Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal – Preview by Alex Walsh

The Gunners travel to the City Ground for their final away fixture of the 2022-23 season this weekend. 

Read on for Alex Walsh's preview of Saturday's clash

Preamble:

Arsenal's title-winning hopes took a massive blow last weekend when Roberto De Zerbi's Seagulls secured a convincing 3-0 win at the Emirates.

On Saturday, Mikel Arteta's Gunners will seek a form of redress, and head to Nottingham in a last-ditch effort to put pressure on Manchester City.

Anything but a win against Forest will hand the Premier League title to the blue side of Manchester.

Even if Arsenal manage to grab the three points against Forest, Man City can still secure the title on Sunday when they play Chelsea at the Etihad.

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Focus on Forest

Plenty is at stake for Nottingham Forest too.

Steve Cooper's men have made an impressive push towards the end of the season, but still, they find themselves only three points clear of the relegation zone.

A win for them would all but secure another season in the English top flight.

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Arsenal team news 

Unfortunately, at Friday's press conference, Arteta confirmed what most Arsenal fans were fearing after the defeat at Brighton.

The Gunners will be without both Gabriel Martinelli and Oleksandr Zinchenko for the remainder of the season.Martinelli, who is Arsenal's joint top scorer this season, appears to be out for a longer period of time, while Zinchenko's injury isn't as serious.

When asked about their recovery, this is what Arteta had to say: “Different. Gabi is a pretty nasty injury, we need to assess in the next week how long he’ll be out for, but it will be at least weeks.

"With Alex it’s a calf issue and he won’t be available to play the next two games.”

With Saliba still out and Kiwior being favored three games in a row over Rob Holding, it means Arteta will most likely field the same back-five as in the Brighton game.

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Predicted line-up: (4-2-3-1)

Backline:

GK: Aaron Ramsdale

RB: Benjamin White

RCB: Jakub Kiwio

LCB: Gabriel

LB: Kieran Tierney

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Midfield Three: 

Moving on to the midfield three, Jorginho has been favored over Thomas Partey for last three games in a row. It will be interesting to see whether Jorginho will keep his place or if the Ghanaian midfielder will regain it. The other two spots in midfield have picked itself all season, so it will most likely look like this:

CDM: Jorginho OR Thomas Partey

LCM: Granit Xhaka

RCM: Martin Ødegaard

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Front Three: 

The front three will definitely not be the same as against Brighton with Martinelli out. It will be interesting to see if Arteta goes with the obvious replacement, Leandro Trossard, or if Reiss Nelson might get a start.

Nelson came on against Brighton in the 60th minute and looked very lively. Also, if we wind the clock back to the last time Arsenal played Forest, Nelson came on as a substitute and scored two goals.Emile Smith Rowe hasn’t played much this season, so it is difficult imagining a start for the Hale End boy.

As with the midfield, the other two spots in the attack, pretty much picks themselves. Since Gabriel Jesus returned from injury, he’s been playing very consistently, while Bukayo Saka has been involved in every Premier League game this season:

LW: Leandro Trossard/Reiss Nelson

ST: Gabriel Jesus

RW: Bukayo Saka

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Previous 2022-23 meeting: 

The last time these two teams faced off against each other was at the Emirates Stadium on the 30th of October, where Arsenal cruised to a 5-0 victory.

Arteta's Arsenal will be hoping to repeat that performance to finish the season on a high, while Steve Cooper and Forest will be hoping to take a giant leap towards securing another season in the Premier League.