Arsenal and Nottingham Forest played out a goalless draw at the City Ground this evening, a frustrating outcome for the league leaders. The result felt like a missed opportunity for the Gunners, particularly with Manchester City losing to Manchester United earlier, which had opened the door for Arsenal to extend their advantage at the top of the table.
Arsenal began the match with purpose and intensity, clearly aware of what was at stake. They pushed forward early and attempted to impose their rhythm on the contest. However, Forest had no intention of allowing themselves to be overrun on home soil. Pride and survival were central to their approach, and they set out with a clear defensive plan from the opening minutes.
Forest frustrate Arsenal with discipline
Forest defended with organisation and commitment, focusing on denying Arsenal space and ensuring they did not concede. Their priority was clear: remain compact, absorb pressure and give themselves the possibility of capitalising on any opportunity that arose. Arsenal was forced to work hard for every opening, and while there were moments where the visitors came close, Forest largely succeeded in making life uncomfortable.
The Gunners enjoyed spells of control and created situations that suggested a breakthrough was possible, particularly in the first half. Despite being in good shape overall, they were unable to convert their pressure into a goal, and the match remained finely balanced heading into the interval.
Second half pressure without reward
After the break, the pattern of the game remained largely unchanged. Forest continued with their determined defending, while Arsenal searched for a way through a crowded defensive line. Arsenal pushed forward relentlessly, but clear chances remained limited.
Goalkeeper Matz Sels produced a series of strong saves to deny Arsenal, adding to the sense of frustration among the away side. There was also a moment of controversy when Arsenal appealed for a penalty, only for the decision to go against them following a VAR review.
Ultimately, Forest held firm. Sean Dyche’s side showed resilience and resolve, managing to slow down the league leaders and secure a valuable point. For Arsenal, the draw represented a setback in the title race, underlining how difficult even seemingly favourable fixtures can be.
Once again we fail to capitalise on dropped points around us. We’re our own worst enemy. Do we really want this title? I do wonder at times… Imagine losing it to Unai
Dan was right once again 👍
It will be okay
The one time we do it , it will be easier from then on
The positive is if I said yesterday we will end the weekend 7 points clear of City you take It ?
So small steps
I think pressure is crushing MA and therefore the players. Zero goals when you can go 9 points clear is a clear indication of crumbling
Arsenal got exactly what we deserved. Dont play your best players and underestimate a Sean Dyche side. This team cannot handle the pressure of a title race and I fear for the weeks ahead. Gyokeres, can we sell in January? I think this signing beats out Willian for worst in recent memory. Odegaard, it’s time we move on from him this summer. The media went after him for not being much of a captain and it’s obvious now why. These guys dont have it in them.
I think Gyokeres will only be shipped out in the summer. An expensive mistake from Berta who made similar ones at Atletico Madrid with Felix and Cunha
Eze is also another luxurious signing from Berta
Trossard should be replaced as well, regardless of our final league position
Just when you think the squad is close to being completed lol. But I agree on everything you’ve just said. Gyokeres out as soon as humanely possible, still need a LW for next season, and also need an AM now. Two seasons of Martin playing like this you have to accept he’s not the player he was before and just move forward.
Odegaard lost too many duels, but his high-pressing effort and playmaking skills are still very good. He’ll be useful as Nwaneri’s mentor
I would only sell him if there’s a good offer from a non-EPL club, since his contract will expire in 2028
I don’t say we should not look at the players but what about the coach. What ever game plan he has, he should have added intensity and motivated the players to win at all cost when Mancity lost to United. He had 3 hours to do that. Nothing the players showed on the pitch suggested he did that.
Irrespective of where we finished and what we win, he should loss his position at the end of the season. After so much money spent and many good players brought in if Arteta doesn’t win Epl. Or Cl it is either he is not good enough or lucky enough.
@Gai Yes the above mentioned players didn’t do well today. But can we say our midfield did enough? And what about Arteta’s predictable tactics every week?
Arteta’s tactic produced several very good chances in the first half of the game, but Rice and Martinelli blew it
He made wrong substitutions though, in my opinion
Imgn Arteta trying to prioritize Champions league by benching players yet it is a competition which even the 17 placed team can win it because arsenal being first in that competition doesn’t mean they can win it, premier league must be the priority we have 16 gams remaining and we need at least 14 wins.
