Nottingham Forest entertain Arsenal in a huge Premier League clash at the City Ground.
Victory could see Forest move up to 14th in the table if Crystal Palace lose elsewhere, whilst Arsenal can go second with a win although a draw would be enough if Aston Villa lose elsewhere.
Team News
Nuno Tavares is ineligible for Forest due to the fact that he is on loan at the club from his parent club – Arsenal.
Ola Aina, Serge Aurier, Willy Boly, Cheikhou Kouyate, Moussa Niakhate and Ibrahim Sangare are still all away on international duty at Africa Cup of Nations.
Anthony Elanga (knock), Divock Origi (groin), Felipe (muscle) and Taiwo Awoniyi (groin) remain absent.
Arsenal expect to have defender, Gabriel available after he suffered a knock during their win over Crystal Palace.
Declan Rice (muscle) is a slight doubt but Thomas Partey (muscle) is set to return after a lengthy absence.
Mohamed Elneny, Takehiro Tomiyasu (both international duty), Jurrien Timbers (knee) and Fabio Vieira (groin) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Forest host Arsenal on Tuesday 30 January at the City Ground at 7:30pm GMT, live on TNT Sport 2 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Forest have won one of their last six league meetings against Arsenal (W1, L5).
- Arsenal are unbeaten in four of their six Premier League trips to Forest (W3, D1, L2).
- Three of Forest’s last four top-flight matches at home to Arsenal ended in a 1-0 result – of which two clashes were won by Arsenal to Forest’s one win.
- Forest haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last 11 matches in all competitions (W3, D2, L6).
- Arsenal have scored first in four of their last five away games in the top-flight (W2, D1, L2), with their only blank coming in a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa in December 2023.
Prediction
Now that their honeymoon period under Nuno Espirito Santo is over, Forest will know that this is a huge opportunity to bounce back from the defeat at Brentford where they played well, yet were undone by two moments of poor marking so their defence needs to tighten up more.
Espirito Santo though will be pleased with how his team performed in their goalless draw at Bristol City in the FA Cup, where both teams were evenly matched with Forest’s finishing more accurate despite failing to find a winner.
Arsenal meanwhile finally seemed to reboot their end product with a rampant display at home to Crystal Palace, so you have to believe that they will look to bring that intensity into this game but they will be wary given that they have lost each of their last three visits.
On that note, I do expect a competitive battle between two solid teams at opposite ends of table although Arsenal have kept one clean sheet in their last seven league games on the road, yet I do fancy them to win this if can play like they did against Palace.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-3 Arsenal
Result: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Arsenal