Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest: Instant Reaction

Straight into things

Headline: Three Shaky Points

Arsenal had all the ball in this match and absolutely pushed back Nottingham Forest, it just did not translate into any real danger of note. Arsenal score two goals but neither were clear cut chances, the first was from what might have been an unintentional pass by Gabriel Martinelli, to Eddie Nketiah whose shot took a friendly deflection and the second was a worldie goal from Bukayo Saka.

Arsenal had just 1 shot that was rated as better than a 10% chance in this match and that was a Saka shot in the 87th minute.

In the first half Arsenal had nearly 90% of the possession but it was really hard to translate into much danger, creating just 7 shots and 18 touches in the box. In the second half Arsenal seemed to lose some of the control and ability to push Forest back with just touches in the box from the start of halftime to the 67th minute. It felt like they were playing like the match was over and they had a three-goal cushion when things were still a bit more in the balance.

Forest came in with the intention to frustrate and clog things up and they did a pretty good job at that.

The experimental formation looks to still be a work in progress