Villa can move 4 points behind – we are throwing away opportunity after opportunity. Let’s hope we don’t live to regret that come May.
wow that was terrible to watch.!! and we have man utd.
coming up.. they will destroy us if they play as they did
today.. we must rest players vs Inter !!
I can’t speak as I thought this would be a good win. Crap performance but still didn’t lose
We’re actually lucky
Thank God it was Man Utd, Man City played today & they had already dropped points
I think this match has shown Arteta that those backup players are not good enough – should remain used as just substitutes
I believe we’ll see something different after today, i.e He’ll stop starting Martinelli, Noni (unless it’s a winnable match at the Emirates)
I’m sure he already knows Gyokeres is currently the worst Striker in the team – he’s just giving him enough rope
Rice and Martinelli missed sitters in the first half. I think Aina’s handball wasn’t a natural position and should give us a penalty
I also believe Arteta shouldn’t have taken Martinelli out and he should’ve replaced Timber with Lewis-Skelly, because there were too few passes to the left wing
I hope Jesus or Havertz will be a starter in the next EPL game, because Gyokeres’ link-up play and aerial ability aren’t good. If Havertz played, we would’ve had more aerial threat in attacking set-pieces
Nothing about Gyokeres is good
Guy’s shit
Pure 100% shite
We dont have mentality to capitalize. Dan predicted it very well. The team needs a psychologist.
I would throw the game on Tuesday and use the whole week with the shrink.
When City lost I was fearing the worst. Cause we arent’ the type of team that goes 9 points clear in a title race. We all watch Arsenal every week and how often does the team ever make any match a comfortable watch? Everything has to be a struggle with Arsenal. Zero killer instinct and unfortunately predictably tragic side. It’s setting up for a bottle.
Painfull spectacle, that was some ugly performance from a team vying for the title. Everything short of spectacular. And i say this because i know we can do way better! We were not even short of players, come to think of it.
Awful performance. Yet again, no urgency or intensity.
Too much tippy-tappy football without end product. Why cant we just go at teams from the first moment -knowing we have a very strong defence and dont concede too many goals.
Last two games, City have dropped points before us and we go and fluff our lines and drop points.
They look like they have stage fright.
We’re limping our way to the league – however i do believe City will turn a corner very soon at which point, we could be in trouble.
Haaland can’t stay silenced forever so yea inevitable they pick up form again.
That’s 2 games in a row to widen the gap and we just don’t show up! Really disappointing honestly. Arteta and the player can do better. Was sooooo nas I couldn’t even listen to post match interview.
We have widened the gap. Yesterday we had a 6 point lead and today we have a 7 point lead
Tell them.
Arteta is just lucky the club has bought him many many excellent players. He is just bang average on tactics. He can’t coach a team to win against stubborn teams. We pass the ball for the sake of passing. How is Odegaard still starting games? He is just average and he does nothing to inspire the team as a captain. We have missed a big opportunity to increase our lead. A win by Villa will put massive pressure on the team. How does Nwaneri fail to get minutes when our attack is so flat these days. I would still go with Skelly at left back as Timber is not doing enough there and he could do with some rest. If we fail to win the EPL Arteta must go. We are wasting so much talent
Obviously I wanted to win and have a 9 point lead over City but 7 points is still one point better than yesterday
Also, we played away which is usually tough
So I’m okay about today.
Always good to have an optimist but lets see after villa,
The issue is the novice will prioritise inter over the epl. FFS play our 4th team against inter, we have qualified and no need to top it, remember pool last year but his pride wont allow it and our players will be jaded against manure like they were ydy
I blame the tactics AGAIN. Novice still adheres to his game plan regardless. Whilst he is a poor LB, I would have started skelly today or sub him as white was back to his usual poor. Skelly would have given timber a much needrd rest as there was no one from forest who could have caused probs. Ironically this year Martinelli is the super sub snd wtf is the jesus fixation?.He waz only good in the 1st game but since, atrocious. Yet, plays over Havertz and to the detractors, Id give gyokores another year to pick up…portugese league is worse than L1 …many dont realise the space he creates, when he was sub, we always come under pressure as teams realise they are now free to bomb forward
Forest were most worthy of a point today and we’ll deserved. What is striking me lately though is our lack of control and confidence in games where we should be dominating. Especially when others are faltering around them. MA’s miss-guided confidence in Goykares beggars belief. It has to be about his stubbornness. Even when it’s so obvious, he still starts him. Overall, I’m not entirely sure we have it in us to compete for the EPL still. We might be top, but do we really think we can stay there?
I just think the team needs a better approach or plan, Arteta has been way too negative at times. Why play Merino ahead of Eze, we just can’t be playing Rice, Zubi & Merino at same time. So Eze is £67 mil wasted? Also Timber as LB not helping in attack at all. I hope Havertz gets to full fitness, he’s a better option than Jesus & Gyokeres.
Still think Merino should be coming in as our false 9. best our attack looked without Havertz in it. He is just playing Jesus and Gyokeres there because thats their traditional roles but they aren’t delivering.
Switch Merino for Gyokeres if we continue to play this strategy of tiring out opponents and then using “closers”, and we might just get a few more first half goals in. Merino is clearly more dangerous than Gyok in that center forward role.
This team has the gift of making even a good situation feel bad. We have actually increased our lead over City this week, City looked dead on their feet no fight no hunger no mentality. 7 pts lead in January but even then it feels like we’re the one winless in 4 and crashing out the title race.
A very tough game , it was the proverbial unmovable object and the unstoppable force type of game. Nothing more the boys could have done and I like the approach to the game and the boys played well we were just unlucky that we couldn’t score. The only reason arsenal fans would be frustrated and perplexed is that we all knew city115 dropped points and this felt like an opportunity that was squandered. But realistically we played a Sean dyche side , we all know very well how Sean dyche sets up his team, plus we know when it comes to arsenal every team tends to raise Thier game. I fault no one although we should have scored in the first half , this was one of those games where we should have snatched and grab that one goal and see that game out but it didn’t happen and a point is not bad in the general scheme of things. It’s not panic stations yet it’s just worry and frustration that we should capitalise on slip ups of our nearest rivals.:
Good (not great) performance, luck wasn’t on our side and it our winning the league would be remember not by our performance but by how bad other teams are.
Arteta needs to rest as many players as he can in that Inter game so they play well against man united.
Our winning the league is going to depend heavily on Aston villas games .
COYG.
Pep serving up the title on a platter yet Arteta refuses to help himself .
Gyokeres and Odegaard awful once again but will no doubt start the next match .
1 point better off though from last match day so not all bad .
Onto the next ….
Oliver must hate Arsenal. Totally factual objective penalty. VAR should hang their heads in disgrace.
I’m among the first to suspect Oliver of a biased call, he has a poor historical record reffing us. But he was right to defer to VAR there. It was VAR that made that decision, not Oliver. It was an arguable one, I would say he played the ball back in with his arm when it was heading out = pen.
Er….actually var referred the ref NOT the other way and Oliver is so poor and english, he couldnt say he made a wrong call eh chappie???
Technically, it was a penalty but harsh but then again, if it had been Arsenal doing it, 1000% penalty.
Wonder what we did to olivrr as he seems to have an bias against us. Tries hard to pretend to be fair But invariably makes us lose points….still remember trossard
We only win with him referring due to our brilliance but to the nerds out there, would be interesting to see which ref has cost us most points?
Did you see our wingers hugging touchline without opponent 20 yards from them? Why couldn’t we recycle the ball to them more quickly without slowing everything down and billboarding that’s where we were working it? Forest game plan was to be narrow and deny every bit of space centrally, but that game plan gifted us the wings and crossing to work with, yet we continually played so narrow and in front their defence and midfield too.
Other take outs.
It was a penalty, deliberate mindful scooping arm to ball to prevent corner.
Forrest made more dangerous driving runs at our defence than we did at theirs – how come?
It’s two nil nils in a row, what does this suggest to you?
Timber may be a little too right footed for left back, so getting forward ends with turning back and laying off.
Gyok couldn’t outrun Murillo despite working a yard headstart? For all the Forest talismans qualities as a player, I have more pace than Murillo, and so have you.
