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Confirmed Arsenal team to face Forest – Still no Tierney

Arsenal will welcome Nottingham Forest to the Emirates today with the aim to continue their 100% home record this season, but with this incredible glut of games coming thick and fast with fatigue setting in, I am sure that that it will be as big a test as any other game we have faced this season.

I have already given my reasons for thinking this is going to be very tough, and I am sure it is going to very difficult to predict the team that Arteta will put out depending on the results of any fitness tests that Arteta has managed to squeeze in between games.

But, having said that, Arteta seems to always play his best team available for League games, so I am worried there won’t be as many changes as the fans would like to see, so this is my prediction of Arteta’s choices today…

Ramsdale
White Saliba Gabriel Tierney
Partey Xhaka
Saka Odegaard Martinelli
Jesus

I would like to see a few of them rested though, but let’s now look at the confirmed teams and see if I was right or not….

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122 Comments

  1. Is it that teirney is not good enough to start a premier league game? I don’t see the reason why a right back is playing the left back position when we have one on the bench

    1. I think they are trying to manage the player given his injury history.
      But, again, if we are honest,Tierney hasn’t been at his best since this season started

      1. If we go in defensive mode than Tomoiyasu is k in left back, but it’s quite evident that our attack is toothless with this setup. I fear another tight game today.

    2. That’s like saying why we are playing a CB at right back when we have a right back playing left back .
      Team balance is the reason

    3. Who says Tomiyasu is a right back?

      You know he plays Left Centre Back for Japan. Against the US recently he played in 5 different positions. He played all across the back at Bologna too.

      Great players do not need to be pidgeon holed, they can play anywhere. Quite simply Tomiyasu is without doubt our best defender

  2. Everyone knows I’m Arteta’s biggest supporter, but I still don’t get this persistent shít about Tomiyasu playing LB every PL matchday now.
    He’s not Cancelo FFS! He doesn’t share same qualities as Cancelo, he’s the better defender, but it weakens our attack on the left hand side.
    This inverted LB crap works well with Zinchenko doesn’t mean we have to force others to do it.
    Zinchenko is naturally a midfielder, so it works well for him alongside Ben White too.
    Also we’re not press resistant with Tomi as LB, we’ve struggled to beat press from there.
    I know we should be getting the win, but this is becoming delusional IMHO

    1. I’d also prefer Tierney to start the game, because I don’t think Nottingham Forest have a goal-scoring or tall RW

      But maybe Arteta wants more tall players in set-pieces

    2. AMN is clear of Tomiyasu as a LB and even far better than White as a RB. He may be injury prone and inconsistent but the best form he has reached at fullback is even higher than both in those positions along with Cedric. If Arteta wants this then he should own it when the going gets tough and play them this way for most of the season. Then I can take him seriously for doing that. We may get away with it today but we need not be complacent.

    3. I think it’s too much now not to play Tierney even when fit against team like nottn forest. Last season Arsenal played well when Tierney played well. This kinda decision going to shatter his morale. So this might be right time Tierney leave Arsenal for his good.

  3. Good line up and expected ,hopefully if it’s going tits up Arteta changes it early as he tends to leave it late .

  4. Tomiyasu at LB is a joke ! I hope I’m proven wrong today but we have a perfectly good LB on the bench who is better both on defending and attack

  5. Arteta stubbornness will be his greatest undoing in his coaching career,see no reason in trying something that have proven infective .Tomi offers nothing at the left back aside defending,this arteta new found rotation is making mess of martilenise.

  6. I suspect the continued absence of Tierney will be noted by the likes of Man City and in particular Newcastle as they look to improve their squad.

    1. Well Grandad I hope you are the one who’s disappointed seeing tierney on the bench. When we loaned out Tavares I thought zinchenko was coming in as his replacement and likely the starter over tierney rather than the much anticipated midfield role most people thought he will be playing for arsenal at the time he signed because he fits what Arteta wants from his fullbacks but u said I will be left disappointed when zinchenko plays in the midfield for arsenal and tierney as leftback, well who is disappointed now..your best left back on the bench and couldn’t displace an unfit Ziny and cant ever find favour over tomiyasu despite not been his original position. do you know why because Arteta thinks he can be so one-sided and predictable..don’t you think so too?🤣 statistically he is not even better defensively from the three and I support Arteta’s decision👍

  8. Too much rigidity but I guess it’s Forest so it will work. Arteta should sub out underperforming players quickly and not waste time when things aren’t working.

