Nottingham Forest 0-1 Arsenal: Madueke's late winner sends Forest into the bottom three

Arsenal needed only one shot on target to beat Nottingham Forest 0-1 at the City Ground, and it was enough: substitute Noni Madueke scored the only goal in the 80th minute, finishing a move started by Declan Rice.

It was a scrappier afternoon than the scoreline suggests for the visitors. Forest had only 26.2% of the possession to Arsenal's 73.8%, yet out-shot the champions 14 to 9 in total, even if just two of those found the target to Arsenal's one. Neco Williams was booked in the 17th minute for Forest, and Madueke picked up a yellow card of his own in the 53rd, the only other blemish on an otherwise quiet afternoon for referee and players alike until the goal arrived with ten minutes to play.

Line-ups

• Nottingham Forest (3-4-2-1): Matz Sels; Ousmane Diomande, Murillo, Jair Paula; Xaver Schlager, James McAtee, Neco Williams, Daniel Muñoz; Liam Delap, Dan Ndoye; Nicolás Domínguez
• Arsenal (4-2-3-1): David Raya; Gabriel Magalhães, Ezri Konsa, Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White; Martin Ødegaard, Bruno Guimarães; Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Eberechi Eze; Bukayo Saka

Match facts

• 80' — Noni Madueke (Arsenal), assist Declan Rice
• Yellow cards: Neco Williams (17') for Nottingham Forest; Noni Madueke (53') for Arsenal

Forest's home form keeps leaking points

Forest had won only once in their previous five league games before kick-off — a 2-1 win away at Aston Villa in Matchweek 4, sandwiched between draws against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur and defeats to Coventry City and, most recently, Crystal Palace, who beat them 3-1 at Selhurst Park in Matchweek 6. A fifth defeat in seven matches now puts Forest's attention squarely on the bottom of the table, and Sunday's performance — more shots, less composure in front of goal — fits a side that keeps generating chances without the finishing to turn them into points.

Arsenal, by contrast, extend an unbeaten run that stretches back to a 0-3 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion in Matchweek 5 — four wins in a row since, across the Premier League and the Champions League, with this the least convincing of them on the stats sheet but the most important on the points table. Mikel Arteta's side have now won five of their six Premier League matches, their only defeat the one at Brighton that still stands as the campaign's outlier, and Sunday's clean sheet was their fourth of the season, their first since beating Sunderland 2-0 back in Matchweek 4.

What this does to the table

Forest had gone into the weekend 17th on 5 points from six games; a fifth defeat in seven matches leaves them on 5 points from seven, now 18th and inside the relegation zone, a place and a point behind 17th-placed Fulham on an inferior goal difference. Arsenal, who had sat second on 15 points, move to 18 and stay second, two clear of third-placed Brighton & Hove Albion and three behind Manchester City at the top.

What's next

Nottingham Forest travel to Ipswich Town on Friday 23 October, already needing a response to climb back out of the bottom three. Arsenal host Everton at the Emirates on Saturday 24 October, looking to keep the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table.