Arsenal travelled to the City Ground, faced a stubborn Nottingham Forest who held them to a 0-0 draw as they failed to convert a chance to make it a nine-point lead atop the Premier League after Manchester City‘s 2-0 loss to Manchester United earlier today.
What makes it tougher for Arsenal fans is that if Aston Villa beat Everton on Sunday, that lead will be cut to four points.
After the match, Arteta said “we knew the game was not going to be easy, that would be tough. We had four big, big chances and a clear penalty…
“You see what happened around the league, we have to improve. When we create four big chances we have to put them away.” To sum it up he said, “we didn’t get the win, unfortunately”
Gabriel Martinelli was guilty of the biggest miss of the day, poking wide from a tight angle and close range; while Bukayo Sako’s brilliant header was met with an even better save from the Forest keeper Matz Sels. Arsenal’s stubborn defence didn’t concede a shot on target, and that drew praise from their manager.
Ola Aina, who was at the centre of that penalty controversy said, natural, “if they gave it a penalty, I’d be a bit shocked. I got a bit of a nudge, it kind of hit me… that’s the right decision.” Sean Dyche, for his part, said it would have been an incredibly harsh decision as he praised his players’ commitment and discipline of his team against what he called a “top team”
You can follow it all relive it all, right here with ESPN’s live blog: