Our away day odyssey continues on Saturday when we look to follow up road wins at Portsmouth and Chelsea with another success at Nottingham Forest (5.30pm).
Regularly playing away from Emirates Stadium has’t affected us, and we head to the City Ground on a five-game winning streak away from home, scoring at least three goals in four of those triumphs, including in each of their last three.
In fact, we have lost just two of our last 24 away Premier League games, the competition we will shift our focus back towards after our recent cup exploits as we look to keep the chasing pack at arm’s length against a Reds side struggling in 17th spot, scrapping for their top-flight lives.
Tricky Trees’ season of woe
Forest’s exploits last term seem like light-years ago. Having guided them to a first European campaign in 29 years, Nuno Espirito Santo’s boardroom battles saw him depart after three league games, while Ange Postecoglou lasted just 39 days after failing to win any of his eight games across all competitions.
Sean Dyche was parachuted in with Forest in the relegation zone, and would pick up four wins and a draw from his first eight league games to pull them away from the bottom three. However that new manager bounce has burst courtesy of four straight losses either side of Christmas to Fulham, Manchester City, Everton and Aston Villa.
A crunch game was won at West Ham United to open up a seven-point gap between the teams either side of the drop zone, but last Friday’s penalty shootout exit at Wrexham in the FA Cup has caused dissent again. Having previously made the City Ground a fortress, the Reds have lost six of their 10 home league games this season, and have already conceded more home goals (17) than in 2024/25.
What the managers say
Arteta: “Winning away from home in the Premier League is extremely tough. They are a team that we have beaten over the last few years and we have done a lot of things right to beat a really good team. With Sean, they are different, very, very efficient in what they do, have a very clear identity and that’s what makes them very dangerous.
“He’s a top coach, really good at what he does. You can see straight away his fingerprints on the team, the way they play, the results that they’ve got against some of the big teams as well, how difficult they constantly make it for you. So it’ll be a very tough match.” - every word from Mikel’s pre-match press conference
Read more Every word of Mikel’s pre-Forest press conference
Dyche: “You’ve got to work hard, but that should be a prerequisite. It wasn’t against Wrexham, but generally it has been. You’ve got to do all the basics well. Your shape has got to be good. You’ve got to work hard out of possession, and you’ve got to work and wait for your opportunities sometimes.
“[Arsenal] keep the ball well, they’ve been productive. They get the ball forward quicker than they have been previously. Everyone talks about their set pieces, but they’re not just a set-piece outfit, that’s for sure. They’re a very strong outfit, so you’ve got to be ready on all levels.”
Team news
Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera remain defensive doubts as they continue to recover from the injuries that have kept them out recently.
Piero Hincapie is also recovering from a thigh issue sustained against Liverpool last week, while Max Dowman is still missing with a hamstring problem.
Having been sidelined since the start of December, captain Ryan Yates returned to training this week and could be called upon, and Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare are back after competing at the Africa Cup of Nations for the Ivory Coast.
However both Chris Wood and goalkeeper John Victor have undergone surgery this week to fix knee issues, Oleksandr Zinchenko is ineligible to face his former club and £26 million summer arrival Arnaud Kalimuendo has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan after scoring twice in 15 appearances.
Read more Anderson: A pioneer, Forest icon and Arsenal hero
Facts and stats
We are unbeaten in our last five games against Nottingham Forest since a 1-0 loss at the City Ground in May 2023, keeping a clean sheet in each of the last three.
Forest have won just three of their last 14 home league games, losing each of their last two. Only West Ham and Wolves (8) have lost more Premier League home games this season than Forest (6) - their joint-most in their opening 10 home matches of a league campaign.
The Reds have lost eight of their last 10 Premier League games against us, though both exceptions have come at the City Ground since their return to the top-flight in 2022.
We have kept a clean sheet in each of our last three Premier League games against Forest, our longest run of league shutouts against the Tricky Trees.
We drew 0-0 with Liverpool in our last Premier League game. Since the start of 2022/23, we’ve only failed to score in consecutive league games on two occasions, though both times the second game came away against Nottingham Forest (May 2023, February 2025).
Excluding penalties, we have scored more set-piece goals than any other side in the Premier League this season (14), while only Bournemouth (14) have conceded more from set plays than Nottingham Forest (13).
Sean Dyche has never seen his sides score more than once in a Premier League game against us, netting eight goals in 19 meetings. He’s also won just two of these 19 games, with Burnley in December 2020 and Everton in February 2023.
Bukayo Saka has scored in each of his last three Premier League appearances against Nottingham Forest.
Morgan Gibbs-White has scored in his last two league games and is Forest’s highest league scorer this season with five. However, he’s made more appearances (9) without ever scoring or assisting against us than any other side.
Leandro Trossard has had a hand in nine goals across his last 11 away appearances in the Premier League (6 goals, 3 assists).
Taiwo Awoniyi has scored all three of the Reds' goals against us since their return to the Premier League in 2022.Gabriel Jesus has had a hand in four goals across his four Premier League appearances against Forest (1 goal, 3 assists), scoring and assisting in his most recent visit to the City Ground in January 2024.
Match officials
Michael Oliver is handed his second Gunners game of the campaign, following our 4-1 triumph against Tottenham Hotspur back in November. We are unbeaten in the last seven games under his watch, stretching back to December 2023, but have won 32 of 63 during the 15 years he has been officiating us.
This will be his third visit to the City Ground this season, and the previous two saw Forest lose 2-0 at the hands of Brighton in November, and Everton last month. The Reds have only won six of 22 that he has been in the middle of. Oliver has brandished just one red card and awarded one penalty in 17 top-flight matches this term.
Referee: Michael OliverAssistants: Stuart Burt, James MainwaringFourth official: Tom KirkVAR: Darren EnglandAssistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
Previous trips to Nottingham
Our trips to the banks of the Trent haven’t been too fruitful in recent years. We have won just one of our last five visits to the City Ground in all competitions, although we are unbeaten in the last two.
Last season brought a 0-0 stalemate between the sides in February 2025, but the campaign before saw us triumph 2-1 in January 2024 when Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka were on target before Taiwo Awoniyi made things nervy with a late consolation.
The previous May saw us fall to a 1-0 loss when Awoniyi netted again, effectively ending our title challenge, and the season before brought about the same scoreline in the FA Cup third round, when Lewis Grabban scored the only goal.
Read more From the vault: Five classic wins at Forest
Live coverage
Make sure you tune into Live From N5 just before kick-off to hear live commentary of the game provided by Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke, who will guide you through all the action.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
Read more How to watch Nottingham Forest v Arsenal on TV
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