Nottingham Forest will continue their quest for Premier League survival when a deflated Arsenal outfit visit the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.
Following a series of poor results, the Gunners find themselves four points behind Manchester City and look set to miss out on the silverware, despite leading the title race for much of the season.
💬 “We have to live with the emotion that we have right now that we fell short and it wasn’t good enough. We’re going to have to use that to play the next game at a very different pace and quality.”Mikel has apologised for yesterday's defeat 👇— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 15, 2023
💬 “We have to live with the emotion that we have right now that we fell short and it wasn’t good enough. We’re going to have to use that to play the next game at a very different pace and quality.”Mikel has apologised for yesterday's defeat 👇
At the opposite end of the table, Nottingham Forest sit three points clear of the drop zone with two games left, meaning their fate remains in their own hands.
Steve Cooper’s side looked destined for relegation when they endured an 11-match winless run between February and April, recording three draws and eight losses in the process.
Since then, however, Forest have taken seven points from a possible 12 to give themselves a strong chance of staying in the division.
Following a 3-1 victory over Brighton, the Tricky Trees lost to Brentford before beating Southampton 4-3, with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge coming last weekend.
It is also worth noting that Forest have lost just three of their last 17 encounters at the City Ground, underlining their strength on home soil.
On the flip side, Arsenal appeared to be heading for Premier League glory before hitting a series of stumbling blocks to gift Man City the lead in the title race.
The Gunners won 23 of their opening 29 leagues games this season, recording three draws and three losses along the way.
However, Mikel Arteta’s men have recorded two wins, three draws and two defeats since then, taking nine points from a possible 21, with last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton standing out.
Still, there is no hiding the fact that Arsenal find themselves 47 points above Forest in the table, highlighting the gulf in quality between the two sides.
Head-to-head: Let’s not forget that Arsenal thrashed Nottingham Forest 5-0 in the reverse fixture back in October, racking up 70% possession and 24 shots at the Emirates.
To make matters worse for the Tricky Trees, the Gunners have claimed three victories over Forest since 2016, scoring a combined total of 13 goals while keeping three clean sheets.
Team news: Forest’s lengthy injury list contains Giulian Biancone, Dean Henderson, Chris Wood, Neco Williams, Omar Richards, Scott McKenna, Jack Colback, Jonjo Shelvey and Emmanuel Dennis.
Arsenal have multiple injury absentees of their own, with Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mohamed Elneny on the sidelines.
Although Arsenal have faltered in recent weeks, Arteta’s men have more than enough quality to pile more relegation pressure on Forest.
Forebet predicts that Arsenal will dispatch Nottingham Forest with relative ease, scoring over 2.5 goals on their way to victory.