I thought Arteta got it wrong with the front three. Not that that they are bad players but they were unsuited to this kind of game. We know how Forest play – the wings were going to be crucial. It is the kind of game that needed Saka and Trossard to have more control in wide areas.
Also think Martinelli-Gyok-Madueke is unbalanced front line because they are all runners. It should be one or two of them with one or two of Saka,Havertz and Trossard/Eze.
Timber is clearly struggling but from what we’ve seen from MLS this season, he’s still our best option in the absence of Calafiori and Hincapie. We badly need one of them to return at LB.
Really poor performance. You wouldn’t think we were playing for the PL Title. If we continue to play without passion and commitment, the we will repeat our second place. That’s for sure. The match is yet another proof that we are missing a consistant goal scorer. Martinelle, what can I say: a hero one day and a villain the next. Gyökeres poor once again, my patience with him has long run out. Everybody can see now it was a big mistake to buy him.
Now I have set my mind that we won’t win the league.
Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
So I don’t get too disappointed.
Might have to win it like Leicester with low points total.
The only attacking identity Arteta has developed is set piece play. He has ruined open play attacking football at the club. No clear identity when they are in posession. Doesn’t matter who plays in AMF, they play bad 9 out of 10 games.
Also hate players antics like Saka, Jesus and Merino after referee decisions against or for them. Just get on with the game.
If Aston Villa can get a couple of attacking players in this window, they will have a chance to win it.
Arteta got it wrong today but most of the blame got to fall on Martinelli. You can’t be missing from there.
Martinelli, Madueke and Gyokores can’t start together ever again. They have the average technical ability of an average league one player. They have the football brains of a Sunday league player . Athletic ability will only get you so far and against a low block that’s where it ends.
Next up Jesus. Why does like look like prime R9 when we are winning in a game but when we are behind or drawing he ghosts. Merino or Havertz as false nine for the remainder of the season is our best option.
Inter up next. I don’t want to see Rice, Timber, Gabriel, Saka, Zumbendi anywhere near the starting 11. I would take a 5-0 drubbing at the san Siro if it meant we beat united on Sunday.
On a final note it wouldn’t be very arsenal to be 9 points clear in January. Still in 4 competitions no need for the doom and gloom.
Liam, you need to think more about what you write.
Saying that Martinelli, Gyokeres and Madueke have the footballing brains of a Sunday League player, shows you have no idea whatsoever about what it takes to be a professional footballer, let alone a international one.
Then you say they have the technical ability of a league one player, yet here they are playing for a club top of the PL, top of the CL, unbeaten in both our domestic cups and having lost just two games since the start of the season
All that’s been achieved while, in the main, playing low block opposition.
What squad would you put out against Inter, bearing in mind you don’t want Martinelli, Gyokeres and Madueke playing together ever again and you don’t want Rice, Timber, Gabriel, Saka and Zubimendi in the squad either?
Finally and this is what brought tears of laughter, was your last sentence and I quote :
“Still in 4 competitions no need for the doom and gloom.”
So, what exactly was the point of the rest of your post and don’t forget to detail out your squad for the Inter game?!
Ken1945,
I join you in you’re tears of laughter at that quote.😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣👍
Ken how many times have the players mentioned won us games ? Martinelli hat trick is all I can think of ? Using the performances of the team to justify them being top players is nonsense. Like I said I would player any team because I don’t care if we lose because we are already through. If you think Martinelli, Gyokores are top players then we shouldn’t be struggling against forest.
So you could put a Sunday morning player (actually three according to you!!) into Arsenal’s squad and we’d still be in the position we’re in today then Liam?
Martinelli Gyokeres and Madueke were the only ones who struggled yesterday then?
What about Odegaard, Zubimendi, Timber etc?
The Arsenal value Martinelli at £84 million (according to Google) as RM start sniffing around the availability of the player.
For someone with, according to you, no footballing brain and no technical attributes, unless one compares him to a Sunday league player, perhaps our club should visit Hackney Marshes and sign up a complete team and send them out to Milan this week and for the rest of the season as well?!?!
.
Liam,
You’re quote, Using the performances of the team to justify them being top players is nonsense.
Well surely that works the other way to. Using their bad performances to justify them being bad players is nonsense.
