And here’s our report from the City Ground on a brilliant night for Nottingham Forest. Thanks for reading!
Lewis Grabban struck late to stun a feeble Arsenal in the FA Cup third round
Updated
Alex Hess
Sun 9 Jan 2022 14.23 EST
First published on Sun 9 Jan 2022 11.29 EST
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Key events
A word for Djed Spence, who was sensationally good today – alert, aggressive, decisive and composed on the ball – and will surely be awarded man of the match. He’s on loan from Middlesbrough until the end of the season, and Forest had better hope there aren’t many Premier League clubs on the lookout for a right-back this month.
Full-time: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal
It will! Samba hoofs clear, Grabban charges down a clearance and that’s the final whistle. Arsenal are out, swatted aside by Forest – again – who absolutely deserve their win. They were better organised, better motivated, better to watch and can look forward to playing the holders in the next round. Bravo!
93 mins: … and Tierney is penalised for a foul throw. Will that be Arsenal’s last attack?
91 mins: Tierney’s long throw is headed away and booted clear by Spence, who hacks away again when the next attack arrives.
90 mins: Three minutes of stoppage time. For reasons unknown, Arsenal send on Kolasinac.
89 mins: Saka shuffles forward and send a cross into the Forest box. Worroll hoofs clear, the ball going into the clouds and then all the way back to Leno.
88 mins: Forest’s subs link up well, Cafu spinning brilliantly from the centre-forward position and feeding Grabban, who looks to shape a shot inside the far post but just doesn’t catch it right.
86 mins: Spence wins a throw high up the pitch with little more than effort and endeavour, chasing a lost cause and causing Tierney to panic. He’s been sensational today.
Goal! Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal (Grabban 82)
Forest go ahead, and Lokonga is at fault for Arsenal, needlessly giving surrendering possession in midfield with a lazy attempted dink. Johnson pounces and lays off to Yates on the right, whose curled cross is absolutely inch perfect – taking out the entire Arsenal backline – and turned home by a lunging Grabban.
78 mins: Spence gets himself a yellow card of his own with a late hack on Tierney. Then White picks out the onrushing Saka, who declines to lob a backpedalling keeper and instead squares to Lacazette, who is just eased away from the ball by an alert Worroll, preventing a tap-in. Great defending
74 mins: More excellence from Spence: this time he marauds forward down the right, shaking off two challenges, and is eventually taken out by a cynical lunge from the frustrated Martinelli, who’s rightly booked. Speaking of marauding right-backs, Cafu comes on for Zinckernagel.
73 mins: Odegaard spins in the centre circle, scuttles forward and eventually draws a foul. He is the only Arsenal player with a sense of urgency about him. Cedric wafts the resulting free-kick striaght out of play.
71 mins: Ben White carries the ball forward and looks up to see all his teammates stood still. He turns around and passes to Tierney.
68 mins: And Arsenal respond with a change of their own, Lacazette coming on for Patino, who’s not affected the game at all.
67 mins: That Davis’s last contribution - Grabban comes on to replace him. And then a flash of danger from Nketiah, who darts past his marker inside the box but slices a left-foot strike wide of the near post.
65 mins: Forest have come alive again, Colback making a great interception and sending it forward to Davis, who makes headway down the left but isn’t decisive enough once he reaches the box. Eventually the pass goes backwards and the attack fizzles out.
63 mins: And that free-kick led to a big penalty claim for Forest after Colback, chasing the ball from the rebound, was bundled over from behind by Saka. It looked a foul.
61 mins: Forest win a free-kick 25 yards out when Martinelli barges into Yates – the archetypal “striker’s challenge”. Garner goes for goal, striking the ball beautifully, with real band, and Leno leaps across his goal to palm away at full stretch.
58 mins: Huge miss from Nketiah. Saka cuts in from the right, drops a shoulder and drifts a lovely cross into the back post, where the striker has peeled away from his marker with a great bit of movement. But five yards out, he misjudges the header badly and the ball skews back across the face of goal before bobbling out of play.
55 mins: Forest made inroads into the Arsenal box again. This time Colback strides forward from left-back and looks to play a clever one-two with Davis, but the striker’s return ball is just overhit and runs out for a goal kick. The home fans have woken up.
52 mins: Forest put forward the best attack of the game when Johnson picks up the ball with his back to goal, spins, and steams down the right flank, outpacing Holding on the way. At full pelt, he hits a cross to Zinckernagel, whose first-time volleyed shot is repelled by Leno at his near post. Brilliant counter.