  9. Easy prediction..arsenal 3 ..not 0…scorer granit for hatrick …wow def mid score hatrick?..

    1. I definitely would back Xhaka for that! I guess Y Toure might have scored 3 goals during that freak 20 goal season at City?

      1. Yeah..I remember that.toure box to box..xhaka now got licensed to play in more advanced role..

  10. Definitely need to go to 2 upfront ,a 442 or 4312 but 2 so Jesus is getting help and we will score more and more definitely ,cmon you gunners , COYG

    1. It seems Gabriel is also creating space for others. What I see is Odegaard usually combining with Saka. I dont see much through passes for Gabriel when we are in possession unless it’s from a counter.

  11. We should be thankful we have our FULL team out. We’ve a strong first team…..but one injury and we are in trouble. Sad we never bought a quality midfield player and a striker before the transfer window closed. Still if we get to January still challenging we can finalise the squad and not rely on not getting injuries. Hopefully we can hit 3 against Forest. We miss Zinchenko badly….he is a big player for us.

  12. Going top with a win after 12 games for us and 13 for others would have been considered a delusional thought start of the season. Chelsea lost and Liverpool lost so there is a big chance to extend the gap between us and those teams!

    We can go 10 clear of Chelsea with a game in hand and 15 clear of Liverpool with a game in hand. Would be 5 clear of Spurs with a game in hand (and we both haven’t played City yet.) How anyone could be negative in this scenario is totally beyond me!

    Like most hoping for a better performance today! With the home fans behind us have no doubt we will.

  19. Anyone knowif this game is being streamed anywhere please? I stupidly assumed it would be on Sky or BT but neither has it.

    1. totalsportek above is a good option google it as that link directly wasn’t working for me. My stream originally had commentary a minute or 2 ahead of the play I was watching this doesn’t.

    1. He’s walking at least so fingers crossed. Big chance for Nelson (who was the Saka of the academy before Saka) to stake his claim.

  22. This pretty much sums up our bench. Saka playing while obvioisly injured but Mikel is still reluctant to make the change.

    1. Probably getting an ice pack, looks more like a twisted ankle. If it was muscular wouldn’t have continued soo long.

  25. So what I can see of Nelson from my buffering stream is him being slightly lax in the press. Which is a far cry from his pressing in that Liverpool match at the emirates where he scored. Is it true or just the internet playing tricks. I think even Ode came up once to help him press.

    1. Saw the same but it was early and perhaps he didn’t expect to play (not a great excuse.) It’s his chance, it’s up to him to take it will have plenty of minutes today.

      1. Him now fouling twice while pressing others makes me think he hasnt had a proper drill with the others. Or the first teamers have been that good that they are the earliest adapters to MA’s tactics. Nelson unfortunately seems to be one of the backward guys who needs on pitch guidance to go play in the spaces where the RW supposed to play.

        1. Forgive my ignorance but he is part of the defence. Not sugar-coating the passing mistakes that lead to it but it seems it was dealt with fantastically by the defence overall.

  33. We should prepare for a much intense second half. An early goal will do us a whole lot of good. I am not too confident judging by our second half performances in the last few games but hoping for the best.

  34. Great goal

    Replacing Saka with Nelson was a good decision, because Nelson would likely try to reach the byline instead of cutting inside. This could confuse Nottingham Forest

  35. The most worrying for me is we seem a bit slow in possession at times. There was an error or two at our end but we dealt with it well and prior to the error, we had dealt with the original threat well. Would like to see a bit more zip in our possession to push and pull Forest a little more in the 2nd half.

  37. Gabriel is so good he just always makes mistakes man. Thanks to White who came to the rescue again.

    Jesus is starting to remind me of lacazet.

  39. Really hope that goal give him confidence to himself more, ever since he joined the 1st team he has been shy and hesitant

  40. So annoying listening to it on my smart speaker which is behind my Sky sports app 🙄
    A bit of a buffer now so well done Reiss Nelson – 2 goals. Excellent
    Radio 5 live said Saka suffered from a very heavy challenge so hopefully he isn’t badly hurt and said we played pretty good football throughout the first half
    I shall have to watch MOTD later

    1. He walked off but it was Saka so he would never walk off without something serious enough. Won’t be a lengthy absence but could be a few weeks which is not ideal.

  42. Now I see why Arteta believes so much in Nelson, always touting how skillful he is and can delete players with ease.

    1. Everyone involved with Arsenal always mentioned his talent just a matter of him proving it at the top level.

  45. If Neslon plays every game like this, we’re gonna win the league. Messi-esque performance from him!

  49. I think Arteta must have a new discovery in Tomiyasu in this game. He may be an option in DM. He seem very comfortable in the middle.

    1. Had a great game. Fed up with those looking for targets. It was Xhaka then White originally and then White kept playing well so it’s Gabriel or Tomiyasu. We are top of the league, we can definitely improve but support everyone now why not we are top seriously.

  52. We probably needed a change in our attacking set up to score more goals in a single game. Food for thought for Arteta. Hoping Saka injury is nothing serious and a blessing in disguise in giving Nelson an opportunity to showcase his undoubted talent and push Saka to even a higher level.

    1. Less than a year on his contract, not sure if he’s part of MAs plans otherwise they would’ve extended?

      Think his future will be highly dependent on how long Saka may be out for.

      1. His future depends on him if he kicks on from this he gets a new contract. We have never shown anything but faith in him the other way round.

        1. Worth noting given that he’s English and not popular anymore there will be massive complaints about his wage similar to Nketiah if he does secure a new contract. I pay that no mind (understanding the economics for HG) but just noting it will happen unless he goes insane goalscorer from now on.

  59. Easy, easy! Look at Chelsea, look at Liverpool, hell look at Spurs and the dire football they are playing. Tired? Slump? Do me a favour! We are top of the league, say we are top the league. No easy start anymore, no ifs no buts we are! Outside of all of that when we are ticking it is fun to watch, fun being an understatement!

  61. I guess there is no point in our fans singing “you’re getting sacked in the morning”to Cooper ,after he recently signed an extension!!

      1. The irony is singing you’re getting sacked in the morning is the most generic boring song ever 🤣🤣🤣

  62. Very happy for Nelson making me eat Humble pie…. 5 star performance and no complaints really in the 2nd half apart from Viera’s 2 bad passes. But everything else has been good so far…

    1. Never expected it from him myself, he’s one I want to succeed so badly (because I know the talent is there) but did not expect it to happen. It was hope and I hope this is a catalyst for him to continue on and those on the fence get behind and support him for better or worse.

  64. Nelson was always rated highly in the academy but has had stop, start with injuries contributing to that. Hopefully today this can kickstart his Arsenal career and expect him to start on Thursday 💪🏾

    1. If I remember correctly,last season he had a difficult start to his loan but after Christmas,he was playing regularly well.

      1. He got laid out on the bench by PSV due to his levels originally but yes his later season was successful, not tree-pulling. Personally and I can’t speak for the man but I think PSV made him a man who was no longer guaranteed success. Your talent takes you so far now you have to do it and justify the wages. Personally, nothing will make me happier than if he has taken that onboard and excelled. He was 2nd only to Sancho in the England-perceived future at that time during youth levels. If he has his head right he’ll prove a lot of people wrong now.

  65. Just browsing through all the above comments now some hour or more after the game. Its so funny seeing some of those posts so premature and how the same folk had to eat their own words in the light ofmatch events!
    Gave me a good laugh at how fans in general -not all of course , but many- are so fickle.

    But at least it shows they care, which is to be applauded.

  66. Love the photo to go with the headline – there’s old Tierney holding up the pennant 🙂

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