Just a thought. 🤔
Martinelli vs Athletic Bilbao
Martinelli vs Portsmouth
Madueke vs Bayern
Madueke vs Club Brugge
Gyokeres vs Fulham
Gyokeres vs Leeds
Gyokeres vs Athletico Madrid
…..
Martinelli came on late against tired legs against bilbao which supports my brilliant athlete comment. Portsmouth are a lower league club supporting my comment that he’s lower league level. We were two nil up against Leeds before he scored and the other was a pen ? Athletico Madrid two balls bounced off him ? He didn’t play well he got lucky. Madueke can have the Bayern one but Brugge are championship level again !!!
Martinelli came on late against tired legs against bilbao which supports my brilliant athlete comment. Portsmouth are a lower league club supporting my comment that he’s lower league level. We were two nil up against Leeds before he scored and the other was a pen ? Athletico Madrid two balls bounced off him ? He didn’t play well he got lucky. Madueke can have the Bayern one but Brugge are championship level again !!!
Liam,
I get the distinct impression you’re not a Martinelli fan. 😂
Kepa
White saliba salmon mls
norgaard
Saka. Eze. merino Trossard
Havertz
On the bench?
The players I mentioned can play on the bench. I never said they can’t play I just said not together.
So then Liam, I’ve got the picture your painting.
We have a bench consisting of Raya, Gabriel, Timber. Odegaard, Martinelli, Gyokeres, Madueke, Zubimendi and Nwaneri…. but we’re only allowed five and there’s nine.
Why would you risk Saliba, Saka, Trossard and White in a game that your wiling to lose 5-0?!
No,I think it’s back to Hackney Marshes, find some players with more technique and footballing brain than Martinelli, Gyokeres and Madueke that, somehow, every club in the world has missed.
That makes as much sense as your original post.
Look, I’m not singling out you, Liam, as I know your passion for the club is as strong as mine.
All I’m trying to ask fellow Gooners to do, is to not react immediately to an off day from all the players (except Raya with some great saves) by singling out individual players.
We’re not top of the PL by carrying Sunday morning players with no technique and no footballing brains.
Everyone is writing Villa off.
They might just do a Leicester and go on and win the league since Arsenal and Man City are just dropping points.
Same pattern of results as last season. Paper over cracks with set piece goals early in the season, then draw many games. Only difference is title rivals are playing bad as well.
I’m going to blame Arteta. How can the attack be this blunt after spending so much money? There is not even two players who link up consistently.
A few seasons back we had Martinelli, Odegaard and Saka all on double figures for goals and each one gave many assist to the other. That has now disappeared.
I would of preferred if we had not started 8 of the same players , 3 days ok as we did today. We might have the nicked 3 points.
Now we have 2 more games in 7 days. We must not start anyone against Milan we did today. The CL we are through.
There is a predictable theme this season . We are more likely drop points when we’ve played a few days before. Normal you may say, but if we don’t rotate properly in cup games we aren’t winning this league. The squad clearly is not fit enough they should be capable of 2 games in a week with almost equal intensity.
We are not.
Three big signings all fail to deliver. Gykores, Madueke and Eze. Arteta has to take responsibility.
Can’t pull the trigger on another big signing now after spending so much on these players. Squad is also too big up in attack.
I just saw an Arsenal side playing with the handbrake on again. Less pressing, poor off the ball. Second to most 50/50s and generally over passing backwards and sideways again. Starting Goykares is simply mind boggling. There’s so much that needs to change and yet it’s the same thing as usual. I don’t see a side ready to finish strong..
Arteta either underrated Forrest or he overrated his second eleven. Had he started with his best eleven Arsenal would have sure won the match. It is what is: let me believe he has learnt his lessons from now onwards
Am I disappointed we didn’t win? Yes
Am I surprised that Dyche is still a thorn in Arsenal’s side? No. It’s what he does. And he has been superlative at doing so.
So far this weekend Arsenal didn’t lose -and we await what befalls us over the next couple of days until the Villa’s result comes in. Arsenal are still in a great position. Still quite a few games to go. Still quite a few games for the teams below us
… to make a mess of it.