49 mins: Tierney challenges Spence to a footrace, knocking the ball into space past the Forest man, but Spence is more than up for it, eating up the ground and easing the ball to a teammate after snuffing out the danger. The man of the match so far.
46 mins: And we’re back under way. Worrall looks to release Johnson down the Forest right. It comes to nothing but the hosts make their way forward again,Davis their focal point, and claim a penalty when Johnson falls over after some ball-jugging in the box – no dice.
Alex Animashaun writes: “I count 5 attackers for Arsenal, how about a word on formation? Where’s Patino playing haven’t heard a pipsqueak about him.”
Well, Patino hasn’t done much wrong but hasn’t done a lot right, either: he’s barely touched the ball – in fact he’s made fewer passes than the Forest keeper (and fewer than any of his teammates bar Nketiah), not a stat you want to your name as a central midfielder. As for formation, it looks like Patino is playing in the middle alongside Odegaard, with Saka advanced on the right, Martinelli on the left and Nketiah the central striker.
Half-time: Nottingham Forest 0-0 Arsenal
Not a lot to separate the sides at the halfway mark, with Arsenal enjoying more of the ball but yet to open up a well-organised Forest defence. The hosts’ early exuberance has dissipated but they look a threat on the break. Stay tuned!
44 mins: Forest waste a good chance to getat the Arsenal back four after David steals forward down the left and lays off to Yates. The midfielder looks right, but his ball to Johnson is well behind the wide man and trickles out of play.
42 mins: Arsenal are starting to properly assert themselves now, with Forest’s meaningful ventures into the visitors’ half becoming ever rarer. Holding seems to be the defender tasked with carrying the ball out, but his distribution has been erratic so far. Meanwhile, Nketiah falls over while closing down Samba and takes the keeper clean out.
39 mins: Holding spots Martinelli scurrying free on the left, send it over the top, and from the byline the Brazilian picks out Tierney, who lays off the Holding on the edge of the box. The defender’s shot is blocked, and the ball rebounds improbably to Davis, who launches a counter of his own. But he’s all alone, surrounded by white shirts, and White steps across to dispossess.
37 mins: Arsenal spend a couple of minutes pegging Forest into their own half, though without creating anything clearcut. Eventually Saka cuts in from the right and floats one into the chest of Nketiah, who’s crowded out in the box.
35 mins: Some correspondence coming in about Arsenal’s all-white shirt - it’s a one-off kit being worn as part of the club’s ‘No more red’ campaign against knife crime in London. Meanwhile, Tierney comes on for Tavares, who doesn’t look injured … and throws the mildest of tantrums on his way to the bench. Eeek.
31 mins: More alert defending from Spence, who snaps into an interception at the feet of Martinelli. Arsenal regorup and put together an attack down the centre of the pitch, culminating in a Lokonga drive which flies wide off McKenna left buttock.
30 mins: Nketiah engineers a yard of space 20 yards out an unleashes a left-foot snapshot. It goes wide, via the tow of a defender. Corner, cleared.
JR writes: “Any neutrals looking for a rooting interest need look no further than the end of the players’ arms. I count five begloved Arsenal players and zero Forest players. (I didn’t include the goalkeepers. They can wear gloves.)”
27 mins: Tavares burrows down the left and crosses into the box for McKenna to head clear. The ball falls on the edge of the box to Rob Holding, who sees a moment of glory beckoning – and why not! His volley goes out for a throw.
23 mins: Spence v Martinelli is going the way of the Forest player so far, the full-back shrugging his opponents off the ball in a very useful bit of defending. He sends it back to Samba who sprays a gloriously languid ball out to Colback on the left flank. Samba football.
22 mins: Davis holds up well, laying off to Garner to spark another impressive period of sustained possession from Forest … who react to losing the ball by wining it straight back from Tavares. the hosts are hitting their stride now – though you suspect they might have to score during spells like this one.
19 mins: Garner hits a sublime pass – volleyed, shoulder-height, perfectly flat – out to Johnson, who is buccaneering down the right. He cuts inside and his floated left-foot cross is half-cleared but Forest recover possession and put together some very tidy build-up play on the edge of the box. The opening never presents itself, and Forest don’t force it. They eventually get a throw.
17 mins: Holding saunters forward, as far as the Forest box, then zips the ball into teh feet of Martinelli - playing wide left today - whose cross is deflected out for a corner. It goes short to Odegaard, whose drifted cross is well claimed by Samba.
