After a week off, Arsenal visited Nottingham Forrest in what was a pretty stale affair. In recent years, the Gunners have not found much luck at the City Ground not winning there since 2016, a run which involved three consecutive losses for the North London outfit.
Emile Smith Rowe returned to a Premier League starting eleven for the first time since October upon promised minutes from Mikel Arteta. Fan favourite Taiwo Awoniyi also made a return this game for home side as he came on for Chris Wood at halftime.
The away side started brightly as they controlled large portions of the first half knocking on the door of the Forrest defence, but as we have seen all too many times this season, the Gunners lacked that penetrative pass that would unlock the deep block of their opponent. Nuno Espírito Santo's side only managed 19% possession during the opening period as they stifled Arsenal to only one shot on target before the break.
The second half saw the deadlock broken with a sharp throw in from Oleksandr Zinchenko into the path of Gabriel Jesus who slotted through the legs of Matt Turner. It was more suffering for the American as he got a hand to Bukayo Saka's strike but to no avail as the ball hit the back of the net making the score 0-2 on the 72nd minute.
Nottingham Forrest gave Arsenal a late scare with a composed Taiwo Awoniyi turn and finish one minute before the 90'. The Nigerian centre forward made it three goals in his last three against the Gunners, but his efforts only resulted in consolation as the full time whistle was blown not long after.
This result places Arsenal 2nd place for the night as they face Liverpool at the weekend, whilst Nottingham Forrest languish in 16th, two points off of the relegation zone.
Mikel Arteta had this to say in his post match press conference.
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Zinchenko & White Altercation
After the full time whistles, cameras caught a heated dispute between Benjamin White and Oleksandr Zinchenko which saw Arteta become involved. The Arsenal boss commented on the incident.
"That's pushing each other and being not happy conceding nothing and I have to encourage that and promote it in the right way, in the respectful way".
"Sometimes after the game it is too emotional and too heated but I love that the players are pushing each other and demanding excellence and today we conceded a goal that is not at the level we want".
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Emile Smith Rowe's Return
Amidst the rumours of a potential exit for Smith Rowe this January window, Mikel Arteta started the Arsenal number 10 for the first time in three months. Arteta spoke previously on Emile's quality how he plans to give more minutes to the 23 year old and has done so in the last few weeks with 21 minutes against Crystal Palace and 71 minutes today away to Forrest.
Mikel had this to say on Smith Rowe's performance.
"I think he looked exactly the same as he looks in training. He fully deserves his chance. He’s really put his head down, his attitude has been really good. He’s a tremendous player and you see the way he moves. It’s just a joy to watch him".
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Gabriel Jesus Creates Chaos
With recent calls for a centre forward, Gabriel Jesus' performance today showed fans the exact reason why he is trusted as Arsenal's starting striker. Jesus brought his Brazillian flair in an all action display capped off with a goal and an assist.
"He could have scored another one that he hit the post as well, but his general activity when he has to link play, when he needed to generate chaos, when he needed to create that magic moment he was there and I thought he was really good".
The Arsenal boss also touched upon Jesus' willingness to be involved.
"Gabby started to win the game two days ago because he had a slight issue with the knee and everybody was trying to protect him and don't go outside and he said I'm there, minus two, minus one, I want to train, I want to be with the team, I want to win the game for the team and when someone has this attitude, good things are going to happen".
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Liverpool Next Up
In what could potentially be deemed as a title decider, Arsenal play Liverpool on Sunday who will be playing for the departing Jurgen Klopp. Arteta commented on how todays victory will help his team going into that match.
"We have some momentum now in terms of performance and results and go go go, we have a beautiful game to play ahead of us and make sure everybody is ready for it".
Arsenal next face Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday February 4th at 4:30PM.
