After a tough struggle at the City Ground, Arsenal secured a narrow 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, who have been relegated already, with the only goal being by substitute Noni Madueke. This lifted Arsenal up one place in the Premier League table.
While the Gunners had most of the possession early on, they couldn’t find the way through Forest’s well-organised backline, with both sides producing chances in an exciting first half.
David Raya denied Dan Ndoye by pulling off a save after Riccardo Calafiori lost possession, while the striker who had missed two golden chances at the other end was Kai Havertz.
Delap, who had also given Forest their best chance, was not able to deliver a result in this match, and neither side was able to break the deadlock until the half-time whistle.
In the half-time dressing room, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta decided that Noni Madueke would come on in a bid for some extra width and goal. Forest’s threat was still quite evident after the half had started.
The header from Gabriel Magalhaes, which was a set piece, was the highest point of Arsenal’s attack, whereas Declan Rice’s missed shot was so bad that it was not even a genuine threat. The Gunners kept pouring more pressure on the visitors throughout the rest of the first half of the match.
After an hour and twenty minutes in the game, Madueke had time to carry the ball past the Munoz defender. Then, he fired in the ball, which was deflected by Cunha, causing the goalkeeper, Matz Sels, to miss the direction, and therefore Arsenal had to take advantage to get the ball.
Then Declan Rice made another big defensive play in covering Chris Woods’ attack on goal to allow Arsenal enough time to maintain the lead all the way until they were whistled out.
After Arsenal won this game, it took their win total for different sorts of competitions to three. The gap between Arsenal and leader Manchester City on the Premiership Table is only 6 points.
In their third match in a row, Forest couldn’t score at all and ended up in the relegation zone. There are not many fixtures left, so the need to come out with winning results is becoming more urgent for Forest as well.
