🕟 Kick Off: 16:30 BST

🏟️ Venue: The City Ground

📺 UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Michael Oliver

📹 VAR: Michael Salisbury

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Piero Hincapie (Ankle/Foot): Ruled Out. Sidelined with an ankle/foot issue. Arteta confirmed he is progressing well but will likely require another week or two before returning to action.
• Christos Tzolis (Thigh): Ruled Out. Recovering from a thigh injury. An MRI scan this week showed positive progress, hopeful for a return in the next couple of weeks.
• William Saliba: Long term injury. Saliba is taking an extended break from football to heal his back without the need for surgery.
• Martin Zubimendi: Arteta stated he looked significantly better in training on Friday, with Saturday’s final session set to determine his availability for Sunday.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟩🟩🟥🟩🟩

🌳 Nottingham Forest Team News:

• Igor Jesus (Calf/Shin/Heel): Ruled Out. Confirmed by Oliver Glasner to miss Sunday’s fixture.
• Nicolò Savona (Knee): Ruled Out. Sidelined with a knee issue and ruled out of contention for the weekend alongside Igor Jesus.
• Nikola Milenković (Knee): Doubt (50% Chance / Late Fitness Test). Returned to team training on Friday for the first time following several weeks out. Glasner indicated he could potentially make the matchday squad, pending his physical reaction.
• Morgan Gibbs-White (Muscle / Other): Doubt (50% Chance / Late Fitness Test). Managing a minor muscle issue sustained against Crystal Palace and was unable to train with the main group for most of the week. Completed an individual session on Friday with hopes of rejoining group training on Saturday ahead of a late call.

⚽ Nottingham Forest Form: 🟥🟥🟩🟧🟧

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Nottingham Forest 0–0 Arsenal (Jan 17, 2026, Premier League)
• Arsenal 3–0 Nottingham Forest (Sep 13, 2025, Premier League)
• Nottingham Forest 0–0 Arsenal (Feb 26, 2025, Premier League)
• Arsenal 3–0 Nottingham Forest (Nov 23, 2024, Premier League)
• Nottingham Forest 1–2 Arsenal (Jan 30, 2024, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

• Nottingham Forest are the reason Arsenal wear red. When Dial Square were formed in 1886, former Forest players Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates wrote to their old club asking for assistance, and Forest sent Dial Square a full set of red kits.
• The last two Arsenal visits to The City Ground have ended in goalless draws.
• Oliver Glasner has never beaten Arsenal in his managerial career, with a record of 1 draw and 5 losses.

📸 Previously in this fixture…

Arsenal came away from The City Ground with a frustrating 0-0 draw on our last visit to Nottingham. A brilliant save by Sels saw the points shared as Arsenal blew a chance to go 9 points clear at the top.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Arsenal take a trip to the Midlands (or North, depending on who you ask) on Sunday to a ground where goals have been in short supply as of late. Our previous 180 minutes of football played here have resulted in 0 goals, which is a bit shit if you ask me.

Worryingly, we have exactly been scoring for fun in the league so far this season. Our comeback against Leeds was the result of a flurry of goals (if you can call two goals a flurry) in 8 minutes. Before that we couldn’t even manage a goal against Brighton. Granted, we have padded our stats in the other competitions where we seem to have less trouble scoring, but at this point in the season, the League is what counts. We simply can’t afford to keep struggling to score goals.

Oliver Glasner has been full of praise for Arsenal in the past which takes a lot of magnanimity given his lack of positive results against us (as opposed to, say, Fabian Hurzeler). On the topic of Glasner, he hasn’t exactly started brightly at Nottingham Forest, with rumours that his job may already be at risk if results don’t pick up. After winning the Conference League with Crystal Palace last season, many expected a big club to come in for him, but he found himself moving sideways to Nottingham Forest to work under Greek nutcase Marinakis.

We may struggle against the mid block that Glasner tends to favour out of possession, but the lack of cohesion demonstrated by this Forest side does not make me worry about our ability to break them down. As long as we win second balls, unlike against Brighton, we should be okay.