Arsenal survives a late scare to see off Nottingham Forest

Arsenal claimed their second Premier League win of the new year and are now second behind Liverpool thanks to a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest this evening.

Mikel Arteta’s side had a long break to prepare for the match against Forest after their 5-0 demolition of Crystal Palace. Forest is fighting for their lives in the Premier League, so the first thing they aimed to do was to be compact at the back, and they succeeded.

In the first half, Mikel Arteta’s side struggled to break down Forest despite some fine passages of play between the players. Arsenal has mastered many tricks to unlock defences, even when facing a low block, but Forest stood firm with their five at the back, which often seemed like seven.

However, Gabriel Jesus, who had terrorised the Forest defence for much of the game, found the back of the net first in the second half. This was a major relief and forced Forest to shift their focus to scoring a goal rather than just defending and hoping for a counterattack.

Arsenal found the net again, with Jesus turning provider for Bukayo Saka, and it seemed like an easy end to the game. But the returning Taiwo Awoniyi pulled one back in the last minute of normal time, setting up a nervy finish for the Gunners.

Arsenal was prepared and defended properly in the remaining minutes to move two points behind Liverpool at the top.

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