Nottingham Forest 0-1 Arsenal: Report by Layth Yousif at the City Ground
A late winner by substitute Noni Madueke earned Arsenal three points after a hard-fought victory against Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.
In front of 30,893 at the City Ground including around 3,000 travelling Gooners, the Gunners moved to 18 points, two ahead of Brighton after the Seagulls emphatic 5-0 win over Crystal Palace earlier in the day.
The triumph ensured Oliver Glasner’s side have yet to score in their four home Premier League games this season, with the increasingly beleagured head coach suffered a pre-match blow when the influential Morgan Gibbs-White missed the match after picking up an injury issue during the warm-up.
The Austrian head coach drafted in Nicolás Domínguez and Jair Cunha, with Neco Williams captaining the side, as Ola Aina dropped to the bench alongside Nikola Milenkovic, who returned among the substitutes
Arsenal made six changes to the side that beat Lille 3-0 in midweek as Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori returned in defence, while Eberechi Eze started for the Gunners after netting his first goal of the campaign during Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League win over Lille. The former Palace attacker alongside Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard in an attacking trident, with Kai Havertz up front
Jurrien Timber, Bruno Guimarães, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Noni Madueke, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyökeres all dropped to the bench.
Following a bustling but attritional opening 45 minutes that saw the teams relentlessly suffocate each other in a half that was high on effort but lacking quality in the final third, it was no surprise both sides failed to muster a single shot before the interval.
In a bid to liven matters Arsenal boss Arteta made a change at the break with Madueke replacing Eze. The switch was to prove pivotal.
Yet, it was the home side that started with more intent with Delap firing at the near post but Gabriel defected the effort for a corner that came to nothing. Following a triple substitution by Arteta midway through the second half, the newly-introduced Jurrien Timber, dovetailed well with Saka and Odegaard, only for Rice to fire over the ball when well-placed on 71 minutes.
However, just as the home side thought they were to hold the reigning champions, up stepped Madueke, who fired home via a deflection off Cunha to put the Gunners ahead on 80 minutes to seal al three points.
As the jubilant travelling Gooners sang at the final whistle: “That’s why we’re champions.”
David Raya:
Ben White: Replaced by Jurrien Timber after a strong performance along the right
Ezri Konsa: An outstanding summer purchase after slotting in seamlessly to cover William Saliba’s long-term absence
Gabriel: Arsenal’s Wall at the Back was solid and unyielding as ever
Riccardo Calafiori:
Bruno Guimarães: Struggled to influence proceedings before being replaced by Mikel Merino on 66 minutes
Declan Rice: Fired over the bar when well placed late on
Bukayo Saka:
Martin Odegaard:
Eberechi Eze: A brave ful blooded challenge early on signalled commitment but failed to influence proceedings and was hooked at the break by Arteta in favour of Noni Madueke
Kai Havertz: An underwhelming display on an attritional afternoon up top
Substitutes:
Noni Madueke: Replaced the ineffectual Eze at the break
Jurrien Timber: On for Ben White in a triple switch midway through the second half
Mikel Merino: On for Bruno at the same time as Timber and Gyokeres
Viktor Gyokeres: The third of Arteta’s mid second half trio of switches with the Swede coming on for Havertz
