With Manchester City being held to three straight Premier League draws, Arsenal’s 0-0 home stalemate (and it genuinely was a stalemate) with Liverpool last time didn’t really do them any harm.
Their lead at the top of the Premier League is six points going into the weekend and they’ve suffered just a single defeat in all competitions since August.
Talking of those other trophies, the Gunners are coming off an excellent week in the domestic cups after away wins over Portsmouth (4-1 in the FA Cup third round) and Chelsea (3-2 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final).
After the City Ground trek they face a fourth straight away game when travelling to Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Nottingham Forest also have a trip to Europe (Braga) lined up next week but their FA Cup hopes are over for the season after they lost to Wrexham on penalties in round three on Friday night.
Staying in the Premier League remains the big priority though and while they remain 17th in the table, a 2-1 win at third-bottom West Ham last time gave Sean Dyche’s men a seven-point cushion over the Hammers.
How to watch Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal kicks off at 17.30 GMT on Saturday, January 17 at the City Ground.
The game will be shown live on TNT Sports 1 with coverage starting from 5pm.
BBC Radio 5 Live will provide full match commentary.
Nottingham Forest team news
Dyche will be pleased to have Willy Boly and Ibrahim Sangare back from Afcon duty while Ryan Yates could provide another boost after shaking off a thigh injury.
Oleksandr Zinchenko can’t play against his parent club although he hasn’t been making the starting XI anyway.
Forest must again do without last season’s top scorer, Chris Wood, who is still trying to find full fitness following a knee problem.
The hosts made plenty of changes for last week’s FA Cup tie so there’s every chance Dyche picks the same line-up that beat West Ham a fortnight ago.
Nottingham Forest expected line-up
(4-2-3-1) Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Anderson, Dominguez; Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus.
Arsenal team news
“We have more players back now. We have better options. And that’s very helpful because we have been giving game-time to almost every player,” Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said in Friday’s press conference.
From the side that beat Chelsea in midweek, expect returns for David Raya in goal and Gabriel Martinelli in attack after his hat-trick against Portsmouth.
Viktor Gyokeres netted against Chelsea and Arteta will surely look to further fuel his confidence here by giving the Swede another chance ahead of the fit-again Gabriel Jesus.
Arsenal expected line-up
(4-3-3) Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli.
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal stats
– Nottingham Forest have lost eight of their last 10 Premier League games against Arsenal, though both exceptions have come at the City Ground since their return to the division in 2022.
– Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three Premier League games against Nottingham Forest, their longest run of league shutouts against the Tricky Trees.
– Only West Ham (8) and Wolves (8) have lost more Premier League home games this season than Nottingham Forest (6). It’s the Tricky Trees’ joint-most defeats in their opening 10 home matches of a league campaign.
– Arsenal drew 0-0 with Liverpool in their last Premier League game. Since the start of 2022-23, they’ve only failed to score in consecutive league games on two occasions.
– Excluding penalties, Arsenal have scored more set-piece goals than any other side in the Premier League this season (14), while only Bournemouth (14) have conceded more from set plays than Nottingham Forest (13).
– Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has never seen his sides score more than once in a Premier League game against Arsenal, netting eight goals in 19 meetings. He’s also won just two of these 19 games.
– Morgan Gibbs-White has scored in his last two Premier League games, and is Nottingham Forest’s highest league scorer this season with five goals.
– No player has been directly involved in more shots following a ball carry in the Premier League this season than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (33 – 19 shots, 14 chances created).
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal predictions
Forest aren’t out of the woods yet despite the crucial win over West Ham.
Getting something here would be a huge shot in the arm but Dyche has a poor record against Arsenal and Forest’s home form this season is disappointing.
Everything is going smoothly for Arsenal again and the smart call is for the Gunners to grind out three more points.
Arsenal to win by 1 Goal at 13/5 appeals, with 2-1 at 17/2 a correct scoreline worth considering.
Forest are vulnerable at set-pieces which will have Arsenal’s big defenders licking their lips.
Most dead-ball deliveries attempt to pick out Gabriel Magalhaes and the centre-back is worth a punt at 23/10 simply to have over 0.5 shots on target.
The Brazilian has scored twice in five games since returning from injury so the 4/1 to score anytime is definitely an option too.
