Arsenal are set to take on Nottingham Forest in a Premier League clash this evening.
Arsenal will travel to the City Ground looking to make it back-to-back Premier League victories, having thrashed Crystal Palace 5-0 last time out.
The Gunners need to build on that excellent win against the Eagles, and put together a run of positive results. A period of abject form over the New Year period saw the north London club lose ground in the title race.
The standards being set by by Liverpool and Manchester City this season means that any challengers for the title are afforded such little room for error. Arsenal have likely used up their spare lives for the season now and will have to be practically perfect for the rest of the campaign to stand any chance of being crowned champions.
Mikel Arteta will recognise this fact and demand a dominant performance against Nottingham Forest, and will pick the strongest Arsenal starting XI available to him.
Team and injury news
Arteta has already ruled Thomas Partey out of this clash. Although the Ghanaian midfielder is training with the first team group again, having been sidelined with injury for several months, this fixture has come around too quickly for him.
There are some doubts over the availability of Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes, too, as they both picked up knocks against Crystal Palace. Both players will be assessed ahead of the match.
Despite Egypt having been eliminated from the Africa Cup on Nations on Sunday, Mohamed Elneny won’t be in contention for this match due to the distances he has had to travel. Takehiro Tomiyasu is still away from the Emirates Stadium, competing in the Asia Cup with Japan.
Jurrien Timber and Fabio Vieira are still out of action completely due to injuries.
Predicted Arsenal starting XI v Nottingham Forest
Arteta will go strong for this match, as Arsenal have had a decent amount of recovery time since their last outing. The only surprise inclusions could be Jakub Kiwior coming into the heart of the defence and Jorginho anchoring the midfield, should Gabriel and Rice be ruled unfit to start.
However, it is likely that both Rice and Gabriel will be deemed capable of starting the match.
There is also a chance that Arteta gives Eddie Nketiah the nod ahead of Gabriel Jesus, after it has been reported that the Spanish coach intends to give the Hale End academy graduate more game time in the second half of the season. Though, it is more likely that Nketiah will be relied upon to provide extra firepower from the bench, if required.
David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus.
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