Noni Madueke climbed off the bench to earn toothless Arsenal a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. Madueke, dropped from the recent England squad, came on at half-time and his deflected effort 10 minutes from time was enough for the three points at the City Ground. The goal was Arsenal's only shot on target in a disjointed performance that lacked attacking quality, although the champions' ability to grind out a result cannot be questioned.
The victory moved them back up to second, three points behind leaders Manchester City, but what that actually means given the wider picture of City's guilty verdict over breaches of Premier League financial rules remains to be seen. It was a third 1-0 home defeat of the season for Forest, who are struggling to adapt to life under Oliver Glasner, and they have not scored in five home matches in all competitions after missing two big late chances.
This was also a third league defeat in a row and they now sit in the relegation zone after seven games. It was a pedestrian first half, in which both sides sparred without showing any threat in the final third. Forest had the first meaningful attack after capitalising on a Riccardo Calafiori error, ending with Dan Ndoye's shot deflected for a corner after 20 minutes. Kai Havertz headed over a Declan Rice free-kick in a dismal opening 45 minutes that yielded no shots on target.
Arteta was not impressed and replaced Eberechi Eze with Madueke at half-time in a bid to inject energy. Forest began the second period invigorated, with Liam Delap finding space and drilling a shot deflected into the side-netting. Arsenal should have gone ahead in the 72nd minute when Jurriën Timber pulled back for Rice, who slammed over the crossbar from 12 yards. The Gunners finally went ahead in the 80th minute, as Rice worked the ball to Madueke, whose shot deflected off Jair Cunha and into the far corner. Forest should have equalised in the 89th minute, but Chris Wood took too long to shoot, and Ezri Konsa produced a brilliant last-gasp tackle to deny Delap.
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing