Time for me to sign off. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and here is our match report from Jonathan Wilson. See you for the Ashes!
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The City Ground, which usually resounds to Mull Of Kintyre, is now belting out Don’t You Want Me. When push came to shove, Forest somehow picked up ten points from their last five games. In the same period, starting with their visit to the Etihad on 26 April, Arsenal have collected six points from five matches (including a very good win at Newcastle).
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Here’s Will Unwin with our report on City’s umpteenth triumph.
Ian Little is back for more, expanding on his point about Saka and White. “We all love Saka, but he plays a lot and he’d run out of steam. It was a bit odd to see Arteta trying that overload [Saka and Partey, I presume] for so much of the game. There was no connection and no outlet.
“Happy for NF, though. Like Cooper and was glad to see the Greek stick with him. The silver lining in this petering out is that there is something from which to build.”
Today in brief. Forest sealed their survival, Arsenal completed their week from hell, City became champions without playing, Liverpool scraped a late equaliser, Man U won at Bournemouth, Spurs lost to Brentford, and Everton grabbed a late point at Wolves. Relegation is now a three-horse race for two places: Leeds and Leicester on the brink, Everton still in danger.
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Manchester City have become only the 2nd Club to win the Premier League in 3 consecutive seasons:
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) May 20, 2023
🥇 Manchester United - (1998/99 - 2000/01 & 2006/07 - 2008/09)
🥈 MANCHESTER CITY - (2020/21 - 2022/23)
Back-to-back. 🔁 pic.twitter.com/7At2mlCUY5
The crowd is a sea of bare arms. “It’s the best crowd in the league,” says Morgan Gibbs-White. “The best fans by a country mile.”
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The cameras are following Forest’s delight, so I can’t tell you what the Arsenal players are up to. They’ve had their best season for years, by far, and it has still fizzled out into disappointment. But they’re young and gifted and they’ll surely be back.
“As an Arsenal fan,” says Kári Tulinius, “I’d like to congratulate Forest on probably doing enough to stay up, and thank you for finally putting me out of my misery.”
Steve Cooper is embracing his players one by one. And there are a lot of them: 33 used since Forest were promoted in the summer. He built one team last year, another this year, and both have surpassed themselves.
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The City Ground has been bubbling for two hours. Now it goes bananas, and why not.
FOREST ARE SAFE! AND MAN CITY ARE CHAMPIONS
Full time Forest 1-0 Arsenal. Wow.
90+5 min Forest have a goal kick and manage to waste some time. They’ve done so well today, they don’t need to stoop to a sad little ploy.
90+4 min Steve Cooper, who has been in a T-shirt throughout, holds up three fingers, one for each remaining minute.
90+1 min As Jesus rescues a lost cause and Arsenal threaten on the right, Serge Aurier gets a vital toe in.
90 min Gibbs-White goes on a glorious solo run that is missing only a goal at the end of it – his shot goes straight at Ramsdale. Seven minutes added! There’s still time…
89 min Arsenal get into the box, only to find Yates going to ground. “That’s not a foul,” says Jamie Carragher.
87 min Saka wriggles into the box and goes down – too easily, in Anthony Taylor’s view.
“I figured you might want to know,” says Kári Tulinius, “that your commentary just got cited on-air by the excellent Finnish commentator Mikko Innanen, as to Tony Adams’ desire to get Smith-Rowe on the field.” Fame at last! But Tony is still waiting for that substitution, which shows how far Smith-Rowe’s stock has fallen.
85 min Vieira takes his cue from Tierney, slips down the left wing and floats in a testing cross, but Naylor just manages to reach up into he sunlight and grab it.
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83 min Tierney, still flying down the left, thinks he’s won a corner, but the officials don’t agree. Alas, poor Arsenal: so good for so long this season, and so disappointing when it came to the crunch.
80 min Arsenal’s turn to concoct a counter, but the ref gets in the way and has to blow his whistle. That rather sums up their day.
“Arteta has copped very little criticism this season for obvious reasons,” says Chris Lambert, “but compare not changing the system vs Sporting Lisbon with changing it now vs Forest. Mad decisions.”
