Arsenal team against Forest and the prognostications for the match.

 

 

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

How biased toward the home team is this referee?

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal: tackles, fouls, cards, possession

Which clubs have been doing really badly of late?

The team news from the BBC suggests that Declan Rice “could return from the tight hamstring that prompted his substitution against Crystal Palace.”

However they say that Gabriel is less certain.  He came off in the same game, and, they say, Arsenal “will also be assessed but Thomas Partey remains out with injury. 

The BBC also tell us that Arsenal have kept “eight clean sheets in this season’s Premier League, a joint-high in the division along with Liverpool,” which says a lot for our defence.  Indeed it is worth lookinig at a league table based on goals conceded:

 

Lge Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	21	14	6	1	47	18	29	48
3	Arsenal	21	13	4	4	42	20	22	43
2	Manchester City	20	13	4	3	48	23	25	43
4	Aston Villa	21	13	4	4	43	27	16	43

 

According to this report Arsenal “have scored 13 goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties), 10 from corners and 10 headed goals, all more than any other club this season.”   Also it appears that “Arsenal could win their opening two league fixtures of a calendar year for the first time since starting 2014 with three straight victories.”

Now, that last point seems quite extraordinary and it is worth looking back to that run

 

Date	Match	Result	Score	Competition
26 Dec 2013	West Ham United v Arsenal	W	1-3	Premier League
29 Dec 2013	Newcastle United v Arsenal	W	0-1	Premier League
01 Jan 2014	Arsenal v Cardiff City	W	2-0	Premier League
13 Jan 2014	Aston Villa v Arsenal	W	1-2	Premier League
18 Jan 2014	Arsenal v Fulham	W	2-0	Premier League
28 Jan 2014	Southampton v Arsenal	D	2-2	Premier League
02 Feb 2014	Arsenal v Crystal Palace	W	2-0	Premier League

 

More of the same would go down rather well – especially as the run also included a couple of FA Cup matches which obviously we won’t be getting this season.

As for the team the Evening Standard suggests

Raya;

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;

Odegaard, Rice, Havertz;

Saka, Jesus, Martinelli

which is a forward line to scare any defender in a team that has the fourth-worst defending record in the league this season (38 goals conceded to Arsenal’s 20).

The Standard don’t want to give us a team, but do say that Arsenal will win 2-1.

90 Min however go with a 1-3 win for Arsenal and with Kiwior in defence and Jorginho instead of Rice in midfield.

Raya;

White, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko;

Odegaard, Jorginho, Havertz;

Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.

The Telegraph however is full of talk of a “ground hoodoo” but don’t give us their prediction for a final score.  But really if we go through the whole of the games between the clubs in the Premier League since it was founded what we have is 13 games of which Arsenal have won eight, three have been drawn and Nottingham Forest have won two.   Ground hoodoo indeed!  Where do they get these journalists from?

Let’s end with something a trifle more sensible.   Sports Mole give Arsenal a 0-2 victory.  Their team is…

Raya;

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko;

Odegaard, Rice, Havertz;

Saka, Jesus, Martinelli

By and large that will do me.

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