14 mins: It’s a first real touch for Davis, who spins his marker nicely and looks to feed Zinckernagel on the left but gets a simple pass wrong.
11 mins: Great stuff from Spence, who scuttles inside to snuff out an Arsenal attack before galloping up the left flank with purpose, nutmegging Cedric and winning a free-kick in the process. Seconds later Tavares, with all the time in the world, wellies a chest-high backpass at Leno, who can only clear behind for a corner. Are Arsenal looking nervy?
10 mins: Holding lofts forward out Martinelli, who controls ingeniously with his head but is pounced on by his marker. Forest threaten to break, with Davis in full sprint, but Holding steps across to cover as the last man. That got the fans out of their seats though.
7 mins: The first sight of goal from either side falls to a players who doesn’t get many of them. Ben White scuffs wide with his left foot after a half-cleared set piece falls to him on the edge of the box. Back he trots to centre-back, looking suitably sheepish.
5 mins: Spence will have a tricky task tonight in keeping the in-form Martinelli quiet. The Brazilian wastes no time in hounding down the full-back to win his side a throw.
3 mins: Not a huge amount of rhythm from either side so far but Forest get some early joy of sort from their full-backs, Colback neat and tidy in possession while Spence gallops forward to get on the end of a raking ball from Worrall … and miscontrols.
1 min: And we’re off. Forest kick off but give away early with an aimless ball forward. Arsenal gather possession and try to make headway down the left but it’s a cul-de-sac.
The teams are out and the Forest XI gather for a quick mass gee-up before kickoff. The decibel level inside the City Ground is high.
Patino is Arsenal’s much-hyped young attacker who makes his full debut today having scored on his only other outing, off the bench against Sunderland last month. All eyes on him today, though he’ll be up against a hugely capable a canny midfielder in Ryan Yates.
Charles Antaki writes, brimming with hope and optimism: “Arsenal fans are understandably keen to see academy youngster Charlie Patino starting, but we also face a dilemma: if he’s great, then he sets up wholly unsustainable expectations which will ultimately lead to disappointment and chagrin; on the other hand if he’s terrible it will also lead to disappointment and chagrin, only much more quickly.”That’s the spirit Charles!
The teams!
Nottingham Forest: Samba, Spence, Worrall, McKenna, Cook, Garner, Colback, Johnson, Zinckernagel, Yates, Davis.
Subs: Horvath, Tobias Figueiredo, Grabban, Joao Carvalho, Bong, Cafu, Xande Silva, Ojeda, Taylor.
Arsenal: Leno, Cedric, White, Holding, Tavares, Sambi Lokonga, Patino, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Nketiah.
Subs: Biereth, Hutchinson, Tierney, Lacazette, Chambers, Pablo Mari, Kolasinac, Ramsdale, Oulad M’hand.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Preamble
It’s been an odd season-so-far for Arsenal, who have displayed all their quintessential signs of dysfunction and hardship – early defeat to bustling newly promoted side; tonkings by Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool; axing a grumpy captain – while simultaneously giving the impression of a team that has got its act together and should be taken seriously. The thrilling youngsters and intricate football may be well-worn Arsenal hallmarks, but not the no-frills defensive competence on display of late, and certainly not the big-game defiance witnessed last weekend.
Then again, perhaps it’s easy to impress the punters in a game everyone expects you to lose. The really hard games are the ones against unfancied opponents – especially when they’re fired up, in front of their baying fans, under the floodlights. But then, Arsenal need little reminding of that.
Speaking of which, Nottingham Forest have been flying high under the revitalising management of Steve Cooper, who has transformed the side’s fortunes since taking over from Chris Hughton in over in September. Though their two-month unbeaten run recently gave way to successive defeats, to Middlesbrough and Huddersfield, in which they failed to trouble the scoresheet, their promotion hopes remain alive and well, driven in large part fired by two academy products, Ryan Yates and Joe Worrall, whose consistently classy displays have been noted by a number of Premier League scouts.
The avuncular Cooper has only been in the job fourth months but has made his presence firmly felt, upping the intensity in training, transforming the team’s playing style and bringing in Jack Colback from the cold. His nascent Forest side hit their apex with a 4-1 shellacking of Swansea just before Christmas, a performance that gave every impression of a team that would look right at home in the top tier. It’s fair to say today’s test will be rather more rigorous. Are they up to it?