Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal Stats: The Quick Hits
- Arsenal are the favourites at the City Ground, defeating Nottingham Forest in 54.4% of pre-game simulations by the Opta supercomputer.
- Forest have dropped the most points from winning positions since their return to the Premier League last season (46).
- Arsenal have won five of their last six Premier League games against Nottingham Forest (L1) and are looking to do the double over them in the competition for just the second time (also in 1998-99).
Match Preview
Having suffered from a Christmas and New Year’s hangover, Arsenal will be looking for another response to make ground on Premier League leaders Liverpool and build upon a crushing victory over Crystal Palace when they visit Nottingham Forest for Tuesday’s clash at the City Ground.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta cut a frustrated figure over the festive period as his side were defeated in back-to-back league games with Fulham and West Ham United, plus their FA Cup third-round elimination against Jürgen Klopp’s Reds. However, the north London club responded with a 5-0 demolition of Palace on Matchday 21, leaving the Gunners level with Aston Villa and Manchester City – the latter who have a game in hand – as the trio trailing top-flight leaders Liverpool by five points heading into Matchday 22.
Gabriel Magalhães scored the opener at the Emirates Stadium against the Eagles before adding a second soon after, while Leandro Trossard added another prior to Gabriel Martinelli’s late brace in a 21-minute substitute cameo, as many goals as he had managed in his previous 22 Premier League games combined.
Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal Head-to-Head
Arsenal have won five of their last six Premier League games against Forest (L1). Arteta’s men are looking to do the double over them in the competition for just the second time (also 1998-99) after winning 2-1 in August thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah, with Taiwo Awoniyi’s scoring a late consolation.
However, Forest have won their last three home games against Arsenal in all competitions, winning FA Cup ties in 2018 (4-2) and 2022 (1-0) before a 1-0 victory in this exact fixture last season when Awoniyi scored to confirm Premier League safety for the hosts and hand the title to Manchester City.
Forest have never won four consecutive home games against Arsenal but the troublesome away form of their visitors may open up an opportunity on Tuesday.
Recent Form
Arsenal have struggled on the road, winning just two of their last seven Premier League away games – against Luton Town and Brentford – despite triumphing in their opening three such top-flight fixtures with Crystal Palace, Everton and Bournemouth this campaign.
The north London club are winless in their last three away league games after losing to Aston Villa and Fulham either side of a draw with Liverpool – they’ve not had a longer winless run under Arteta since his first six such games in charge between December 2019 and June 2020 (D4 L2).
Forest are in danger of being dragged into a relegation battle with a reported points deduction looming, but their last two Premier League wins have been against sides that finished in last season’s top four – beating Newcastle United 3-1 and Manchester United 2-1 – despite winning just two of their previous 36 such games in the competition (D8 L26).
Both victories over Newcastle and Man Utd came after Steve Cooper’s dismissal saw the appointment of Nuno, whose four Premier League games in charge of Forest have produced a total of 17 goals (F9 A8), an average of 4.3 per game – almost two goals per game more than his spells in the competition with Wolves (2.4) and Tottenham (2.5).
