Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes took a hit against Nottingham Forest as the Gunners dropped points again.
Mikel Arteta will surely be focused on securing second place as Arsenal look to be growing more frail by the week.
The Arsenal manager has the steepest of hills to climb with his depleted squad if he is to win the league, with a 13-point deficit to overturn with 11 games to go.
Presumably, the mood within the Gunners’ camp is low after picking up just one point from their previous two games but, there was one encouraging sign against Nottingham Forest.
Ethan Nwaneri equals Raheem Sterling Premier League record
It’s not that Arsenal didn’t try against Forest but, it was abundantly clear that right now, Arteta doesn’t have sufficient quality to break down top teams like Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
Nuno shared a brutal assessment of Arsenal after the game, admitting that he made a tweak to his tactics due to how limited the Gunners are going forward.
While the draw was a considerable blow, there were some bright spells, with Ethan Nwaneri once again involved in the thick of it before being hooked off.
Arteta subbed Nwaneri due to cramp, which was no surprise as during the contest, the 17-year-old caused Forest real problems in the wide areas.
The teen was a relentless carrier of the ball as always, with his dribbling success actually seeing him write his name into Premier League history.
For the second time in Nwaneri’s last three appearances, the academy graduate completed five or more dribbles.
What’s interesting about the statistic is that the youngster became the first 17-year-old to complete such feat in multiple matches in a Premier League season for the first time since 2012/23.
The player that did it that year was 17-year-old Raheem Sterling, who was making a name for himself at Liverpool.
12 years later, the torch has been passed to Nwaneri in more ways than one, as the 30-year-old was shown up by those around him at the City Ground.
Nwaneri was unlucky against Nottingham Forest
After his performance against Forest, Arsenal fans gave up on Sterling completely however, the same can’t be said about Nwaneri.
Despite having to be hauled off, the Hale End product was able to heavily influence the game, proving just how vital he’s become in the first team.
| Ethan Nwaneri vs Nottingham Forest |
| 6 successful dribbles |
| 87% pass completion |
| 100% long balls |
| 7 duel wins |
| 3 blocked shots |
Arteta has a difficult situation to tend to as the teenager is clearly fatigued, which comes as no surprise given his sudden hike in minutes this season.
It will be interesting to see how the manager can rotate to give the rising star a well-earned rest, with the last thing needed being another injury.
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