Ange Postecoglou is set to join Nottingham Forest as their new head coach after Nuno Espirito Santo’s departure, and his first game in charge will be against Arsenal.
David Ornstein reports for The Athletic that former Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou is set to be appointed by Nottingham Forest as their new head coach, and Postecoglou will be in the dugout for Forest’s trip to Arsenal in the Premier League this weekend.
Several of Postecoglou’s former Spurs coaching staff will reportedly join him at Forest, taking on their first jobs since leaving Arsenal’s north London rivals.
Postecoglou will replace Nuno Espirito Santo, who left Forest this week amid reports of a major falling out with former Arsenal sporting director Edu Gaspar.
Ornstein’s article confirms that an internal conflict had been going on for months, with Nuno and Edu’s relationship in a “potentially irreparable state”. Edu currently works as Forest’s global head of football, having left Arsenal last year.
There were reportedly hostilities between Nuno and Edu from their very first meeting, and things only got worse after that.
According to the claims, Nuno was largely the aggressor, with Edu staying away from the club’s training ground. But after months of feuding, things reached a boiling point, and Forest ultimately decided to part ways with the manager.
On the one hand, Arsenal fans shouldn’t be overly concerned about facing a Postecoglou team, with Mikel Arteta having got the better of the Australian manager in three of four encounters, drawing the other.
Even the one draw Postecoglou achieved for Spurs against Arsenal stemmed from a rare Declan Rice first-half injury and an individual error from replacement Jorginho to concede the lead. Circumstances conspired against the Gunners that day.
But Forest are a different team, and the ‘new manager bounce’ always seems to have a psychological effect. Saturday’s game may not be a straightforward encounter.