I don’t normally watch other teams’ games live and certainly not our nearest rivals’ matches but yesterday at midday I put it on the TV in the hope that I would possibly see the Eastlands Mob drop a couple of points yet again. But never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that the Oilers would be so comprehensively outplayed and to such a degree that losing the game 2-0 actually seemed like a good result.
With that in mind my thoughts switched to the City Ground, Nottingham where on their day Forest can give anyone a tough examination, especially if the referee is lax, so I knew the Gunners would need to be on their mettle especially after such a tiring few days in order to take advantage of United’s win.
Arteta had Mosquera returning to the squad which was great but his defensive options otherwise were pretty much none. Norgaard dropped out of the squad for Mosquera and the other main changes to the midweek cup-tie at Stamford Bridge was Madueke and Martinelli in for Trossard and Saka who both got a sit-down and of course Raya for Kepa. No Nwaneri again which will annoy his fans but I suspect we’ll see him in the group in Milano next week?
With West Ham winning at Tottenham the Forest fans were aware of how important this game was and they created a big atmosphere that motivated their players who on top had a full week to rest and prepare. By contrast the Arsenal players were coming off of the back of a tough midweek semi-final vs Chelsea and probably needed to play sensibly to save a little in the tank and so the game settled into a pattern. Arsenal dominating possession but Forest breaking out of their low low block to suddenly have periods of pressure, not that Raya had many moments of concern.
Mat Sels in the Forest goal was far busier and was named man of the match, sorry player of the match. The opening 17 minutes saw Arsenal probing for Forest weaknesses and Forest shutting the door. Michael Oliver our old mate, turned a blind eye to some quite rough house Forest challenges which saw Odegaard fairly anonymous early doors. Zubimendi was also being closely policed by Anderson and on 24 disaster almost struck when the ball found its way to Hudson Odoi who looked through on goal, fortunately Raya was on guard and he executed a perfect sliding tackle to clear the danger, how lucky we are to have him in our goal.
On 28 a great cross into the box was just missed by Gyokeres and Rice and a minute later Madueke had a shot from the edge of the box, a Forest defender got a slight touch and it ran to Martinelli at the far post but he somehow put his shot wide. It would prove to be a precursor for our finishing throughout this match. Two minutes later Zubimendi sprinted into the box and calmly sent his low shot wide as well. By then we should have been cruising.
Forest came back and built up a head of steam and on 38 Hudson Odoi skipped past Timber and was brought down just shy of the penalty area. Anderson took the free kick but Raya saved it comfortably and it was back to Arsenal domination. On 41 a pass almost put Gyokeres away on goal but Murillo stopped him as he threatened to burst clear and that was that for chances. Half-time 0-0
Gabriel Martinelli is the cup goals king for us but doesn’t take that form into the Premier League which may have played into Arteta’s decision to replace him at half-time, he’ll probably score in the San Siro on Tuesday. As it was Leo didn’t have a huge impact either as Forest’s tireless closing down stymied any Arsenal attempts to create. Arteta didn’t hang about and 12 minutes after the re-start he took off the disappointing Madueke for Saka, the tired looking Odegaard for Merino and Gyokeres for Jesus.
On 59 Saka showed his class by getting past his full back and crossing invitingly into the box, Rice met it but his shot wasn’t clean and Sels saved. On 64 Trossard put over a great cross but Merino, of all people, missed his header. A minute later Rice surged down the left and his pinpoint cross was met by Saka who looked to have found the top corner of the goal with his header until that blasted Sels tipped it around the post. Great save damn him. On 70 minutes Saka again put over a tantalising cross but you-know-who saved Merino’s header. Two minutes later a Rice free kick floated into the box but Merino unluckily headed wide. On another day he would have had a couple or three goals, maybe he’s saving them for the San Siro?
Then on 75 minutes came the incident that had me scratching my head in disbelief but not surprise, the co-commentator called it as a penalty and they’re not often wrong when expressing an opinion beforehand but VAR inexplicably waved away Arsenal’s penalty appeals when a Forest defender clearly controlled the ball with his arm. Arteta mentioned it in his post match so he was obviously fuming. But for me that decision was exactly in line with all the other poor, average and lackadaisical officiating we saw during the game. Maybe the PGMOL wants to ensure that the title race goes the full distance, only for the good of the product and TV viewers of course?!
Eze replaced Zubimendi on 79 and almost got on the end of a through ball immediately but it came to nothing and even with 5 minutes added time Arsenal couldn’t make the breakthrough, but at least we didn’t pick up any injuries and when you have a chump like Oliver as referee, that’s always a worry. All in all it was a great day so we shouldn’t be too disappointed, I just hope we don’t get Oliver anymore this season.
We march on….
**By Kev**