Arsenal will be looking to bounce back from their draw against Southampton on Sunday afternoon when they face Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
A 1-1 draw at St. Mary's Stadium saw Arsenal drop points for the first time in four Premier League games for just the second time this season. But, with Manchester City right on their heels, the Gunners must get back to winning ways against Forest to keep pace.
Forest picked up a shock 1-0 win against Liverpool in their last outing, so the newly promoted side will be full of confidence heading into Sunday's clash. The last meeting between the two sides came in January in the FA Cup, with Forest pulling off a surprise 1-0 win against the Gunners.
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Emile Smith-Rowe and Mohamed Elneny are still absent for Arsenal, while Oleksandr Zinchenko and Marquinhos are both doubts after missing the game against PSV on Thursday.
So, can Arsenal remain top of the Premier League on Sunday? We simulated the game to find out. To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 23 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.
We simulated Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest to get a score prediction
We predict that the Gunners could line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney; Xhaka, Partey, Odegaard; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
We predict that Forest could set up in a 4-3-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Henderson; Aurier, Cook, McKenna, Williams; Kouyate, Yates, Freuler; Lingard, Awoniyi, Gibbs-White.
It was a slow opening 15 minutes at the Emirates in the simulation, with Forest defending deep to keep out the Arsenal threat. Gabriel Martinelli was finding lots of joy down the left in the first half, and he managed to open the scoring after 30 minutes to send the Gunners ahead.
With Arsenal camped around the Forest box, Martin Odegaard unlocked a pocket of space inside the area as he threaded a perfect through ball for Martinelli to latch onto. The Brazilian rolled the ball onto his right foot to skip past one challenge before firing into the far corner of the net to make it 1-0
Forest looked dangerous just before the break, and Jesse Lingard managed to level the score in the 45th minute when he curled an effort into the far corner from the edge of the box. And, only six minutes after the restart, a mistake at the back gifted Forest a second.
Under pressure from the Forest attack, William Saliba played a loose pass across his box to the feet of Ryan Yates, and the midfielder powered his shot past Aaron Ramsdale to send the visitors ahead. 66 minutes in, Bukayo Saka grabbed an equaliser as the Gunners looked to regain control.
A switch of play from Kieran Tierney saw Saka pick up the ball on the right and charge towards the Forest goal with intent. The winger played a quick one-two with Granit Xhaka to break into the box, and as a sight of goal opened up, Saka fizzed his strike through Dean Henderson and into the net.
Despite dominating most of the game, Arsenal were proving to be their own worst enemy, with another error at the back allowing Remu Freuler to surge into the box and fire his side back into the lead. Behind again, Arteta's side searched for an equaliser, and they found it with eight minutes remaining through a spectacular Odegaard goal.
Saka's corner to the front post was met by Odegaard, and the Norwegian midfielder produced a fantastic acrobatic effort to swing the ball into the top corner, making it 3-3. Forest substitute Brennan Johnson broke through on goal in the 89th minute, but a last-ditch challenge from Gabriel saw the defender take down the forward, resulting in a late red card.
Neither side could find a winner, and the clash ended all square.
FIFA 23 predicted final score: Arsenal 3-3 Nottingham Forest
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 23 predicts that Arsenal could come from behind twice to claim a point against a spirited Nottingham Forest side on Sunday. The visitors took advance of some bad moments in the Arsenal defence, and the Gunners must make sure they don't make vital errors in the real game.
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments!
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