Arsenal, which performed well at the beginning of the new Premier League season, has been left behind by the leader Liverpool after consecutive losses to West Ham United and Fulham, 5 points behind in the third place in the standings, fortunately, in the last round of the Gunners 5 goals at home to bloody Crystal Palace, to stop their decline in the league, this week in the middle of the 22nd round of the Premier League full play, Arsenal went to the away to challenge Nottingham Forest, although the latter is at the bottom, there is a lot of relegation pressure, but they are not afraid of Arsenal, Last season, Nottingham Forest beat the Gunners by 1 goal at home, and now they meet at home again, whether they can replicate last season's success has become the biggest attraction of this game! Gabriel Jesus performed well in this game and became the Gunners' most threatening point in attack, and finally with his passing, Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 away and won a wave of two consecutive wins!
In order to be able to walk away from home, Arteta also sent his strongest starting 11 in this game, in a 4-3-3 system, with Raya in the goal, Ben White and Zinchenko as wing-backs, Saliba and Gabriel as two central defenders, Odegaard, Rice and Smith Rowe in the midfield, Jesus in the middle, Saka and Martinelli on either side.
Arsenal, who have a clear advantage in the team's lineup, completely suppressed the opponent on the field after the game started, and the possession rate in the first half even exceeded 80%, but they faced Nottingham Forest's dense defense, and there were not too many really threatening attacks, and it was not until the 13th minute that they entered the opponent's hinterland through continuous transmission, but Odegaard's shot was blocked by the defender.
A minute later, the Gunners missed another great opportunity when Zinchenko sent in a through ball from the left, and Smith Rowe found Jesus in front of goal after slotting near the home team's baseline, but the latter's shot was not pressed and the ball went over the crossbar.
At the last moment of injury time, Arsenal picked up a pass at the front of the penalty area, Jesus pressed the defenders, completed a header, and was pushed out of the bottom line by the Forest goalkeeper, and the stoppage time was just over, and the referee did not give the Gunners a chance to take a corner kick, which directly ended the first half of the competition, which also caused dissatisfaction among the Arsenal players.
Arsenal continued to lay siege to Nottingham Forest in the second half, and in the 57th minute they finally broke through the home defence from the front, when Odegaard slotted the ball to the feet of the unmarked Gabriel Jesus, who struck the post with a straight shot, but unfortunately the ball hit the post and bounced off.
Arsenal, who continued to attack, finally broke the balance on the field in the 65th minuteAfter Arsenal's sideline ball was thrown, it caught Nottingham Forest's entire backline off guard, and the unmarked Jesus took the opportunity to the opponent's hinterland, and with a very small angle, a low shot penetrated the crotch of the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper to help Arsenal take a 1-0 lead.
In order to get points at home, Nottingham Forest, who are behind, can only press aggressively, which also gives the Gunners space and depth to counter-attackIn the 72nd minute, after Arsenal broke the ball in the middle of the field, they launched a counterattack directly, and Saka received a pass from Jesus and scored in the far corner to extend the advantage to two goals.
In the final moments of the game, Arsenal, who thought the victory was decided, made a mistake in defence, allowing Nottingham Forest substitute Awoniyi to recover a goal, but in the following time, Arsenal did not make another mistake and kept the score 2-1 until the end.
After winning Nottingham Forest away, Arsenal narrowed the gap with the leader Liverpool to 2 points in the case of one more game, and the next round of the Gunners will sit at home against Liverpool, if they lose, they will be 5 points behind the opponent with one more game, and they will completely lose the initiative to compete for the title, so to some extent, the next round of the league will determine the fate of Arsenal!