Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels his side was motivated by last season's League Cup disappointment in Tuesday night's EFL Cup clash with Nottingham Forest.

The Gunners were unceremoniously dumped out of the 2015/16 edition by Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round having beaten North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur the match prior.

Tonight, however, Arsenal produced a telling display to beat Championship side Forest 4-0 at the City Ground in a match that Wenger feels was of importance to his entire playing group.

"I told the players that last year in the third round of the League Cup we won at Tottenham and then we went to Sheffield Wednesday and lost 3-0 because we were not ready mentally for the commitment of the Championship and I think our history helped us a little bit tonight to start in a much stronger way," he told arsenal.com.

Grant Xhaka open the scoring for the Gunners with a 30-yard strike on 23 minutes before fellow summer signing Lucas Perez scored his first Arsenal goals in the 60th and 71st minutes, prior to assisting for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's injury-time fourth.