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77 min Taiwo Awoniyi goes off to a warm ovation. He and Gibbs-White have done more than anyone to keep Forest up.
“To add to Peter Oh’s philosophical riddle,” says Justin Kavanagh, “I think the other big question about Arsenal’s season concern’s Jesus’s injury at the World Cup and it is this: What’s the sound of one knee snapping?”
77 min Arsenal keep getting the ball into Jesus, but he his being policed very strictly by the Forest centre-backs, who have been immense.
“Not a hope in Hades,” says Michael Coppejans. “‘You can’t win anything with kids.’ Arsenal showing their age! Honestly though, what chance does any team have against the non-abiding FFP behemoth that is Pep’s City? Unlimited resources combined with his brilliance? Klopp and LFC have pushed and only succeeded once. Dark times ahead as City will surely get the treble this year.”
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74 min The one sub who has had some influence so far is Tierney, now getting down the left wing in a way Arteta’s preferred left-back, Kiwior, did not. I was wrong, by the way, to say that Jorginho had gone off – it was Kiwior, which made more sense.
72 min Gibbs-White is back on his feet and able to take part in Forest’s next counter, which culminates in Lodi shooting wide.
Forest sub: Danilo off, after taking a knock; Kouyate on.
69 min Jorginho shoots from distance, just over. Gibbs-White was already down after a collision and he has stayed down – I hope he’s OK.
Arteta takes the opportunity to send on a third sub. Trossard’s attempt to be Luka Modric is short-lived as Fabio Vieira comes on to replace him.
67 min Half-chance! An overhit back-pass from Gabriel sends Gibbs-White though, but the angle is too tight and his shot ends up in the side netting.
65 min After starting with three holding midfielders, Arsenal have only one left – Partey – and he’s still at right-back. The pivot appears to consist of Trossard and nobody else. In the immortal words of Prince: “Too funky!”.
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63 min Subs, at last. Nketiah for Jorginho and Tierney for Xhaka, so Arsenal now have two centre-forwards and one left-back.
62 min Two Arsenal corners on the trot, but still no real opening. It’s been one of those nights.
59 min Forest lump the ball forward and Awoniyi gets into a tussle with Gabriel. It’s amazing how little is happening.
“White has been Arsenal’s best player,” says Ian Little, presumably referring to the past few weeks rather than this match. “Saka has been average for many games now.” Well, he’s been the brightest spark tonight, as he shows again now by getting in behind and hitting a right-foot shot, which Navas palms away.
58 min Arteta pores over an iPad, as well he may.
55 min More sterile possession for Arsenal. They’ve completed 70 passes since half-time, to Forest’s six.
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53 min A caption informs us that the PL team most likely to lose after leading at half-time this season are … Forest, who have done it three times, the same as Bournemouth. Southampton and Spurs are on two. The opposite table, of teams most likely to come back from behind, is headed by Arsenal, also on three, also level with Bournemouth.
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51 min Arsenal have another spell of patient possession. This is like watching them in the last days of Wenger.
A question comes in from Peter Oh. “If a title tilt falls in the Forest and no one is there to hear it, did it actually make a sound?” Ha.
49 min The resulting corner, sent in by Lodi, pops out of Ramsdale’s grasp before it pops back in. That felt like a clear case of the jitters.
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48 min Close! As the ball bobbles about in the area, Felipe’s shot is deflected just wide.
46 min Arsenal kick off, move forward, get stuck in the crowded middle of the Forest defence. Forest break, Awoniyi holds it up well, and Arsenal concede a free kick 30 yards out.
Tony Adams is asked what he would do. “Let’s get Emile on,” he says. “He can open doors.” He can, but he hasn’t been in the groove this season.
The replays show that the goal was rough luck on Gabriel. He made a fine sliding tackle as Awoniyi bore down on Ramsdale, and the goal wasn’t even a shot – the ball just bounced straight back off Awoniyi. Fortune favours the big and strong.
