A pivotal Premier League match is set to take place at The City Ground as Nottingham Forest host Arsenal and this is the side that Mikel Arteta has gone with to start the game.
Arsenal’s title aspirations have been dampened after a surprising 1-0 defeat to West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium, which ended their impressive 15-match unbeaten streak. This loss has put additional pressure on the Gunners to maintain their grip on a Champions League spot.
The Gunners have a history of dominating Nottingham Forest, having won their last three encounters. Their away form has been solid, with an eight-match unbeaten streak on the road. However, the recent defeat has raised questions about their consistency and ability to bounce back from setbacks.
Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, has been a surprise package this season, exceeding expectations with their third-place standing. Despite a recent dip in form, including a thrilling 4-3 loss to Newcastle United, Forest remain confident due to their strong home record. They have not lost at the City Ground in six consecutive matches, boasting seven wins, three draws, and two losses in their home league games this season.
Given Arsenal’s recent setback and Forest’s strong home form, this match could be closely contested. Arsenal will be eager to regain momentum and keep their title hopes alive, while Forest aims to solidify their unexpected Champions League push.
Let us know in the comments below what you think about the team that Arteta has announced and what your predicted score is.
Would not have left Partey out but big call.
Let’s go!!!
Calafiori at left back again, will Arteta ever learn.🤦♂️
Play a back 3 and have the two fullbacks ie: Timber on the right and my personal choice Tierney on the left.
We’ll at least pose more of a threat going forward.
I would even take a chance and play one of the academy players up front. With the league gone, now could be the time to see what they can offer. If not from the start, then certainly at some point in the game.
I’m not sure we’ll have much time to go forward, apart from possibly on the break, I really hope I’m wrong.
Why isn’t Arteta giving the young strikers a chance? His stubborn refusal to give them a look 8n is leading to more injuries to an already depleted squad
It’s going to be a big mountain task for us to get 3 points.
The best we can get is a draw.
I wouldn’t mind if Arsenal surprise me with a win
Calafiori is likely to have his hands full tonight and I only hope we do not play our usual high line against a team which thrives on the counter attack.
You’re not wrong Grandad
Surprise win by West Ham? Didn’t they win the same fixture last year? They are our bogey team. The boys must forget and quickly rise up. I expect a 2-1 win
Watch this team beat Forest after that colossal sabotage vs West Ham. Why not put more salt into our wounds right.
This club only exist to break our hearts repeatedly like our personal hell. It’s the hope that kills.
4-0 win to us
Forest have dropped off ,which was obvious.
Merino 3 goals .
XDD I see the Arsenal insanity spreading like it always does among us when our hopes and dreams are crushed in the spring time
You ok Hun?
63 mins in and still no goals. You still feel the same way Dan?
😂
Dan Kit,
I see your prediction went well. 😂🤣😂🤣👍
A yellow card after 2 minutes 🙄
Bench full of defenders as usual +Sterling so that’s one less can’t blame the youngsters leaving jorginho in this fast forest team LOL
I don’t like that away kit. It doesn’t look right. Arsenal away kits should be disgusting and yellow with a weird pattern.
Blimey
Should that have been a penalty?
Really worrying with a yellow card
I thought so too in real time but haven’t seen a replay. Definite contact apparently. It’s these corrupt refs, SueP
Ha ha!
Couldn’t gone either way but after seeing replay I don’t think so. But if he gives it in real time VAR probably don’t get involved.
👍
I don’t understand what Jorginho is bringing to the game apart from cycling the ball. Get him off and bring in Tierney to play LW and put Trossard up front with Merino otherwise no chance of scoring. Merino can always drop into midfield if Rice and Odegaard start getting overrun.
💤💤💤💤💤 another hard watch.
Dominant at half time but nothing happening at the sharp end at all.
I hope Calafiori doesn’t come back
Move Timber to the left and bring on White at RB
Calafiori looks flustered
The yellow card worries me
Calafiori has a fundamental flaw – he’s simply too slow. Get around him and he’s not catching anyone.
We are playing much better than the Westham game. I think we will get the result.
