Arsenal kicked off their 2016/17 EFL Cup run with a commanding 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground tonight.

Arsene Wenger's side scored once in the first half before adding a further three goals in the second lot of 45 minutes to cruise through to the fourth round of the league cup at the expense of Philippe Montanier's Forest.

The opening goal came in fine fashion when summer signing Granit Xhaka, who opened his Gunners account with a long range piledriver at Hull City on the weekend, repeated the dose with a 30-yard cracker which evaded Vladimir Stojkovic courtesy of a deflection.

Arsenal had the better of the chances in he first half but were unable to add to Xhaka's strike which was the club's 400th goal in the history of the league cup.

Just before the hour-mark, the visitors were awarded a penalty when Chuba Akpom was brought down by Michael Mancienne, allowing another summer recruit in Lucas Perez to step up to the spot.

The Spaniard made no mistake from 12 yards to open his scoring account for the North Londoners.

Soon enough it was 3-0 to the Gunners and two goals to Perez after he advanced towards the Forest defence before making his way around Stojkovic and slotting home neatly.

Former Gunner Nicklas Bendtner received applause from all areas when he left the pitch on 80 minutes before Arsenal drove one more nail into the Forest coffin through Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain who raced through to collect a Perez pass before finishing with his left foot.

It wrapped up a successful trip up to the East Midlands for Wenger and his men who have now scored 14 goals in their past five outings in all competitions.

2016/17 EFL Cup - third round

Nottingham Forest (CHA): 0
Arsenal (PREM): 4 (Granit Xhaka 23', Lucas Perez (PEN) 60'/71'/ Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 90+3')
The City Ground, Nottingham - 28,567