“I don’t know about the East Midlands erupting,” says Adam Roberts. “I doubt there was much cheering in Leicester. Or Derby for that matter.” It’s a fair cop.
HALF-TIME Forest 1-0 Arsenal
Well, well. Forest hang onto the lead that was handed to them on a plate by a howler from Martin Odegaard and then delivered to the table by the rapport between Taiwo Awoniyi and Morgan Gibbs-White. Arsenal carry on having the week from hell: no goals scored, four conceded. Saka has been their best player, as so often. Arteta, once he’s vented huis frustration, surely has to change the shape back to something that makes his team feel comfortable.
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45+4 min Saka wins a corner and takes it. Again it’s sent to Trossard for the volley, but again he doesn’t get hold of it.
45+3 min Arsenal pass it around sideways, as if they don’t really mind if Arteta gives them a bollocking. Saka is doing his best but he would be finding it a lot easier if he had White, not Partey, as his wingman.
45+2 min Niakhate’s latest long throw comes to nothing much. His next one gets him a yellow card for time-wasting, which would be fair if White had got one earlier.
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45 min There will be four added minutes.
44 min Saka curls a high cross in, too high for anyone. He shakes his head; Arteta waves his arms.
43 min Partey makes a sortie! And gets a decent cross in, but there’s no black shirt on the end of it.
40 min Arsenal’s best bet is that Forest will get exhausted from chasing shadows in the evening sunshine. The problem is that Forest have a source of free energy: the crowd. They’re having so much fun.
37 min So far, Arteta’s tinkering hasn’t worked at all, but he hasn’t changed course yet and presumably won’t till half-time at the earliest.
34 min Awoniyi gets another sniff, which Ramsdale does well to snuff out.
33 min The pattern is set: Arsenal getting 80 per cent of the possession, yet creating no clear chances; Forest looking bright on the break.
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31 min The memo about urgency fails to reach Ben White, who stands there dithering with the ball in the centre circle for what feels like five minutes. Move him back to the right!
29 min Jesus has another shot that goes ballooning over the bar, much to the delight of the Forest fans.
“Arsenal look absolutely dejected,” says Finn Mitchell. “Incredible that this team was the top title contender a few weeks ago.”
27 min The corner goes to the D, where Trossard’s volley is a mis-hit. He’s had a haircut, which makes him look about 10 rather than his usual 12.
26 min Arsenal are coming forward with more urgency now, as if they’ve just twigged that the title is City’s if it stays like this. Saka wins another corner.
24 min Jesus is a livewire as usual, but the Forest defenders are defusing him so far. Awoniyi goes into the book, needlessly, for an elbow on Gabriel.
23 min What have you got, Arsenal? A patient attack that ends in a shot, that’s what – but it’s a tame one from Jesus, straight at Navas.
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20 min Odegaard played the ball square and back a bit – straight to Gibbs-White, who knew exactly what he wanted to do. Run with it, then slip Awoniyi away on the right. The pass looked a touch overhit, but Awoniyi is in great form and he made sure it was his boot, not Gabriel’s, that got to the ball. He shovelled it past Ramsdale and the East Midlands erupted.
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GOAL! Forest 1-0 Arsenal (Awoniyi 19)
On the counter! From a howler by Odegaard!!
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17 min Another corner taken by Saka, who floats it in. A back-header by a Forest defender gives Jesus a half-chance at the far post, but he can’t keep it down.
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15 min Arsenal’s first corner of the match is taken by Saka – short to Trossard, who slips as he spins to cross. The Forest fans see the chance to make scornful noises and grasp it with both hands.
14 min Niakhate goes down as Odegaard slips and lands on his foot – not with his studs but with his midriff. Squeaky-tum time.
13 min Saka is on manoeuvres again down the right, but he doesn’t have his mate Ben White there to go past him on the overlap (as he’s playing centre-back). Partey, understandably, is more tentative.
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11 min The first sniff of danger in the Forest box. Odegaard wiggles a pass through to Saka, whose shot-or-cross is blocked.
10 min After this bright start by Forest, Arsenal get some possession and knock it around.
