But an injury to Bukayo Saka will be a concern to England head coach Gareth Southgate after the forward was forced off in the 27th minute.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta knew victory would see his team overtake Manchester City at the top of the table and the result never looked in doubt from as early as the fifth minute when Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring.

Reiss Nelson struck two goals in three minutes at the start of the second half, while Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard completed the rout.

Arsenal responded impressively after drawing with Southampton last weekend and losing to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League on Thursday.

City's 1-0 win against Leicester on Saturday saw the reigning champion move a point clear at the top. But Arsenal's outstanding start to the campaign continued with its 10th win from 12 games.

Meanwhile, the game was a dose of reality for Forest, which had beaten Liverpool last week.

It started with Martinelli putting Arsenal ahead when stooping to head in a Saka cross.

Saka hobbled off shortly before the half-hour mark after trying to run off an earlier knock.

He was replaced by Nelson, who had a decisive impact, taking centre-stage on his first Premier League appearance since the opening-day defeat at Brentford last season.

He doubled the lead with a finish high into Dean Henderson's net in the 49th-minute after the England goalkeeper had done well to keep out Nelson's initial effort.

The points were secured just three minutes later. Nelson scored again as he turned home Gabriel Jesus' cross before laying a pass into the path of Partey, who finished superbly from outside the box to make it four in the 57th-minute.

Odegaard latched onto a Jesus pass to score the fifth after 78 minutes.

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