Second half goals by Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka sealed a 2-1 victory for Arsenal at Nottingham Forest although Mikel Arteta was made to sweat in the closing stages when Taiwo Awoniyi reduced the deficit on 89 minutes.
The Gunners dominated proceedings from the off but struggled to create clearcut chances in a frustrating and, at times, pretty dull opening 45 minutes.
That all changed after the break as Forest mistakenly showed more adventure allowing more space to open up.
Jesus collected a throw-in before scoring from a tight angle through the legs of ex-Gunner Matt Turner on 65 minutes. The Brazilian then turned provider for Saka who finished a quick counter-attack seven minutes later.
That should have been that but Awoniyi’s late goal roused the home fans who were desperate for a stoppage-time equaliser.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Arteta said of the Nigerian: “He’s a real threat. And obviously, with the deep block that they defend when there are spaces behind you, if he’s managed to take the first touch or he’s got a space to run, he’s a really dangerous player. He scored already from a counter-attack play at the Emirates and scored again today.”
Despite the late scare, the manager was impressed by the shift put in by his players who have made it back-to-back wins since the winter break.
“Obviously, we were really good against [Crystal] Palace,” he added. “We won after the [winter] break and today we wanted to generate that momentum. And we’ve done it.
“I think we had a really strong performance. We were really dominant. We had to be very patient. But at the same time, we need to keep having the intention to hurt them all the time and don’t start to be complacent. And I think we’ve done that at the end. I think we suffered much more than what we deserved. But this is the Premier League.”
On a night when the Gunners had 81% possession in the first half but found it hard work finding any space in the Forest penalty area, the boss was pleased by the patience shown by his players.
“We need different tools, and we need to find the right moments to be very vertical when we have the chances,” he reflected.
“Set-pieces are another great way to score because, we generated a lot today, and after as well in a positional play we generate quite a lot of chances, but we didn’t convert them.
“But I’m really pleased because we concede nothing and against this team at home I’ve seen a lot of teams, we were one of them last year that suffered, and I’m really pleased because we conceded nothing and against this team at home I’ve seen a lot of teams suffer, we were one of them last year, I’m really pleased with the performance and winning the game.”
Arteta also had warm words for Jesus and his match-winning contribution. As it turns out, the striker demanded to start the game, despite taking a kick in training that left him with fluid on the knee.
“We really need him at his best. I had a great feeling before the game, and I told him, because he had some fluid in the knee and he was struggling and he was kicking every physio out there two days ago saying, ‘I want to be on that pitch’.
“He pushed everybody to be there and when someone has that attitude, that desire in this moment, something good is going to happen because of the ability and the quality to do it. He was magnificent today, I think.”
At the final whistle, the cameras caught Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko having a heated argument that required them to be separated. While it’s unclear what they were discussing – quite possibly the way Forest scored – it’s not something that the boss is concerned about.
“That’s pushing each other and being not happy, conceding nothing. And I have to encourage that and promote it in the right way, in a respectful way,” said Arteta.
“Sometimes after the game, it’s too emotional and too heated, but I love that the players are pushing each other and demanding excellence. And today we conceded a goal that is not at the level that we want.”
Attention now turns to another mouthwatering clash with league leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
“We have some momentum now. I think we put in, again, a strong performance. We were playing really well but not winning enough matches three weeks ago. And now we are.
“We’re going to have a massive game against them at the top of the table. And we’re going to have to be even better than today, for sure.”
“We need different tools” — that’s no way to talk about an ex-Arsenal goalie!
One thing the last week shown is just how young and inexperienced Arteta is relative to the competition. He’s been here less than 4 years – Klopp was about to get relegated at Mainz at this point and Baldy’s been doing it so long his first signing (in his second job) was Alexander Hleb.
We weren’t at our best today and haven’t been for a little while, but we won, we’re going in the right direction, and I’m glad to have Mikel leading our club.
The gaslighting is getting old. This was an OK performance with a few moments of brilliance sprinkled in.
I’ll gaslight you in a minute son
There really are two teams on the pitch. We are the better team, and played like it, but that doesn’t mean we can do anything we want.
We won, but again I will be in the minority and say overall we were disappointing. We were way too predictable again in the first half, too slow, Turner didn’t really make a save. The second half was a bit better, we mixed it with Saka, Jesus, Martinelli interchanging positions. But to be 2-0 up, 3 points in the bag, and Zinchenko gets caught again on the left, lucky bounce and they are back in the game. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it finished 2-2. As soon as the opposition puts any pressure on us it looks like they… Read more »
No wonder Arteta was pissed off. (It wasn’t just him I would imagine)
So glad he responded so forcibly.
just when you feel you can relax at 0-2 up at 89 mins the guys do what they do best by putting us through the wringer giving away a cheap goal, ok we wasn’t at our incisive forward passing best even with our far more superior possession but another 3 points especially away from home can and i hope will bring the momentum of winning games given our recent slump over xmas, whether its because we’ve been trying to tighten up a defending this season or teams have been better doing their homework on us we are still missing that… Read more »