7 min Gibbs-White, the man of the first seven minutes, wins a corner, but Forest waste it by not clearing the first defender.
6 min Arsenal gets the ball upfield for the first time and Jesus appeals in vain for a foul. Partey is tucking into midfield from right-back, like Zinchenko in reverse.
4 min Another long throw from Niakhate. It prompts some pinball in the box but then Jorginho gets fouled again. There’s a joke involving The Who in here somewhere.
3 min Forest get the ball into the box, briefly, as Niakhate hurls in a long throw.
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2 min Thomas Partey seems to be playing right-back. Funky!
1 min Forest kick off and go long, but then they foul Jorginho.
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Both teams are in a huddle. Not content with probably playing left-back, Grant Xhaka seems to Arsenal’s speechmaker.
The City Ground is rocking as the players file out. Forest in their familiar red, Arsenal in black.
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“So Kieran Tierney is fit,” says Charles Antaki, “but Xhaka takes his place at left-back – klaxons sounding all over Arsenal fan-world that this must mean he’ll be sold in the summer. Maybe; and it will be a loss. But it won’t be the disaster/outrage/incomprehensible mistake it would’ve felt like back when he was seen as the honest, man-of-the-people worker to add a bit of ballast to the wonky glam stuff of Ozil and Aubameyang upfront. That the fans won’t mind his going quite so much (though he’ll be remembered affectionately) is testament to the kind of things that Zinchenko has brought in; things have changed, and for the better. But anyway: thanks Kieran.”
This match is taking place at the right address. Forest are not relegation fodder on their own turf: in the home league table, they’re a highly respectable 12th, with 27 points from 18 games. And Arsenal have been sensational on the road: in the away table, they’re top, with 39 points from 18. City have 36 from 17, but their remaining awaydays are not easy ones – Brighton and Brentford.
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Liverpool have got their draw, so the top-four race is still just about alive. Both Newcastle and Man United need one win from their last two games to be sure of making the Champions League. Correction: one point!
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More late drama! Everton snatch a point at Wolves with a toe-poke from Yerry Mina. They inch up to 33 points, one behind Forest, two ahead of Leeds and three up on Leicester. Leeds play tomorrow, Leicester on Monday.
Late drama at Anfield! Liverpool have their equaliser against Villa, and it’s been scored by the man the fans have been serenading all week. So Man United, although they have beaten Bournemouth, are not guaranteed to make the top four. More here from Will Unwin:
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The teams
Mikel Arteta takes one look at Morgan Gibbs-White and thinks, “I need two proper holding midfielders.” Thomas Partey lines up alongside Jorginho, and Granit Xhaka moves to left-back.
Forest (possible 4-3-2-1) Navas; Worrall, Felipe, Niakhate, Aurier; Mangala, Yates, Renan Lodi; Gibbs-White, Danilo; Awoniyi.
Subs: Hennessey, Toffolo, Boly, Kouyate, Freuler, Dennis, Johnson, Surridge, Ayew.
Arsenal (probable 4-2-3-1) Ramsdale; White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Xhaka; Jorginho, Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Trossard; Jesus.
Subs: Turner, Tierney, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Holding, Vieira, Bandeira, Cozier-Duberry, Walters.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to another episode in a never-ending drama. If this was a normal season, there wouldn’t be a single Premier League game today – we’d be waiting for the comedy and chaos of the final afternoon. As it is, here comes yet another chance to bite our nails.
Nottingham Forest don’t have to win, but they would love to because if Everton stay behind at Wolves, three points will be enough to give Forest another season in the Prem. Arsenal need a win to stay in the title race until tomorrow, however faint their chances – and to regain some pride after being battered by Brighton.
Man City fans can afford not to be too bothered, even though they could win the league in the next two hours. Supporters of Everton, Leeds and Leicester will be watching closely, perhaps from behind the sofa. Forest may have the most points of the four clubs scrabbling to avoid the drop, but they also have the worst goal difference. One way or another, everybody’s twitching. Just how it should be.
Kick-off is at 5.30pm BST, and I’ll be back soon with the teams.
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