Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were again flustered by a Sean Dyche side, and this latest headache comes with a spirit-draining price tag.
The Gunners walked into the City Ground with the chance to grow their Premier League table lead to nine thanks to a loss by Man City. Liverpool also dropped points on Saturday, and Arsenal just had to read its lines and beat the 17th-place team on the Premier League table.
MORE — Nottingham Forest v Arsenal recap, video highlights
But Arteta’s changed attack couldn’t score against Forest and he had to break the seal on his big-name subs. It got better, but not enough to take the eggs off the scoreboard in a 0-0 draw that inched them seven points clear of City and Aston Villa.
And so Sean Dyche’s first game against Arsenal as Forest boss looked a lot like some previous iterations against Arsenal as Burnley or Everton boss, as Dyche improved his record to 2W-5D-4L against Arteta with the last two of those draws coming as part of six clean sheets.
Arteta was upset that his much-changed team couldn’t cash in their chances, and he thought VAR’s decision to not award a second-half penalty to the Gunners for a perceived handball on Ola Aina near the end line was an obvious mistake.
Mikel Arteta reaction after Arsenal labor, fail to take advantage of huge title race chance
Thoughts on the draw? “We wanted to win the game. We knew it was going to be very tough, very close. We created four big, big, big chances and a clear penalty.”
It looked like a question of whether the ball was in play, not whether it was a handball:“It’s a clear intention to keep the ball inside, so it’s clear penalty. I don’t understand why it’s not been given.”
Disappointing after the results around the league? “We could’ve been better but it’s what’s happening all the around the league to every single team but we have to be better. When we created four big chances, you have to put them away.”
Your depth couldn’t quite find the magic to score: “They are so willing to do it. You have to produce that moment. Credit to them as well, they are really organized. They disrupt your momentum in a real clever way.”
Saka’s header nearly a goal but huge save from Sels: “Yes, and what a big chance Gabby has with an empty goal. Or a big chance Declan has, or Mikel has. We have to put the ball in the net and win the game but we didn’t manage to do it.”
