Noni Madueke came off the bench at half-time and scored the only goal as Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground. The winger broke the deadlock with 10 minutes left, in a game that had offered little to that point.
His shot took a deflection off Forest defender Jair Cunha on its way in. Declan Rice set it up, and BBC Sport’s ratings single out the midfielder for a miss as well: he had a big chance earlier but still found Madueke for the goal. Madueke replaced Eberechi Eze, who was rated a 5 after being taken off at the break. Kai Havertz also scored a 5 and was withdrawn on 66 minutes.
Arsenal had plenty of the ball but struggled to turn it into clear openings. Forest sat deep, and Bukayo Saka had little room to work even though his crosses caused some problems. Matz Sels had been largely untroubled in the Forest goal until the winner.
Konsa makes the late save
Forest still nearly rescued a point. Murillo almost grabbed an injury-time equaliser after some neat skill. Ezri Konsa then made a tackle on Liam Delap at the end that BBC Sport called brilliant, and it helped Arsenal hold the clean sheet. Konsa, Rice and Madueke each got a 7, the highest marks on the day.
Forest were without the injured Morgan Gibbs-White, and James McAtee was asked to provide the creativity in his absence. He worked hard but could not find a spark. Ousmane Diomande, in only his fourth Premier League start since his summer arrival, was part of a defence that looked set to earn a draw. Nicolas Dominguez made his first league appearance of the season and tired before being replaced by Ibrahim Sangare. Sangare was rated a 5 for stopping at the crucial moment before the goal.
Viktor Gyokeres and Mikel Merino both came on at 66 minutes, as did Jurrien Timber, who supplied a cross for a late Rice chance. The win keeps the champions in the hunt in a game where Oliver Glasner’s side defended well for most of the 90 minutes.
Source: BBC Sport
