Reasons to be cheerful as Premier League football returns with Arsenal vs Forest 

Scarlet Katz Roberts analyses Arsenal's performance at Liverpool and sees the positives ahead of Forest at the Emirates 

The Premier League is set to return this weekend with Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest kicking-off at 1230pm, with Scarlet Katz Roberts insisting there are reasons to be cheerful in light of the Gunners dogged display at Anfield before the international break. 

The positives were numerous.

At Anfield - and for the Three Lions - Madueke has looked bright and strong.

Noni Madueke was a standout performer at Liverpool repeatedly driving at Milos Kerkez. With the talented 23-year-old continuing his excellent early season form with a goal during England's 5-0 rout of Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday evening.

Riccardo Calafiori was omnipresent at Anfield, with Mo Salah pocketed. He also managed ninety minutes.

Calafiori was everywhere, and looked surprisingly able in one on one battles against Salah. Liverpool were reduced to two shots, their lowest in the premier league since 2021. Apart from a Virgil Van Dijk scare, we were completely untroubled. Liverpool predictably improved after half time, but Salah didn’t have a shot until the 73rd minute.

Christian Mosquera was as unflustered as it is possible to be in one of the most ‘intimidating’ grounds in English football.

Individual brilliance aside, as the stats suggest, it was an even encounter.

Despite Liverpool's acquisition of Alexander Isak, I firmly believe there is no footballing reason why Arsenal can’t go all the way in the title race.

The question is about belief and conviction now.

Can we turn this narrow defeat into a 'City losing 1-0 at the Emirates' in October 2023, or do we allow the criticism to define us. 

The past is prologue

855 days ago we lost to Manchester City, repeatedly picked off on the break, the last whimpers of a fading title challenge.

Naturally, given the context Sky Sports has decided to apply to this fledgling season, which contains within it a kernel of a reason (a single kernel), Arsenal were expected to show up at Anfield and win - to prove our title chops.

Yet, this narrative entirely overlooked the fact Arsenal were already depleted at Liverpool - missing their star player and their captain. But the goodwill has run out. There are no excuses anymore.

Losing to a big team, especially a title rival is painful, and it feels particularly cruel that we have to wait two weeks to avenge it.

Not to mention Liverpool went on to sign Isak the day after.

So hello and welcome to the first low of the season.

From down here, cheek pressed into the canvas, the crowd cheering rapturously for the opposition, I’d like to address the facts of the game.

Despite the expected pile on from Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville, I thought we played quite well. The famous “febrile” and “intimidating” Anfield atmosphere was dampened in the first half by an assured and physical performance.

It was undeniably a defensively resolute performance, one that favoured us in shots taken and expected goals. Around the 60 minute mark, the game changed. Alexis Mac Allister was replaced by Curtis Jones, Liverpool saw more of the ball and the crowd woke up.

Arsenal were still generally untroubled despite a few last ditch blocks and a goal that was rightly ruled offside.

Arguably, Arteta could’ve introduced Eberechie Eze and Martin Odegaard then, but he waited until the 70th minute. Could he have moved earlier as Arne Slot did? I don’t know.

We had a game plan, and everything was pretty much going to plan. Also, It’s not realistic to spend 90 minutes in cruise control in an away match in the Premier League, champions or not, they were going to put us under pressure at some point.

We’d introduced our attacking players to try and make things happen offensively, so the idea that we lacked the ambition to win is in my opinion, a bit unfair.

Anyway, Liverpool’s goal was a bolt from the blue. Ironically, for all the talk about ambition and ‘wanting to win’, it was a set play that decided the things, which surely would’ve been used as a stick to beat us with had we done the same.

Last word on the approach…

When I saw the midfield starting, I’ll admit, I was concerned about our fluidity. But I think each selection had its merits: Gabi Martinelli (a tenacious defender) has scored six goals against Liverpool including one in this fixture last year, Mikel Merino, an apparently defensive choice, spent a lot of time in the second striker position.

It was Merino who scored in both fixtures against Liverpool last season. The extent to which Arsenal would’ve approached the game differently with everyone fit is impossible to determine.

What is incontravertibly true is that Mikel Arteta’s hand was forced by the personnel available to him. There is no doubt Kai Havertz would have started this one over a still half fit Viktor Gyokores.

It is a guarantee that Martin Odegaard would’ve started if physically able to.

Not to mention Liverpool being Martin Zubimendi’s third Premier League game, Eze only having trained with the team for four days, and Christhian Mosquera making his first premier league appearance of any length.

As it is we “got what we deserved”.

For all of our defensive solidity, which was immense, we came away empty handed.

The more pressing and worrying concern is about our ability to keep our players fit.

With eight men down already this season, we can injury proof as much as we like, but that will swiftly become irrelevant if they are dropping at this rate.

This is not to say that Arsenal shouldn’t face any criticism for the approach and performance. It is absolutely true that we lacked creativity.

We didn’t get the ball to Gyokores often or quickly enough. We often broke the first line of the Liverpool press only to pass sideways, prioritising possession over penetration.

Ultimately, we didn’t threaten them. I think the key question is whether the creativity that we long for was possible in the circumstances and the key context is that they didn’t threaten us either.