Pretty poor across the board again. Hard to single anyone out when everyone fairly average. Almost every game tough in PL, and we’re top of table without even playing that great. But you’d expect a little more when you compare the squads today. Lack of urgency at the end I thought was telling.
A disappointing game, even though I was personally never in any doubt that we would lose it.
A dead rubber midweek, while manure will have seven days to get ready for our next PL game, so I would expect the squad will have the likes of Nwaneri in it.
I’m going to ask a simple question here – what was your opinion of the on field referee, var decisions and should we have had a penalty as Mikel claims?
Was a pretty clear handball I thought Ken?
Agree Sensible Gooner, but the PGMOL have said it was the right call, as his arm was in a natural position.
I haven’t seen anyone with their arm in that position in all of my eighty years!!
Hard to fathom isn’t it. Movement was clearly not natural and clearly designed to prevent a corner.
Off course with arsenal, the PGMOL WILL always claim thd opposite, so scooping the ball is a natural position? Tecnically a harsh penalty BUT if it had been us doing it, would have 1000% being given. Mind you VAR referred as even they thought it should have been but wrll its oliver so you knew, it would never be overruled, he couldnt admit he was wrong coukd he?
Oliver made no decision on this particular issue. He was unsighted. It was all on VAR (Darren England). Don’t blame Oliver unfairly.
Tony Adams: “You’re not going to win the league with Odegaard as captain”.
Agree Sue. Good news is we’re maintaining lead without playing great. Getting away with the lower risk approach for now. Hard to see any of the threatening teams going on prolonged win streak, though City clearly still the threat.
SG
We still see City as a threat
I’m not saying they aren’t but neither am I sure they are the threat we think
There are many twists and turns to go yet
City will not keep dropping points like this for the rest of the season.
Once Guehi joins them their back line will improve and concede less goals.
Haaland might pick his goal scoring form back and they can go on a winning streak.
Aston Villa should not be written off either. They have had a good season so far.
What might be their undoing is their lack of squad depth.
Arteta needs to find a way to install urgency to the passes and movements of the players.
We are still top now as it stands. Tomorrow we might be 4 points ahead of Aston Villa in the 2nd position
Now unto the next one against Inter Milan on Tuesday.
How did Odegaard escape criticism today? I thought he was totally ineffective and should have been hooked earlier. Gyokeres and Martinelli, oh my goodness, they are so hit and miss. Gyokeres does not have the nous to succeed in the PL and Martinelli is simply not good enough and flatters to deceive.
So frustrating this artetaball. FFS,even Burnley score against Liverpool. 1st 20 mins, we go down the wings then he stops and goes artetaball.
Too slow against low block teams. Poor tactics and selection Poor performances from all players. I would have played eze as odegaard has been absent for his last 4 epl games.
AND please rest the players against Inter. We have qualified and dont need the win, Manure are on a swell and we need our best for this game. BUT the novices pride wont allow it
Again it was an awful display.I just wonder why Arteta is still concerned about not conceding goals. It’s goals win the matches and he should address the players to move ball forward in fast pace rather than side passing. Now, it’s 180 minutes in EPL without a goal. The team is in a commanding position to win the title.If we again drop the points in coming three or four matches,we will be in a fearful scenario. And it will be a confident booster for Man City.
It seems the absence of Calafiuri is affecting the flow of the game from defense to midfield.
Once again when presented with a nice gift from City Arsenal didn’t take it, too many big names went missing when it really mattered, Gyokeres looks like another flop from the pubber Portuguese league, he looks fat, slow and completely unfit for the Premier league. Martinelli can do one as well, what’s the point in banging in a hat trick against lowly pompey then a few days later missing an absolute sitter? Shocking stuff, it basically cost us 3 points, get rid of him in the summer and find an upgrade.
We are not going to keep calling for players to be dropped whenever we underperform. However, what I fail to understand is this: why should Arteta keep picking Odegaard even when his performance is poor? We have Eze, Merino, Nwaneri, Norgaard and Havertz who can play that position. Whatever Arteta may wish, Odegaard has lost his former glamour. He no longer moves the team forward. To me, he has become a liability. When he was away, Eze had seamlessly fitted into the role and was delivering. Now Eze is a permanent bench warmer. It is not fair. Let Arteta start playing Eze and Norgaard more because of their Premier league experience. Similarly Havertz should be starting ahead of Jesus because of his aerial ability. I observed that we lacked aerial power in the opposition box in the closing minutes which was a great snag. Let the manager go back to the drawing board. Let us not forget that we are meeting a rejuvenated Man U in a week’s time.
