Premier League, Game week 7 | The City Ground | Sunday 18 October 2026
Arsenal left Nottingham with three points, a clean sheet and ten wins from eleven in all competitions. But a question hangs over the 1-0: how does a team have 75% of the ball and still manage one shot on target? That's the tactical puzzle Mikel Arteta now has to solve, and it's worth taking apart.
Forest set up in a 5-4-1 and defended deep, crowding the central spaces so Arsenal's attackers struggled to receive the ball between the lines. Arteta described it after the game as a team defending with ten players in and around the box, with nine dropping onto the edge in a "Christmas Tree" shape.
The clever part was what Forest allowed. They were happy for Arsenal to have the ball in areas that posed no immediate danger, and only sporadic counters through Liam Delap, who carried the fight largely alone, gave them any outlet.
That distinction is the heart of this game: controlling the match is not the same as controlling the opposition's defence. Arsenal could shift Forest from side to side and pin them back, but too often the next pass failed to break a line.
Three problems stood out.
Not enough movement between the lines. Against a compact block, the ball carrier needs forward options. Too few players rotated into pockets of space, so possession became predictable.
Not enough threat in behind. Runs beyond a defensive line force centre-backs to turn and create room for team-mates. Arsenal didn't make them do it often enough.
Too much search for the perfect opening. The longer we circulated without threatening, the easier it was for Forest to hold their shape. Patience slid into hesitation.
Getting the job done on Trentside ✊ Time to watch the highlights from our win over Nottingham Forest 📺 https://t.co/EOT8QTDW5G
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 18, 2026
The individual picture matched. Eberechi Eze, deployed on the left with Christos Tzolis injured, had 21 touches and one aimless moment running the ball out of play before being replaced at half-time. Bruno Guimarães helped us keep control, but Forest's compactness left him little space for forward passes. Saka found it hard to make a decisive impact.
The best chance of the first 70 minutes shows the point. After the one flowing move of the afternoon, Jurriën Timber cut the ball back, and Declan Rice blazed over. It was a big chance, and one of the very few times we moved the ball quickly enough to disrupt Forest's organisation. It's also three years since Arsenal went the first 70 minutes of a Premier League game without a shot on target.
Arteta acted at half-time, bringing on Noni Madueke for Eze. What Madueke brought was simple: directness. Instead of recycling possession, he was prepared to take on his defender and carry the ball into dangerous areas.
His goal in the 80th minute illustrates it. He drove in from the left and shot, and the effort deflected off Jair Cunha and wrong-footed Matz Sels. Yes, the finish had luck in it. But the decision to commit a defender and get a shot away was not luck. That's the lesson against a low block: sometimes a defender has to be beaten or a shot has to be taken before the perfect opening appears.
And there's the irony Arsenal fans will have noticed. The left flank has been the problem position all season, and the winning goal came from it.
Arteta deserves credit for not letting Eze's difficult afternoon drag on. Later, Timber, Merino, and Gyökeres were introduced in search of a breakthrough. The changes added fresh legs and different profiles, though they didn't immediately produce a sustained flow of chances.
It's the third consecutive game in which the substitutes made the decisive contribution. Arteta's phrase for it: the "finishers" finished. His explanation was blunt:
"If you are needed after 60 minutes, 45 minutes and sometimes two minutes, we have a squad now that can deliver in moments and we have to use that."
The late scares are worth a note too. According to the draft I was working from, Forest nearly punished us in stoppage time: Rice made a block, Murillo shot narrowly wide, and Ezri Konsa denied Delap. If they're right, it's a reminder that a one-goal lead against a team throwing everything forward is never fully safe.
There's nothing wrong with a 1-0 away win against a disciplined opponent, and the record is excellent: 18 points from seven league games, with only twice in Premier League history, and not since 2007-08, a better start. Arteta had a ready answer for the "lost momentum" question: "You play 11 games, you win 10 and you lose momentum? So, what is it then?"
😬 "They created worryingly little!" 👀 "They won't win games playing like that!" Jeff Stelling slams Arsenal's style of play after their narrow win against Nottingham Forest https://t.co/8UCjFbjl70
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 19, 2026
The concern is narrower. It's the scarcity of clear chances and the reliance on one individual moment to break the deadlock. Arteta said before the season that he wanted to "attack the title" rather than defend it, and 75% possession, our highest in any league game since last season, suggests the intent is there. What's missing is turning territory into chances.
If we are to sustain a title challenge, the answer is probably a mix of:
- faster circulation, so the block can't reset
- more off-ball movement into the pockets between the lines
- more direct running beyond the back line
- more variety in the final third
Verdict
The win counts, the clean sheet counts and the three points count. Our defence and squad depth are a platform for success. But this was another game that exposed the same recurring attacking problem: we can dominate the ball without consistently threatening the goal.
Madueke's contribution is a useful reminder that not every attack needs another pass. Now we need to make their dominance look more like dominance.
COYG.
