Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest: Title hopes on the line

Arsenal’s pursuit of their first Premier League title in two decades is on the line ahead of Nottingham Forest’s visit to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

With no more distractions caused by the international breaks until March, the Gunners will bid to get their faltering title quest back on track after a four-game winless league run (D2, L2) devastated their lofty ambitions.

Despite taking a second-half lead through Gabriel Martinelli, fans watching live football on TV would see Arsenal drop two valuable points at Stamford Bridge on the stroke of November’s international window.

Pedro Neto’s thunderous strike held Mikel Arteta’s side to a gut-wrenching 1-1 draw in that mouth-watering contest, enabling table-topping Liverpool to go nine points clear at the summit.

Another slip-up could spell the end of Arsenal’s title hopes as they entertain early surprise package Forest in a must-win home encounter this weekend.

Injury crisis

Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice pulled out of the England squad at the start of the international break.

It’s speculative whether they’ll be fully fit for tomorrow’s clash.

However, Arteta conceded during his pre-match conference that Ben White ‘is going to be out for months.’

In addition to the ex-Leeds United defender, Arsenal will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu and Riccardo Calafiori.

Leandro Trossard isn’t 100% fit but should be at Arteta’s disposal.

Good omens

Arsenal’s dominance in this match-up is well-documented.

The Gunners squeezed past Forest 2-1 in this corresponding fixture last term, extending their unbeaten head-to-head run to eight matches (W6, D2).

But that’s not the only encouragement Arteta can get as he aims to snap his injury-hit squad out of their downward spiral.

It’s been over two years since Arsenal last suffered a Premier League defeat at the Emirates in a Saturday-held fixture.

Since April 2022, they’ve remarkably gone 20 consecutive such matches without losing (W17, D3).