Key events
72 min Suddenly Arsenal inject pace, Saka drawing two men then passing between them for Odegaard, who turns first-time into space for Timber – the kind of triangulation that opens tight defences. Timber cuts back well too, Rice having arrived into the box, but his swept finish is too high.
69 min Schlager to Delap, who collects well and bulldozes between the Arsenal centre-backs. But mistrustful of his pace, he doesn’t sticks the ball through the gap and charge after it, instead shooting from 20 yards, the kind of effort that needs to be special to go in … which it isn’t and doesn’t.
68 min Timber’s first, er, action is to concede a corner, Raya coming for the corner and collecting well.
67 min On those changes, I like Timber and Merino, but I’d have gone for Lewis-Skelly as well; the players who’ve come on make it seem like Arsenal are just hoping for a ball into the box to work out well.
66 min Before the corner, a triple change for Arsenal: Timber, Merino and Gyokeres for White, Guimaraes and Havert, then the corner comes in and Gabriel heads high over the bar.
65 min Now Arsenal attack, Madueke again keeping the width and winning a corner. I’m not surprised Merino is stripping off, because he might at least threaten from set-pieces. Meantime, McAtee panics when the ball looks to be dropping for Odegaard just outside the box, hitchkicking behind from 20 yards out.
63 min Murillo releases Ndoye, who doesn’t quite have the pace to get rid of Gabriel. But he is ahead of him with runners, opting to check inside, which allows the defender to get back properly, blocking the shot at source.
62 min Sels comes and punches the corner clear, then Odegaard’s pass in behind is too strong for Calafiori. I wonder if Arteta might try Dowman, because he needs a bit of something different; I’d go Lews-Skelly for Rice or Guimaraes, because he has the ability the commit men in the middle of the pitch, beating them with skill or bouncing them with power.
61 min Calafiori finds Madueke, whose low cross is deflected behind. This time, as it’s from the left, Rice will take the corner.
60 min Raya comes for the corner and collects well, setting away a counter moved on by a lovely Saka touch. For all the good it does anyone, Madueke swiftly ceding possession.
59 min McAtee’s ball bounces through the box and eventually goes behind on the other side; Forest are building a bit of territorial pressure.
58 min Williams collects a loose ball and slides square, but Guimaraes gets the ahead of Dominguez, then Munoz wins a corner down the right. Forest have been the better team so far this half, little though that’s saying.
56 min This game and Leeds v Man United have been proper 80s fare, bodies everywhere and very little quality or composure. The physicality is a little different – violence is harder to perpetrate but compensated for with athleticism – and the result is a mess. I’d expect to see many more games like this, especially as, despite the money available, the very best attackers tend not to play in England.
55 min …which Munoz clears at the near post, then there’s a quick VAR check for handball, nothing doing.
54 min Immediately, Saka bounces down the other end and wins a corner for Arsenal…
53 min Cunha lanks through midfield and finds “Delap!” But no joy for Drury, his shot deflected behind for a corner which comes to nothing.
53 min Madueke weaves in off the left, shoots … directly into the nearest shins then, when Dominguez turns White, he runs through him and is booked.
51 min This game has been almost entirely devoid of quality; in that regard, it might be the worst I’ve seen this season.
50 min Forest have started the second half well and Delap outmuscles Gabriel on the right, then belts a cross to no one.
49 min And this time McAtee hits it, flipping over the bar. Not to force one save from the two is poor from Forest.
48 min McAtee watches a dropping ball, tries a volley, slices it …, so badly, it flies at the nearby Havertz, who protects face with hands. Free-kick Forest, again just outside the D, again McAtee and Williams behind it.
47 min Arsenal move down the left but are forced backwards and Forest counter, Delap doing well to slow down Konsa before accelerating again and crossing low, Williams just unable to get on the end of it.
46 min If Arsenal want Madueke to go on the outside and, by sticking him on the left it seems they do, they have to get men into the box.
46 min We go again…
Arsenal are making a change, Madueke for Eze. They’ll hope he can keep maximum width and stretch the play, opening space for Calafiori to underlap.
Half-time email: “Arteta’s risk aversion has served him and Arsenal well,” reckons Kári Tulinius. “If Pep Guardiola hadn’t been playing with house money, he’d have a lot more silverware on his mantelpiece. But it can sometimes be counterproductive. For example, in terms of each individual match, the sensible thing to do is to start Declan Rice, because he’s the best Arsenal have got at dead ball deliveries. However, he seems to be permanently a tick below full fitness these days, which makes him less effective in open play. By contrast, Luis Enrique, Jürgen Klopp and Zinedine Zidane both have a high tolerance for risk.”
