Arsenal travel to the East Midlands to take on Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, and predictions have been made ahead of the encounter.
The Gunners are now eleven points behind league leaders Liverpool, who have played a game more than Mikel Arteta’s side.
Thus, the Premier League title race is all but done, after Arsenal lost at home to West Ham in dismal fashion on the weekend, while Liverpool breezed past Manchester City.
If the North Londoners don’t overcome Forrest, then attention may turn to retaining their place in the top four, rather than the league title.
Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture in November, although with the threadbare nature of Arteta’s squad, this is likely to be a much sterner challenge against the league’s surprise package.
Paul Merson slams Mikel Arteta and predicts Forest v Arsenal
Paul Merson was perplexed at Arteta’s decision to start Mikel Merino up front against West Ham, and the pundit has slammed the Spaniard again while issuing his prediction for the Forest game.
Arsenal may be forced to use the Euro 2024 winner as a striker again against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, due to the lack of viable alternatives.
Writing for Sportskeeda, Merson said: “I couldn’t believe what Mikel Arteta did the other day by playing Mikel Merino as a striker from the start. I know he came on and scored to beat Leicester, but it’s easy to do that when he comes off the bench against a tired team.
“But to do that against West ham, my god what was he thinking? Merino looked like a fish trying to climb a tree in the last game and I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
On the Forest match-up, he wrote: “I watched Arsenal last week and I can’t see them scoring a goal! I honestly don’t know how they are going to do it. Even if Arsenal play this game with their strongest team, this is still a tough ask away from home at Nottingham Forest.
“Without a proper front-three, I expect them to be in trouble because I can’t see Forest not scoring here.”
Score prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal
Chris Sutton laments Arsenal and predicts Forest clash
Like Merson, Chris Sutton is equally pessimistic about Arsenal’s ability to leave the City Ground with three points.
Writing on BBC Sport, the pundit said: “Arsenal have stuffed up their title bid haven’t they?”
“They need to win every game from here to match their points tally from last season but will that happen with Mikel Merino playing as a makeshift centre-forward? I don’t see it, and they seem to be making it up as they go along.
“They need to bounce back and find a way of beating Nottingham Forest but this is a tough trip after such a devastating result, and I am not so sure they will take the points here either.
“Forest are not in great form themselves, and got a bit of a walloping by Newcastle. Nuno Espirito Santo was clearly unhappy with some of his side’s defending in that game.
“But how are Arsenal going to score goals? I don’t know at the moment.
“If Gunners boss Mikel Arteta needs a left-back, he has got a few of them on the bench. Unfortunately he needs a centre-forward, and there is not one of those to be seen.”
Score prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Arsenal
A failure to win at Forest will almost certainly put a full stop on Arsenal’s title charge.
The Gunners will have to focus on securing their place in the top four, getting past PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and start planning for next season.
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