This was a rather frustrating result as Arsenal really need to be winning games like this. Unfortunately, a lack of efficiency in attack continues to be an issue for the team. Madueke remains an enigma. Has the ability to get past players but decision making remains suspect. Gyokeres has yet to convince as a striker for a top team.
The MF was also not as creative is it might have been, although there were enough chances to win the game.
The defence continues to play well and the effectiveness of this part of team remains impressive. The good thing is that Arsenal still have some breathing space.
Was bored stiff in second half and when Gyökeres was presented with the sort of through ball and run on to the keeper we all think he needs, he lacked pace, muscle and the apparent will to succeed. But, we are top of PL, top of CL, in the semi of the Carabao cup and still in the FA cup, so not everything is doom and gloom, though by a lot of the comments on here you would think we are about to get relegated. Talking of relegation candidates, it also won’t be long before we celebrate St Totteringham day !
A second 0-0 in a row which is disappointing of course. We had enough chances still, although overall performance was poor.
I would like to see Eze get more game time. We miss creativity in the final third, and this Eze will give if he’s given a decent run in the side. How do you expect to get consistent level’s of performance from him when he’s nothing more than a bit part player presently.
Some people get upset when Odegaard is questioned, well the fact he runs around a lot and is good at the press shouldn’t be enough for him to keep his place in the side. Afterall, I keep hearing he’s our creative player, I must have missed that game🤦♂️.
Although it’s another opportunity missed to go 9 points clear, 7 points is still good at this stage of the season.
But just a word of caution, people think that Villa are not a threat and they’ll just fade out. Don’t be so sure, a win for them today and they will be 4 points behind us.
We’re in a good position currently, and yes we’re 7 points clear of City. But remember back in the 2022/2023 season, we had an 8 point lead over them later in the season than now and still blew it.
Will we get over that line this season, that’s a question we’ll be asking again and again over the next 5 months no doubt.
Squeaky bum time is coming. 🤦♂️🤣👍
I believe with our current squad we shall be competitive if Arteta selects the right players for every game and makes early substitutions. He should also not make the mistake of playing similar players at the same time. He needs to play players of different skills in a game so as to create variety and avoid predictability. I feel Eze, Nwaneri and Norgaard need to play more games.
HAPPY EPIPHANY HOLIDAY TO ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS WORLDWIDE!!!
Some Arsenal fans do not always want to face reality; we can’t win all matches no matter how good we are. Aston Villa just lost at home to Everton. Does that mean Emery played with the brakes on despite knowing a win could move them within just four points of Arsenal. One thing we’re not appreciating is the fact that despite everything, we’re not losing matches unlike before.
I’ll continue to support the team through thick and thin. COYG
Who’d of thought, with all the disappointment being shown by our draw at Forest. With City and Villa both losing, we’ve actually extended our lead by an extra point to 7.
Don’t you just love the Premier League. 😂👍
I’m taking a different stance here.
I understand we didn’t capitalize fully here.
It seems it’s one of those games where, if it feels like a game you may not win, just make sure you don’t lose.
Essentially we did further our lead by a point.
I wonder what Mancity fans will be writing regarding their teams performance and whether they will be calling Harland as being a Ligue 1 level player, or Rodri with the poor pass that nearly gifted ManU a third goal. Why is there so much negativity among the fans I see write here over the team all under the guise of love for Arsenal. Some fans who write such negative and player, coach denigrating comments should go play 90minutes of competitive football talk more of three top level marches in ten days to understand what it takes to keep the levels these players try to maintain. I wish the gunners fans will be more realistic and temperate in criticizing the teams performance. If Arteta is such a poor manager as some make him out to be, why don’t they go get a coaching badge and try their hands at it. If the team go through what is written here, I wonder how they get the motivation to play for fans. I pray the team wins a major trophy or more this season and let’s see if all this negativity and acidity reduces.