Nottingham Forest will host Arsenal in the Premier League on Tuesday. With a 5-0 thumping of Crystal Palace last weekend, the Gunners got back to winning and scoring ways. Nuno Espirito Santo’s team was forced to settle for a 0-0 draw with Bristol City in Friday’s FA Cup match.
Preview (Nottingham Forest vs. Arsenal)
Although Taiwo Awoniyi’s boot put an end to Arsenal’s hopes of becoming a Premier League star last season and guaranteed Nottingham Forest a spot in the big time for the second year running, a third consecutive season of top-flight play is far from a given. Nuno Espirito Santo took over in the Forest dugout this season. In his first six games in charge, he has overseen a string of end-to-end, goal-packed matches. With a remarkable 26 goals flying in, including five in their most recent Premier League matchup with Brentford.
However, the Tricky Trees were defeated by the same scoreline against the Ivan Toney-inspired Bees three days after defeating Blackpool 3-2 in the FA Cup. The striker’s controversial comeback goal, a deft free-kick low into the goal. He was marred by rumors that he moved the ball while Santo’s wall was getting ready. After learning that VAR was unable to step in, an enraged Forest—who currently have a four-point lead over Luton Town in 18th place and are in 16th—became losers of their golden scoring run at Ashton Gate on Friday night.
However, the Reds will now play their first Premier League home game of 2024, precisely one month after they defeated Manchester United 2-1 to snap a four-game losing streak at the City Ground. After returning from Dubai with a brand-new pair of shooting boots, Arsenal put an end to their earlier attacking problems on January 20 with a five-star display against their London rivals Crystal Palace.
The Brazilian scored two goals from Gunner’s corners to give his team a commanding lead. Other second-half goals came from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. In ninety minutes at the Emirates, Arsenal equaled their goal total from their miserable seven-game run between December 9 and January 7, during which only one of their games resulted in a victory. At the moment, Michael Arteta’s team is in third place in the table. Aston Villa are trailing only due to a worse goal differential.
Team News
The knockout phases of the competition will involve all six of Nottingham Forest’s Africa Cup of Nations players. Ola Aina, Cheikhou Kouyate, Willy Boly, Serge Aurier, Ibrahim Sangare, and Moussa Niakhate won’t be present. Furthermore, Santo has prevented left-back Nuno Tavares from playing against his parent team. Additionally, Anthony Elanga (thigh), Taiwo Awoniyi (groin), and Divock Origi (groin) missed Friday’s FA Cup match. Tavares has started to rekindle his career under Santo. While it’s unclear if Elanga and Origi will play on Tuesday, they should be the first players off the treatment table conveyor belt.
In addition, Arsenal’s international duo of Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu are still fighting for honors with their nations. Julien Timber (ACL) and Fabio Vieira (groin) are also unlikely to return anytime soon. Declan Rice, the sight that no Gooner wanted to see during last weekend’s crushing of Palace, trudged off. Arteta downplayed his concern, citing “tiredness”. He was absent from Arsenal’s most recent training images raised doubts about his availability for Tuesday.
Nottingham Forest 0-2 Arsenal
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