Arsenal Seeks to Break Goal Drought Against Nottingham Forest

Arsenal's manager, Mikel Arteta, noted that his team learned from their “extremely average” performance against Brighton before the international break. They rebounded with a 2-1 victory over Leeds last weekend, marking their return to winning form after a 3-0 defeat at Brighton—their first loss of the season.

In their most recent Premier League match against Leeds, Arsenal fell behind but managed to come back. James Justin opened scoring for Leeds in the 55th minute, taking advantage of a defensive lapse. However, Riccardo Calafiori equalized for Arsenal in the 62nd minute, and substitute Bruno Guimaraes secured the win with a goal just six minutes after coming off the bench.

Nottingham Forest’s manager, Oliver Glasner, faced a tough return to Crystal Palace last weekend, where his side lost 3-1 despite Dan Ndoye’s early goal. The defeat left Forest sitting in 15th place in the league standings, while Arsenal is currently second, three points behind Manchester City.

Looking ahead to the upcoming match, Arteta stated that Arsenal would focus on both scoring goals and preventing them, recognizing the challenge posed by a well-coached Nottingham Forest team. Glasner praised Arsenal's work ethic and quality, acknowledging the difficulty of competing against such a talent-rich squad.

In terms of team news, Nottingham Forest is missing striker Igor Jesus and defender Nicolo Savona due to injuries. Playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White is also doubtful, while Nikola Milenkovic is in training and may return. Arsenal will be without winger Christos Tzolis and defender William Saliba, although Martin Zubimendi could see action against Forest.

The Opta supercomputer gives Arsenal a 58.3% chance of winning, compared to 20.4% for Forest, with a 21.3% probability of a draw. Historically, Arsenal leads the matchup, with 56 wins out of 109 encounters.