Arsenal may have had a season to be proud of, moving from fifth to second place and pushing Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City winning machine almost all the way to the final day. However, their visit to The City Ground was certainly not one to remember as Arsenal continued to end their season with a whimper as an extremely lacklustre performance saw them lose 1-0 with a first half winner from Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi the difference between the two sides.
Forest came into the game knowing a win would keep them up. And Steve Cooper’s side started on the front foot with a number of long-throws which Arsenal dealt with well. However, offensively Arsenal struggled to properly pose a threat and gain a proper rhythm. And they paid the price for their sloppiness as Martin Odegaard cheaply gave the ball away to Morgan Gibbs-White to start a counter attack, he played in Awoniyi who scored the opener. Although there was a slice of luck as Gabriel played the ball against the Forest striker as he attempted to clear the ball. Arsenal dominated the ball throughout the remainder of the first half however failed to test Keylor Navas with the only notable chance on goal being an effort struck wide on the volley from Leandro Trossard from a corner.
Arsenal hoped to start the second half with more intensity however they still really struggled to break down the Forest barrier. With sideways and backwards passes being the only options the majority of the time. Arteta tried to change things up by brining on Kieran Tierney on the hour mark for Jakub Kiwior – who started at left-back – however the Scot couldn’t have a strong impact despite delivering a couple of strong crosses into the Forest penalty area.
Despite all of Arsenal’s possession, it was Forest who still looked the most likely to score next. With the best chance of the second half falling for Gibbs-White after a mistake at the back by Ben White. However the Forest man could only fire his effort into the side netting. Arsenal’s only shot on target of the second half was an effort by Bukayo Saka which was comfortably saved by Keylor Navas and the Gunners sleepwalked to a 1-0 defeat.
Mikel Arteta’s side only have one more game as they take on Wolves at Emirates Stadium to close out the 2022/23 campaign.
Player Ratings:
Aaron Ramsdale: 6 – Couldn’t do anything about the goal and wasn’t really tested
Thomas Partey: 6 – Probably Arsenal’s strongest performer, although that’s not saying much. Looked better than recent weeks
Ben White: 5 – Not great but there were worse performances than him for Arsenal
Gabriel: 4 – Struggled with the presence of Awoniyi
Kiwior: 4 – Couldn’t adapt to the left-back role. Hooked after an hour
Jorginho: 6 – Didn’t do anything particularly wrong
Martin Odegaard: 4 – Not like himself and at fault for the goal
Granit Xhaka: 4 – The soon to depart Swiss was barely seen before being subbed
Bukayo Saka: 4 – Poor again from Saka. Not having a great end to the season
Gabriel Jesus: 4 – Tried to get involved and hold the ball up but couldn’t do it effectively
Leandro Trossard: 5 – Didn’t really get into the game much