This game was summed up neatly in the 82nd minute when two Nottingham Forest players hunted down Gabriel Jesus as the Arsenal substitute tried to see the ball out for a throw-in. Elliot Anderson was not settling for that, crashing into the tackle that actually won his team the restart. Sixty yards down the touchline, Sean Dyche’s hands went clapping above his head; Mikel Arteta reached his out to either side, palms raised to the skies in incredulity.
Yet such is the way of this season. Just as the opportunity knocked, with Manchester City losing to Manchester United earlier in the day, for Arsenal to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points, with Nottingham Forest seemingly on the ropes with only one win in six previous games, up comes the underdog with a performance to sum up this manager.
This is only the third time Arsenal have failed to score for two successive game since 2022/23 and, on each occasion, Forest have been the second opponents. The last time was here in February of last season when Forest were right in the hunt for Champions League qualification. Now they are relieved to move five points clear of the bottom three.
Who, 12 months ago, would have thought Arsenal would be seeking to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points from this game, after both Liverpool and City faltered, or that Forest would be looking over their shoulder at the relegation places?
