Arsenal do just enough but are given some late scares by Forest
Premier League
Nottingham Forest (0) 0
Arsenal (0) 1 Madueke 80
The Gunners just about got over the line at the City Ground with the sort of win champions often have to be content with. Gritty and unremarkable, and perhaps also a little lucky at times, but they took the points.
Arsenal struggled to make any impact in a soporific first half almost totally devoid of any serious goalmouth action at either end.
Their anaemic display - plenty of the ball no moments of danger - were epitomised by the failure of both Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze to create any awkward moments for the home side.
Eze was particularly off key and Mikel Arteta hooked him at the break in favour of Noni Madueke. It would prove to be a winning move as the winger's decisive strike settled it 10 minutes from time.
He cut inside Daniel Munoz from the left and found the net with a shot which deflected off Jair Cunha and past Matz Sels. It was a moment of sheer relief for players, fans and manager alike.
It needed the triple substitution to inject the sort of urgency required to create the change in mood midway though the second half. One of the trio coming on - Jurrien Timber - soon got involved, bursting found the right for the best attacking move so far to set up Declan Rice for a shot over the bar that should have been on target.
With Forest having not scored in their three previous home games, the Gunners would have expected to be able to contain a side intent on safety first and massing men behind the ball.
Deprived of the services of an injued Morgan Gibbs-White, they relied on Liam Delap as a lone striker to occupy Gabriel and Ezri Konsa, which he did rather well. But their ambitions only seemed to rise after they fell behind.
With only five goals shared between the two teams in the past five meetings between the sides at the City Ground, this has not been a fixture to overly stir the blood in recent seasons and this one was no different.
The past two had ended 0-0 and Arsenal had won only one of them - three seasons ago.
But given this was the first of five away games in the next six matches, the outcome was entirely acceptable. They might easily have dropped points here, after all. In the dying minutes, the hosts had three near misses
Delap's quick throw in released Callum Hudson-Odoi down the left and a low cross appeared to give sub Chris Wood a simple finish. But the striker dithered and Rice was back to snuff out the chance.
There was also another dodgy moment for the Gunners when Murillo was allowed to carry the ball in from the left unopposed before curling inches over the angle of crossbar and post and but for Konsa's late challenge on Delap, there might have been an equaliser from the hard working number nine.
This was a good one to get out of the way for Arsenal, scuffy as it was. Next up is a trip to Bayern Munich before the next league match - at home to Everton next weekend..
Forest: (3-4-2-1) Sels - Jair Cunha (Wood 85), Diomande, Murillo - Munoz, Schlager, Dominguez (Sangare 74), Williams - McAtee (Hudson-Odoi 85), Ndoye - Delap
Gunners: (4-2-3-1) Raya - White (Timber 66), Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori - Rice, Bruno Guimaraes (Merino 66) - Saka, Odegaard, Eze (Madueke h/t) - Havertz (Gyokeres 66)
Attendance: 30,893
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