Arsenal’s slow starts continued at Nottingham Forest, but Noni Madueke’s late deflected effort secured a 1-0 victory and kept Mikel Arteta’s side three points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Arsenal managed only one shot on target at the City Ground, with Madueke scoring in the 80th minute after replacing Eberechi Eze at half-time. The result extended the champions’ unbeaten progress through a difficult match and maintained their challenge at the top of the table.
Arsenal have scored 11 goals in their first seven league games – the second-lowest total among the top six. That is eight fewer than Manchester City and 12 fewer than third-placed Brighton & Hove Albion. Eight of Arsenal’s goals have arrived after half-time.
They again struggled to create in the opening 45 minutes, although their performance improved after the interval. Madueke finally broke Nottingham Forest’s resistance when Ibrahim Sangare hesitated over a clearance, allowing the visitors to regain possession.
The substitute then moved beyond Daniel Munoz before his shot took a decisive deflection off Jair Cunha and wrong-footed Matz Sels.
“The longer the game goes on, they have more belief. You have to take more risks, and that’s when the game can break,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
Madueke said Arsenal now had the confidence to win matches they might have lost last season.
“At times maybe last year, this game might have not gone as it did for us in the end, but I think we’ve got that extra belief, that extra mentality now,” he said.
“We know we’re the champions, and we know we can pull out the bag wherever we go and just delighted we were able to do it today.”
The 24-year-old also highlighted Arsenal’s strength on the bench, saying the competition for places was helping the team make an impact late in matches.
“If you look at the quality of our starting 11 and bench it’s absurd, so we know that we’re going to start some and finish some [games] and for me it’s the same mentality every time, I just want to create or score. Amazing feeling [to score], but I feel better about the win,” he said.
“We have elite players, all 20-something players are elite and of the highest level. It’s great to have that type of competition, you know on the bench you’re ready to have an impact.”
Forest remain 18th with five points and have neither won nor scored at the City Ground this season. Murillo came close to rescuing a point in stoppage time after beating three players, but his shot went wide.
Elsewhere, Brighton & Hove Albion moved into third place on 16 points after thrashing Crystal Palace 5-0. Diego Gomez scored a remarkable goal from inside his own half, while Jaydee Canvot’s own goal, Yasin Ayari, Charalampos Kostoulas and Jack Hinshelwood completed the scoring.
Manchester United drew 1-1 with Leeds United at Elland Road. Bryan Mbeumo put United ahead in the 35th minute before Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised five minutes after the break. United are 13th with one win from seven games, while Leeds are seventh.
Bournemouth claimed their first league victory of the season by beating Sunderland 2-0. Bournemouth climbed to 15th, while Sunderland stayed 19th and in the relegation zone.
