News Beat
Arsenal inch towards Premier League title as Mikel Arteta left frustrated by Nottingham Forest
Nowhere as good as expected for Arsenal, and yet better than it was. In going seven points clear of Manchester City rather than nine, Mikel Arteta’s team inch forward. A bit like in play here.
While that will frustrate a fanbase so desperate to just get this title done, and the ball did frequently flash across the Nottingham Forest box in a tantalising manner, much of that had to do with Sean Dyche’s side. They needed a point themselves after West Ham United’s surprise 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur and fought defiantly for it.
City’s own evisceration at the feet of Manchester United didn’t quite drive Arsenal in the same way, but it does afford a cushion for performances like this.
A 0-0 at Forest – which is a second such blank in a row, after Liverpool – is just something to get over rather than the emotional crisis it could have been.
Arteta was left complaining about “four massive chances” not taken and “a clear penalty” from an Ola Aina handball not given.
Dyche predictably said that you may as well cancel the game if such decisions are awarded.
There was a bit more to the game than all that – or a bit less to it, as the case may be, from Arsenal’s perspective. They wanted much more.
Arteta’s frustration was palpable.
The regret will only really come if they do actually fail to win this title, and Aston Villa do have the chance to cut that gap back to four points on Sunday.
Forest, for their part, are not an easy team to play. Despite the position in the table, the results are that of an awkward mid-table side since Dyche took over, and that is exactly what they look like.
They mostly got their tactics against Arsenal spot on, with direct runs from deep disrupting Arteta’s press, and ensuring the league leaders spent more of the match much further back than they’d like. It was often as if Arsenal were toiling to get up the pitch.
Morgan Gibbs-White and Nikola Milenkovic were excellent.
On the other side, though, there may be another challenge for Arsenal to navigate.
Dressing-room insiders talk about how they have noticed a pattern with these weeks that almost involve triptychs of games.
They look so much more laboured by the last one, as was exactly the case with that 0-0 against Liverpool last Thursday.
This was a notably lethargic display compared to how lively the Carabao Cup win over Chelsea was in midweek. Should Arteta have put quite so much into that, given the title is the be all and end all.
The answer will only come at the end of the season.
Here, they did allow a match to become a slog after an initially encouraging start. It started when Martin Odegaard lost duels either side of half-time, which was precisely why he was substituted.
He is expressly supposed to offer the pass in games like this but found himself crowded out. That maybe shouldn’t be a surprise either.
Although Arsenal are a physically imposing side, Forest are one team who have the muscularity to match that. You could see it any time the ball went close to Matz Sels’s box. In the one rare moment they properly got beyond, the Belgian pulled off a brilliant save from a Bukayo Saka header. Arsenal were left appealing potential handballs in the box, or watching the ball flash just away from their attackers.
Again, inching through.
The greater frustration for Arteta is that such a slog goes against a trend that has been one of the virtues of their season.
They have been especially good at suddenly ramping up in the second half, usually due to the strength in depth on the bench. That stat about scoring more goals than anyone else in the 15 minutes after half-time did the rounds a lot during the Liverpool game. It’s now no goals in 180 minutes, and not even real threats from set-pieces.
Eberechi Eze was also signed for moments like this but his cameo reflected a recent regression. Insiders say he is continuing to adapt to exactly what Arteta wants, which has meant he hasn’t been used as much.
Eze was largely ineffective here, left battling for another Leandro Trossard lob forward.
That was almost the game summed up: physical duels, battles, Arsenal trying to work through two bodies.
When Dyche’s side did inevitably withdraw around the 75-minute mark, Arteta’s attackers just found they constantly had to try to get beyond two players.
Arsenal couldn’t win this fight. For the moment, they have a bit more ground in the wider fight.
“We want to be better,” Arteta summed up. They are in a better position, but not in the manner they expected or wanted.
