After going winless for four consecutive matches, Arsenal finally got back to winning ways last week when they beat Crystal Palace 5-0 at home. Next up, after a small break, the Gunners hit the road to take on Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal are currently five points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and given how poor Forest has been this season, Mikel Arteta will be expecting an easy win. Each match is like a must-win for the North London side because a loss and Arsenal could slip to the fourth spot, holding onto their position purely on a better goal difference.
Forest have won just five league matches so far this campaign but quite surprisingly, they have not lost to Arsenal in their last 3 matches in all competitions. The home side will be hoping to make things uncomfortable for Arsenal but honestly, we don’t see Arteta’s boys slipping on Tuesday night.
Arsenal’s team news and injuries:
Arsenal have gotten a decent amount of break which has helped their first-team players recover properly. Declan Rice and Gabriel both picked up knocks during the 5-0 win over Palace but the pair should be back in action this week.
Rice is a very important facet in the Gunners’ midfield and speaking after the Palace game, Mikel Arteta explained that the England international sustained a small muscle problem.
The Arsenal manager told the press: ‘[Declan] was feeling some tiredness. I don’t know exactly what muscle it was, but when he says that at 3-0. Obviously, we don’t want to take any risks.’
Rice and Gabriel should be back in action but Mikel Arteta will be without Vieira, Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey all of whom are unavailable with various injuries.
Elneny and Tomiyasu are also missing due to national team commitments and all these absentees basically mean the Arsenal manager won’t have the luxury to make too many changes.
Unless there’s a late injury setback or one of Gabriel or Declan Rice isn’t fit in time, Arsenal will start with the same XI that played against Crystal Palace.
Arsenal predicted line up vs Nottingham Forest:
Predicted Started XI(4-3-3): David Raya; Gabriel, William Saliba, Zinchenko, Ben White; Odegaard, Declan Rice, Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
