{"id":41443,"date":"2024-01-31T07:17:13","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T07:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=41443"},"modified":"2024-01-31T07:17:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T07:17:14","slug":"premier-leaguenottm-forest-1-2-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/01\/31\/premier-leaguenottm-forest-1-2-arsenal\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League:Nottm Forest 1-2 Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mikel Arteta could feel his \u00adnightmares at the City Ground float away. He had been here twice previously as the Arsenal manager, losing on both \u00adoccasions and with degrees of ignominy. There was the\u00a0FA Cup exit in 2022, after which he ranted in the dressing room about the \u00adattitude of his players (footage courtesy of \u00adAmazon Prime). And then the\u00a0\u00adPremier League defeat\u00a0at the end of last season, which officially ended his team\u2019s title challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteta needed something to keep the spark about Arsenal\u2019s challenge for the trophy he so covets. And for the opening 45 minutes, when his players passed and passed but seemed curiously reluctant to shoot, it was possible to fear that more \u00adfrustration could be incoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elijah<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal tore the notion apart, showing that patience was a \u00advirtue, landing quickfire blows after the hour which proved sufficient \u2013 despite Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo\u2019s Nottingham Forest fighting until the last. The \u00adPortuguese manager has coached his side to victories\u00a0over Newcastle\u00a0and\u00a0Manchester <\/a>United\u00a0so far in his brief tenure. Arsenal were a step too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening goal was Arsenal\u2019s 14th from a set piece in the league this season, Oleksandr \u00adZinchenko\u2019s \u00adthrow-in finding Gabriel Jesus in space but, really, it will be \u00adremembered as a horror show for the Forest \u00adgoalkeeper, Matt Turner \u2013 \u00adformerly of Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus knew the angle was \u00adunfavourable when he shot, close to the byline, but the ball fizzed through Turner\u2019s legs, \u00adbrushing in off the inside of one of them. It had seemed as if Arsenal were trying to score the perfect goal; an ugly one tasted just as sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, who pushed through the pain of a knee injury to declare \u00adhimself fit, turned creator for the second, playing in Bukayo Saka for a clinical finish after Gonzalo \u00adMontiel had invited a quick \u00adtransition with a sloppy pass and that appeared to be that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a time it was, although \u00adForest made it extremely nervy in the \u00adclosing stages, the Arsenal inquest after the final whistle featuring a heated \u00adconfrontation between Zinchenko and Ben White. They had to be \u00adseparated. Arteta said he loved how his players \u201cwere demanding more from each other \u2026 they were not happy with the way they conceded\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteta would certainly not have loved it if Taiwo Awoniyi, on at half\u2011time for his first football since mid\u2011November, had scored an \u00adequaliser in stoppage time. The striker had got one back in the 89th\u00a0minute after watching \u00adMontiel head square and levering \u00adWilliam\u00a0Saliba out of the way before beating David Raya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now he volleyed goalwards, the ball having sat up for him after Morgan Gibbs-White returned a half\u2011cleared corner into the area. It needed a decent save from Raya to stop Arteta\u2019s \u201cbad experiences\u201d at this stadium, as he had called them on Monday, from continuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happened last year was still in our tummy,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cI could feel that the players were talking about it. Coming to that dressing room really reminds you. We wanted to put it right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forest were happy for Arsenal to play in front of them, even to seek low passes up the channels. What they knew they had to do was defend their box, to mass men around any visiting players who got that far. Not many did in the first half, Forest\u2019s hard work making it similarly so for Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a moment midway through the first half when a high ball dropped for Arteta in his \u00adtechnical area and he killed it with a Cruyff-turn-style piece of control. It was \u00adtempting to wonder whether he might be \u00adbetter served on the field because his \u00adplayers were struggling; too slow with their moves, too \u00adpredictable with their patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forest offered little as an \u00adattacking force before the interval, save for a Chris Wood shot that was blocked by Zinchenko after a Gibbs-White burst and a rising Danilo drive that rose too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bukayo<\/a>
Bukayo Saka (second left) celebrates with his teammates after scoring Arsenal\u2019s second goal against Nottingham Forest.Photograph: Daniel Chesterton\/Offside\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal dominated in territorial terms but first-half chances were in short supply. The moment that \u00adquickened the pulse came in the 44th minute when Zinchenko drove in a low ball and, after Murillo could not clear, Emile Smith Rowe \u2013 \u00adstarting only his second league game all \u00adseason \u2013 prodded to Saka. His shot was blocked by the all-action Murillo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuno wanted Awoniyi to link in the second half with Gibbs-White, who looked good when he drove \u00adforward in possession. But it was Arsenal who brought the urgency. Saka worked Turner and Jesus \u00adadvertised the breakthrough, \u00adstriking the post when gloriously placed after a fine team move involving Saka and Martin \u00d8degaard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal would make their \u00adsuperio\u00adrity count. Next up for them is Liverpool at home on Sunday. \u201cWe have some momentum now,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cNow go, go, go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta could feel his \u00adnightmares at the City Ground float away. He had been here twice previously as the Arsenal manager, losing on both \u00adoccasions and with degrees of ignominy. There was the\u00a0FA Cup exit in 2022, after which he ranted in the dressing room about the \u00adattitude of his players (footage courtesy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":41444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[5310,285,10632,10855,8587,9331,9478,5984,8057,746,5247,4918,803,9486,11294,7970,9515,197,12791,11252,115,12309,4807,1717,8323,7534,11973,13256,267,9761,11259,5470,3080,6571,10415,594],"class_list":["post-41443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-amazon","tag-arsenal","tag-attitude","tag-blows","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-city","tag-dropped","tag-fa-cup","tag-fear","tag-feel","tag-football","tag-gabriel-jesus","tag-goalkeeper","tag-horror","tag-injury","tag-jesus","tag-killed","tag-liverpool","tag-manager","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-united","tag-men","tag-mikel-arteta","tag-newcastle","tag-nottingham","tag-nottingham-forest","tag-one","tag-players","tag-premier-league","tag-shoot","tag-shot","tag-space","tag-united-kingdom","tag-white","tag-work","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41445,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41443\/revisions\/41445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}