Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo bluntly explained that he sent his side out with a back four on Wednesday night because “Arsenal doesn’t have a striker”.
The toothless visitors failed to score for the second game on the spin, limping to a 0-0 draw at the City Ground which leaves them 13 points adrift of league-leading Liverpool. Mikel Arteta lined up with Mikel Merino – a natural defensive midfielder – as a striker once again as injuries to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus limit the club’s attacking options.
Forest boast one of the most prolific forwards in the division, but TNT Sports pundit (and former Arsenal centre-back) Martin Keown was more concerned about the defensive structure Espirito Santo deployed in midweek.
The high-flying hosts have spent much of the season in a 4-2-3-1, but opted for three centre-backs in their most emphatic victory of the campaign, a 7-0 mauling of Brighton earlier this month. When quizzed on the tactical tweak, Espirito Santo fired back: “I’ll tell you. As Arsenal doesn’t have a striker, with [Mikel] Merino playing in that position – there’s no need for an extra body. The overload will be in the midfield and it’s about containing the midfield.”
Arsenal will continue to line up with limited senior forwards as Arteta confirmed that Saka and Martinelli are not set to return until April at the earliest. However, looking at the campaign in its entirety, the waning title challengers have been blunt going forward regardless of injuries.
The Gunners have failed to score in five different Premier League games this season. For comparison, Liverpool have only drawn one blank.
Eight different clubs have taken more shots than Arsenal, who are adept at working the ball close to the opposition goal, but do so at such a pedestrian pace they are invariably met with a wall of flesh when they eventually pull the trigger. More than 31% of Arsenal’s shots this season have been blocked – a proportion only two Premier League clubs can top.
Arteta admitted that the individuals he turned to in the absence of a recognised forward “are not about arriving in the box and creating some magic moments”. “We try to adapt to that and do the best that we can,” he sighed after the demoralising draw with Forest.
One figure who is more familiar with crashing into the penalty area is academy forward Nathan Butler-Oyedeji. The 22-year-old striker has directly contributed to 13 goals (scoring seven and creating six) in ten Premier League 2 appearances this season but was once again an unused substitute on Wednesday night.
Khayon Edwards, the leading PL2 goalscorer with nine in 12, has trained with the senior side but has not featured in a Premier League matchday squad thus far.