a 5-0 rout of Nottingham Forest on Sunday (October 30).

Earlier on Saturday (October 29), Kevin De Bruyne's stunning free-kick had sent Manchester City briefly to the top after a 1-0 win over Leicester City.

However Mikel Arteta's side restored the sanity with a clinicial performance at the Emirates Stadium to regain their two-point lead over City, the only blot being Bukayo Saka's injury after he had assisted Gabriel Martinelli's first-half opener.

Saka's replacement Nelson added a quickfire second-half brace before teeing up Thomas Partey for the fourth, with Martin Odegaard capping victory with a powerful finish after 78 minutes.

Victory saw Arsenal emphatically respond to a 1-1 draw at Southampton and Europa League defeat to PSV, while Steve Cooper's side remain bottom with two league games left before November's World Cup break.

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Martinelli headed Arsenal into a fifth-minute lead after finding the bottom-right corner following Saka's curling cross, before Gabriel Jesus whipped narrowly wide three minutes later.

Renan Lodi cleared a Martinelli effort off the line as Arsenal dominated the first half that was somewhat marred by Saka's removal following what seemed to be an ankle injury.

The England international appeared in some discomfort in the 15th minute, though, requiring medical treatment after what seemed to be a left-ankle injury following a challenge from Lodi, which will add to England's fitness concerns ahead of Qatar 2022 World Cup.

England will be hopeful the injury to Saka proves not to be too serious, with their World Cup opener against Iran set for November 21.

With Reece James, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips all battling injuries, Gareth Southgate will hope Saka has just suffered a knock and not a serious setback.

Only Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney reached 20 Premier League assists when younger than Saka, aged 21 years and 55 days, but England may be concerned over the winger's fitness ahead of the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Nelson powered home on the rebound four minutes into the second half following a Dean Henderson save and doubled his personal account after turning Jesus' low near-post cross into the bottom-left corner.

Partey added a fourth with a delightful curler into the top-right corner from Nelson's offload to the edge of the area, before Jesus teed up Odegaard to smash past Henderson and seal a dominant win.

Arsenal failed to replicate a dominant first half at Southampton, squandering a one-goal lead after an underwhelming second-half showing that was somewhat a throwback to the Gunners' struggles in recent years.

But Arteta's side avoided following suit in their next league outing, picking up their eighth straight win against newly promoted sides - their longest such run in the competition since an eight-game streak between January 2013 and April 2014.

Arsenal host Zurich in the Europa League on Thursday before the crunch London derby with Chelsea, while Forest are at home to Brentford on Saturday.

While tougher tasks will follow, with a trip to Chelsea next Sunday, Arsenal continue to keep pace with City.

(With inputs from Agencies)