{"id":376422,"date":"2026-01-18T05:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T05:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376422\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T05:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T05:31:11","slug":"forest-v-arsenal-team-news-saka-benched-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376422\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest v Arsenal team news: Saka benched again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Buoyed by Manchester City\u2019s defeat in the early kick-off, Arsenal will be hoping to go nine points clear at the top of the Premier League this evening.<\/p>\n<p>Their match at Nottingham Forest kicks off at 17:30 GMT.<\/p>\n<p>TEAM NEWS<\/p>\n<p>It became apparent in December that Mikel Arteta is averse to starting Bukayo Saka three times in a week. Now, even successive games seem to be beyond him.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a rest against Portsmouth last weekend, and despite the upcoming UEFA Champions League game against Inter effectively being a dead rubber for the Gunners, Saka finds himself on the bench again this evening.<\/p>\n<p>So too does Leandro Trossard, with Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli coming in.<\/p>\n<p>The other change from Wednesday\u2019s EFL Cup semi-final first leg is the return of David Raya at the expense of cup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s still no Piero Hincapie in the Gunners\u2019 squad. Cristhian Mosquera \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk\/2026\/01\/13\/hincapie-saliba-calafiori-the-latest-fpl-team-news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ruled out for \u201cweeks\u201d by Arteta only on Tuesday <\/a>\u2013 does make the bench, however.<\/p>\n<p>Gabriel Magalhaes starts for the fourth time in 10 days.<\/p>\n<p>Having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk\/2026\/01\/12\/fpl-notes-semenyo-debut-goal-richards-starts-4-2m-forward-brace\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">savaged his second string<\/a> after their performance in the FA Cup against Wrexham, Sean Dyche unsurprisingly goes back to his regulars this evening.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s just one change from Gameweek 21, with Ibrahima Sangare coming in for Omari Hutchinson.<\/p>\n<p>LINE-UPS<\/p>\n<p>Nottingham Forest XI:\u00a0Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams, Sangare, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>Subs: Gunn, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Ndoye, Hutchinson, Yates, McAtee, Savona.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal XI:\u00a0Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Martinelli, Madueke, Gyokeres.<\/p>\n<p>Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, Saka, Jesus, Eze, Trossard, Merino, Havertz, Lewis-Skelly.<\/p>\n<p>LIVE GAMEWEEK PAGE!<\/p>\n<p>New to Fantasy Football Scout this season is the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk\/fpl\/live-gameweek\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Live Gameweek page<\/a>, which you can see on the side menu.<\/p>\n<p>Here you can follow the scores, watch the defensive contribution (DefCon) points roll in, see who the leading players are for xG and more as the games play out, as seen below:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-273-1024x438.png\" alt=\"Saka benched again\" class=\"wp-image-157309 webpexpress-processed\"  \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/FFScoutEditorial\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG-20250820-WA0000-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"price change predictions\" class=\"wp-image-144736 webpexpress-processed\" style=\"width:600px\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buoyed by Manchester City\u2019s defeat in the early kick-off, Arsenal will be hoping to go nine points clear&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[37681,218,143186,143187,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-376422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-arsenal-team-news","tag-football","tag-forest-v-arsenal","tag-forest-v-arsenal-team-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}