Arsenal face a tough away day against Nottingham Forest
By Neel Shelat
Goalscoring proving difficult for Nottingham Forest
When Oliver Glasner’s move to the City Ground was announced, those who had closely followed the Austrian tactician’s work could already have predicted what his Nottingham Forest side would look like. They would look to defend in a compact block and be tough to break down, and threaten going forward by being pretty direct in their attacking.
Six games in, those traits are already evident in this Forest side. They have the second-lowest xG conceded tally in the league – trailing only this weekend’s opponents – and have created a fair amount of presentable chances even with a possession average of less than 49%. Yet, they are currently 15th in the standings with just five points.
The main problem has been their forwards’ form in front of goal. They have scored just five goals from an xG tally of 10.6 and lead the league in terms of big chances missed. Forest are sure to make their way up the table the moment some more of those efforts start going in.
Arsenal making a habit of slow starts
Arsenal have picked up three points in all but one of their matches so far this season, but they haven’t quite been coasting to victories. In fact, they haven’t scored in the first half of five of their last six games, with the only outlier being a 4-2 win against newly-promoted Ipswich.
The Gunners’ strength in depth has proven vital during this run. Just in the last week, Bruno Guimarães came off the bench to score the winner against Leeds United in the league, while Bukayo Saka’s contributions after coming on in the 65th minute against Lille were instrumental in putting that Champions League contest to bed.
Team news
Nicolò Savona and Igor Jesus are confirmed absentees for Forest, while centre-back Nikola Milenković is a major doubt.
Arsenal will be without a few players in different positions as well. William Saliba is yet to feature this season after aggravating a back injury at the World Cup. Piero Hincapié and Martín Zubimendi picked up minor issues recently, while Christos Tzolis’ absence leaves the left wing spot open.
Key Players
Morgan Gibbs-White will be central to the hosts’ attacking plans; he leads the league for big chances created. Daniel Muñoz will need to put in a big shift on the right flank, and Murillo will have to produce an excellent all-round display at the back.
Noni Madueke looked the most threatening of Arsenal’s attackers last weekend and assisted the opener against Lille, so he will be keen to continue making telling contributions. Riccardo Calafiori’s dynamic movement could be the wildcard that throws Forest’s defenders off, while Myles Lewis-Skelly will look to make inroads through the middle of their defensive block.
Prediction
Arsenal should have enough quality to come away with a victory by a narrow margin.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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