Arsenal travel to the Midlands to take on Nottingham Forest with a massive opportunity at hand. Thanks to Manchester United downing Manchester City, the Gunners can go 9 points clear of their main title rivals with a win. Forest are a somewhat-comfortable 7 points clear of the relegation zone, but it can’t feel great languishing in 17th place, especially after their strong showing last season.
Forest, despite their record and recent struggles (they’d lost four-straight in the Premier League before
beating West Ham last time out), could prove a tricky test for Mikel Arteta’s side. For starters, Sean Dyche coached sides always play Arsenal tough. He’ll set up to sit in a mid- to deep-block and hit on the counter. They have the pace and skill on the wings to create chances in transition. Their first-choice defenders are available for selection after a lengthy spell missing one or another through injury. Several players are back in the fold from AFCON, too.
As seems to be the case with many of Arsenal’s opponents, Forest are quite poor defending set pieces. They’ve conceded the second-most non-penalty set pieces goals (13), just one better than league worst Bournemouth. The Gunners have scored the most (14). I’m getting a bit tired of saying it but keep an eye on Arsenal’s dead ball situations in this one. They could make the difference.
Arsenal are playing their third of four consecutive away matches in four different competitions. Today’s contest comes three days after their 3-2 win at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, so Mikel Arteta might need to rotate his lineup a bit. But don’t expect too much. I’d wager he’s more likely to “throw away” the Inter Milan Champions League match on Tuesday than risk dropping points in the Premier League by tinkering with the lineup too much against Nottingham Forest.
Mikel Arteta suggested that one of Arsenal’s injured players was likely to be available for selection today. Max Dowman and Cristhian Mosquera are both out for a few more weeks. Reports out of Ecuador are that Piero Hincapie is not ready to make his return. So welcome back Riccardo Calafiori? The Italian has been out for nearly a month with a mystery injury picked up / exacerbated warming up for the Brighton match.
Nottingham Forest will be without Chris Wood, who is expected to be out until at least late January or early February after a minor procedure on his knee. They’re also without backup keeper John Victor. Ryan Yates faces a late fitness test but is expected to be available for selection. Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare are both back from AFCON but may not be fully rested and ready to start and / or play an entire match because of the tournament and travel. Oleksandr Zinchenko is not eligible to face his parent club Arsenal.
Lineups will be posted when available.
WHO: Arsenal at Nottingham Forest
WHAT: Premier League match day 22
WHEN: Saturday, January 17th, 9:30 am PT | 12:30 pm ET | 5:30 pm GMT
WHERE: City Ground, Nottingham
HOW TO WATCH: Broadcast on NBC
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