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Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest preview, team news, how to watch and prediction

By on November 11, 2024

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Arsenal take on Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium on November 23rd knowing anything other than victory would all-but end their Premier League title hopes for another season.

After finishing a close second behind Manchester City in each of the last two seasons, Arsenal came into the 2024/25 campaign with high hopes of finally getting the better of Pep Guardiola’s men to clinch our first title since 2004. We made an impressive start, navigating through tough away games against Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City unbeaten and we were right in the mix at the top of the table in early October.

However, the wheels started to come off after the international break last month as we suffered a shock 2-0 defeat away to Bournemouth. William Saliba’s sending off midway through the game proved decisive as the Cherries took full advantage of their extra man to inflict a first defeat of the season on Mikel Arteta’s men.

Arsenal had the perfect opportunity to respond when we hosted Liverpool and deservedly led 2-1 at half-time. However, an injury to Gabriel Magalhaes early in the second period disrupted the team and Liverpool fought back to salvage a 2-2 draw. We then slumped to a poor defeat away to Newcastle United before being held to a 1-1 draw by Chelsea at the weekend. Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring in a tight game but Pedro Neto levelled things up for the hosts. Leandro Trossard spurned a great chance to win it at the death put he fluffed his lines – summing up our form of the last few weeks.

A run of four games without a win in the league has left us sitting fifth in the Premier League table – four points adrift of Man City but a whopping nine off leaders Liverpool. There may still be 27 games left to play, but no side has ever overturned such a deficit at this stage of the season to win a Premier League title before, so Arsenal face a huge uphill battle to get themselves back in the race.

Arteta will use the international break to re-assess things but he knows only a win will do when we welcome Nottingham Forest to the Emirates Stadium on the 23rd. It’s going to be an extremely tough game as Forest have enjoyed a superb start to the season and showed their potential with a 1-0 win over leaders Liverpool at Anfield in September.

They sat in the top four before losing 3-1 to Newcastle United at the weekend and sit level on points with Arsenal on 19 points, so the players should know they cannot take this task too lightly. Arsenal will need to return from the break focussed and ready to hit the ground running as we look to drag ourselves back in to the title race.

How to watch

The game will be played at 3pm UK time on Saturday 23rd November, therefore it won’t be televised in the UK due to the blackout rule.

That means the only way for fans to watch the game as it happens is to be in the stands at the Emirates Stadium. Supporters can buy Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest tickets for the game through the club websites or via a trusted online resellers.

Team news

Just as Arsenal’s injury problems looked to be easing, we suffered two fresh concerns at the weekend. Bukayo Saka – not long back from a hamstring injury – was forced off in the last 10 minutes at Stamford Bridge. It’s not known how serious the issue is and Saka will need to be assessed, but he’s an early doubt to face Forest.

Declan Rice was also withdrawn against Chelsea in the second half. Arteta confirmed the midfielder asked to be substituted due to injury but it’s not known if the issue was related to an existing toe problem or a fresh injury. Rice will also need to be assessed over the coming days before his availability can be determined.

The good news for Arsenal was that Martin Odegaard came through the full 90 minutes against Chelsea on Sunday after recovering from an ankle injury that had kept him out for two months. Arteta will pray he doesn’t suffer any setback when he links up with the Norway squad during the break.

Riccardo Calafiori has been out in recent weeks but he may hand Arsenal a boost if he can prove his fitness to return against Forest while Takehiro Tomiyasu is also close to making his comeback from a knee injury.

Nottingham Forest have very few injury concerns to worry about as Danilo is their only confirmed absentee. Ibrahim Sangare could return for the trip to North London after a thigh problem.

Possible XI

The back five should remain unchanged but it will be interesting to see how Arteta lines-up in midfield. Thomas Partey looked off the pace against Chelsea while Mikel Merino impressed off the bench. If Rice is fit, we may see Merino join him in midfield behind Odegaard.

Hopefully Saka recovers from his latest knock while Gabriel Martinelli did enough against Chelsea to keep his place. Kai Havertz will lead the line up front.

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

Prediction

On paper, this looks like a relatively straightforward home win, however, that’s unlikely to be the case given how both teams have performed so far this season. Forest have over-performed and picked up some great results, including a win over Liverpool at Anfield, so they cannot be underestimated. They will head to the Emirates quietly confident of picking up another positive result.

However, Arsenal know they simply have to win if we want to stand any chance of getting ourselves back in the title hunt. Any more drops points in this game, and we can forget about the title for another season, so the pressure is on to get back to winning ways.

Arteta has two weeks to prepare his game-plan, and crucially, the break also gives some players a chance to overcome some knocks and get back to full fitness. Hopefully we’ll have virtually a fully-fit squad to choose from when Forest come to town and I’m confident Arsenal will win this game.

It’s not going to be easy, but Odegaard’s return should give us a spark in the final third that’s been missing lately so I’m going for a 2-0 win. Arsenal 2-0 Nottingham Forest