Yes, I agree – Arteta has been given the funds to build near-enough two teams, so the profiles he has are his choice. And that’s part of today’s problem, but I also think the players need to take responsibility and move the ball quicker, with more risk in their passing. We’ve not seen much of the full-backs in attack, either; can they get forward to create 2v1s?
Half-time entertainment:
ShareHALF-TIME: Nottingham Forest 0-0 Arsenal
No shots on target and very little good football. A blinder it is not.
45+3 min And the do, heading clear before Murillo’s hopeful hooked shot trickles through to Raya.
Updated at 12.19 EDT
45+2 min McAtee spreads to Williams, whose cross is blocked behind and, with Guimaraes off the pitch having taken treatment blocking the free-kick, they’ve got to defend the corner with 10.
45 min We’ll have two additional minutes.
45 min McAtee makes to run over it but backheels inside to change the angle, then Williams curls hard into Guimaraes and the ball sails behind.
44 min Oh, but Forest counter, a long pass out to Delap allowing him to run at the Arsenal defence, twisting to confuse Konsa before Rice brings him down. Free-kick, just outside the D, left of centre … Williams and McAtee behind it.
43 min This is not good. Arsenal lack the quality and profile of players to get quick combinations going and could, I think, do with Lewis-Skelly’s dynamism and desire to commit defenders.
40 min At no point of this half has a goal looked likely. But a clever reverse-pass from Rice – more of these, please – sends Havertz into the box, his shot always going wide of the near post.
38 min On Havertz, he’s more a big-game striker, I think, good at moving defenders about and a reliable finisher when the pressure is on, than he is a regular centre-forward. His goal record just isn’t good enough and he doesn’t have the pace to threaten the last line; I actually wonder if he might work as an attacking midfielder, because hie has the feet to conjure – when he broke through at Leverkusen, he was more magic man than target man.
Kai Havertz of Arsenal challenges Xaver Schlager of Nottingham Forest. Photograph: Ryan Browne/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 12.28 EDT
37 min Arsenal win a corner out on the right, 25 yards from goal, Rice judges an outswinger into the corridor of uncertainty and Havertz is up … but he mistimes his jump, heading wide.
35 min McAtee, celebrating his 24th birthday, curls the corner directly into Raya’s gloves.
35 min Good from Delap, Schlager controlling a dropping ball well before the centre-forward bustles through a challenge, his shot from distance deflected behind.
33 min “Charles Antaki: ask and you shall absolutely not receive,” writes Sean Orlowicz.
The last few minutes have been better, I think, but Arsenal need to move the ball quicker and stretch the play more. They also lack one v one ability – we saw the same with Man United in one of our early games – which makes it hard when facing a set defence.
31 min Of course, as I type, he lofts a fine first-time pass over the top from centre to right – if he did that much more often, we’d not be having the conversation below – but White shanks the eventuating cross behind.
30 min Declan Rice has some fantastic attributes, but his work with both Arsenal and England illustrates the difficulty of balancing a midfield with him in. He doesn’t have the technique to take the ball off the defence – Arteta signed Zubimendi partly for that reason – but going forward, there’s not enough quality on the ball. So in games like this one, when there’s not much call for the big-space work at which he excels, an auxiliary attacker like Merino might make more sense.
29 min Saka again goes near post, but picks out a defender then, when the ball comes out to Odegaard, his inswinger is easily collects by Sels.
28 min Arsenal take a quick throw and Guimaraes wins a corner; he’s starting to influence proceedings.
26 min A flat corner and near-post flick causes confusion – classic Arsenal, but from another era – and Gabriel, facing his own goal, backheels, but into Konsa, and Forest clear.
25 min Again, the outlet is Saka, whose cross is headed behind for a corner. Last season, this would have the ground going.
24 min The buzz you get from knowing you’re good, though, is the calmness to know that if you’re patient, secure at the back and keep doing the right things, the chances will come. I’d just like to see a bit more risk in Arsenal’s play, off the ball as much as on it. Rice and Bruno have done almost nothing going forward.
23 min So far, not much has happened. Forest will be delighted with that, Arsenal less so. Can they get Calafiori going? His runs from deep are hard to track and might make an extra man in attack.
20 min The corner picks out Murillo at the back post; he heads down … and wide, but the flag goes up for a foul of some sort. There’s then a pause as Murillo is bleeding near the corner of his eye, but he’ll be fine.