More than 75% of our attacks going down the right side; Forest using 5 defenders to double team Nwaneri, Odegaard and Timber.
Expect a 0:0 draw if we continue down this path.
And people are wondering why Arteta did not get more funds in January? He’s literally signed two players that are not good enough and unreliable. He hasn’t had a solid purchase since Rice. Same summer he bought in Kai so mixed bag that window too. But people are still going to blame the owners for giving Mikel 800mill+ during his tenure??
Some do RSH. Misguidedly.
Spot on RSH .We simply by rubbish players
Arteta has sucked all the creativity out of these players in the same way Pep has done to Grealish. It’s all possession for possessions sake. Even when we get Free kick in a good position they play it short to keep possession. Odegaard is awful. It has been brought to light that without Saka and Ben White he has nothing to offer this side.
Sorry buy
Just don’t see a goal coming any time soon tonight. Forest are defending so well against us and the fact we just don’t worry any defense right now is all the confidence boost they need. We just couldn’t score in an open goal right now!
Oh, hang on a minute.. Here comes Sterling. We may just win after all!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
That’s a fair assessment
Forest are not good and we haven’t the confidence in the final third to capitalise
game tied at 0: 0, 72nd minute, and not even a sniff for Raheem Sterling!
These players are dead on their feet especially the forwards. The consequences of soo many injuries
White and Partey on after 85 minutes. What a clown show!
We got as much chance of scoring as that guy up on row Z seat number 49! Not signing a striker in Jan was pathetic. That £60m Watkins bid two days before the close of the transfer window was just a smoke screen. The club seriously believed they could cope. It could cost more in a lack of revenue if we drop out of top four!? Fools..
Congratulations to Liverpool! 👏👏👏👏
Rice has zero dribbling skills. Zero…😂
Are there no academy players as strikers?
ive no clue why we haven’t tried this. Literally nothing to lose anymore especially since the season is effectively over. Merino is trying his best but has no striker instinct. Have to keep trying stuff just to squeak into 4th. Doesnt look like we can hold onto 2nd for long.
There was one on the bench!
This is the problem for me
Unless the academy striker is still in nappies then I’d give him a go as it can’t be any worse than playing Merino up front.
However, when all is said and done, I’m happy we did a whole lot better than Saturday
Well we are not making it difficult for Liverpool to win the league. The lack of intensity and quality is scarily evident. I have to say, I would not want Arteta as a commander in the war and many of these in a fight to the death, thats for sure. Timid comes to mind.
I will go as far to say, they have given up. No MOM for weeks and not a lot of fight.
Arteta needs to leave at the end of the season, our squad is weaker compared to what we have last season.
Question What does the young striker on the bench have to do to get a game time?We have no strikers ,playing a defensive midfielder as a striker ,use Sterling a head of him and still he doesn’t get any game time .No wonder our academy strikers leave the club
No use crying over .what should have been. A failed seson.Califiori did good, the attack was much sharper in the first half. Merino was a passenger, a nothing player. Zivchenko, Partey , Stirling all useless substitutions. Trossard was Trossard.The best adjective I can use to describe our attack was toothless. Despite these frustrations I actually enjoyed the game. An underdog performance.Our players were up for it but simply not good enough.
We agree!
It’s not even about the lack of a striker anymore. It’s criminal that we don’t have actual strikers in our squad but our overall play is so slow and predictable that we’re not even creating chances for a striker to finish. Even when we’ve had worse teams than this one we were always worth a watch but we’ve become practically unwatchable.I just can’t wait for this season to end.
I think we need to start talking more and more about how it’s not just about a lack of striker or quality attackers but the overall style of play deployed by Arteta game after game.
This nonsense sideways and backwards passing possession based approach has failed. So predictable and easy to defend against.
Tactically, Arteta has regressed. You can’t compare this nonsense with the exciting direct attack approach of 2022/23 season. It’s now officially even worse than last season.
And you know what the bad news is? I doubt Arteta will change his approach.
I have had with the way we play. I just don’t like watching us. It is shit.