Arsenal Line-Up and Score Prediction for Cup Final-Like Clash with Nottingham Forest

 By Danong

Arsenal will take on Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League's return this weekend. 

The Gunners have not secured a victory in their last 4 Premier League matches, placing them 9 points behind league leaders Liverpool and 5 points behind the defending champions, Manchester City.

If coach Mikel Arteta and the team aim to maintain their title aspirations, they cannot further widen the gap between them and the other two Premier League title favorites. 

On paper, a clash with Forest would seem like just another 3 points secured, but given the current form of the Nottingham-based PL side, that may not be the case.

Forest are experiencing a notable resurgence; a glance at the Premier League table reveals that their statistics are strikingly similar to those of Arsenal. 

Arsenal has played 11 games, securing 5 wins, 4 draws, and 2 losses, with a goal difference of +6. Like them, Nottingham Forest has played 11 matches, with 5 victories, 4 draws, 2 defeats, and a goal difference of +5.

Forest has been impressive; they are undoubtedly a challenging team to face, having conceded only 10 goals. Only Liverpool in the league has allowed fewer goals (6). 

The North Londoners must be at their best to secure a victory this Saturday afternoon. For that to happen, Arteta needs to assemble a formidable winning lineup, and I can't think of a better starting 11 than this:

On goal, David Raya starts. With Ben White out and Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu back, I anticipate Jurrien Timber at RB, William Saliba and Gabriel at central defense, with Calafiori returning to LB.

With his recent performance, Thomas Partey has become an indispensable asset in Arsenal's engine room. 

Martin Odegaard, the skipper, who injects creativity into Arteta's engine room, like Partey, must just start. 

There's to be a battle for LCM between Declan Rice and Mikel Merino. I'd start with Merino. Rice was nursing an injury versus Chelsea and even if he's recovered, extra rest could do him good. 

Remember the impact Merino made when he entered the game against Chelsea in the 1-1 stalemate prior to the interval, he can't be overlooked.

Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, and Bukayo Saka lead the team in the forward line.

Arsenal line-up versus Forest:

Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori
Partey, Merino, Odegaard
Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

With this line-up, I expect Arsenal to win. I expect this to be the turn-around of Arsenal's league campaign, as Paul Merson suggests in his Sportskeeda column, "This is a cup final for Arsenal, a must-win game. 

Mikel Arteta and company have some lovely fixtures coming up and will be hopeful of putting on a solid run. I back them to win their next six or seven games and it starts with this one."

That said, Merson predicts that Arsenal will secure a 3-1 win on Saturday. I think a 2-0 win is more probable.

What are your thoughts on that? Share your predictions below and let us know what adjustments you would suggest for the starting lineup.

Arsenal all out for the win, prove Merson wrong and challenge for the title

 By Danong and 1970s Gooner

Arsenal will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening in the London derby. The Gunners go to this game following two consecutive defeats (1-0 to Newcastle and 1-0 to Inter Milan). They've also gone winless in their last three league games.

What's so obviously been missing in recent games has been a lack of creativity in the final third which has  resulted in a struggle to create and convert chances. 

Against Inter Milan, in that 1-0 Champions League loss, Arsenal had 20 shots and 46 crosses but still couldn't get a goal, failing to score twice in a row.

Certainly in the absence of creativity a team reverts to relying solely on crosses which is of course not a viable strategy.

Since his injury on international duty in September, Martin Odegaard has not played in the league. Arsenal's engine room has sorely missed his contributions.

In recent weeks, Arsenal's pressing has been subpar. Who leads the press from the font? Odegaard.

They were unable to break down defenses and there is a lack of creativity: who creates most of the chances? Odegaard.

Who orchestrates Arsenal's buildup? with Odegaard the Gunners have the capacity to build from the back when he drops in to help carry the ball.

In his six meetings with the Blues, he has two goals and three assists. He certainly looks forward to playing against Chelsea.

Remember when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted, "The impact Martin has in everything that we do, it was too big to try to replicate it with one player"

Clearly, Arteta acknowledged that his game plan revolves around Odegaard, which makes it understandable why Arsenal has missed him so much. His possible return will be a huge boost.

As Arsenal hope Odegaard can help their attack click Chelsea too will hope Cole Palmer can do the same. Palmer has been nursing an injury he sustained against Manchester United last weekend and is also a doubt for the encounter.

As per Paul Merson, if Palmer misses the game, Arsenal will win, as he feels Chelsea just can't function so well without the Englishman.

Now surely, Chelsea versus Arsenal cannot after all be a Palmer versus Odegaard matchup. There are the rest of the players who will have to function at their best to win the game.

What the Gooners must hope is that Mikel Arteta is brave enough to start Odegaard, who in a few minutes against Inter Milan showed us what we've been missing.

Against Inter, it was clear that whenever the Norwegian playmaker received the ball, everyone immediately moved and simply trusted that it would arrive.

Arsenal will play as their lives depend on this game and will get back on track to challenge for the title.

Paul Merson has predicted a 2-2 draw. We think he will be wrong.