Nottingham vs Arsenal: Gunners look to recover after devastating loss - May 20

May 19, 2023 By Michelle Bonsu

Topics: TV Listings, TV Schedules, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, English Premier League

After a heavy defeat that has scuppered their title chances, Arsenal will nonetheless look to regroup when they travel to face struggling Nottingham on Saturday, May 20th.

Arsenal will be desperate to keep their very slim chances of actually winning the Premier League afloat when the Gunners travel to face struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday. A heavy 3-0 loss to Brighton has Mikel Arteta's side out of the title race, especially as Manchester City not only have a game in hand, but also the Cityzens will be facing a Chelsea side who have won just one of their last five games.

Although Pep Guardiola's men were involved in European action midweek, during which they cruised to a very comfortable 4-0 win over Real Madrid to book their spot in this season's Champions League final, the Cityzens, who are the reigning Premier League champions, should have no issues picking up all three points against a Chelsea team who have been quite poor this season. As such, regardless of whatever Arsenal do in their game that will be played 24 hours hours prior to the Manchester City-Chelsea tie, it is pretty much guaranteed that they will have to settle for a runners-up berth in the title race this season.

Ironically, Arsenal will have to hope that London rivals Chelsea do them a favor and ensure that City fail to win this weekend to have any glimmer of hope of potentially forcing the title race door back open. But first, they will need to avoid an embarrassing defeat to an injury-ravaged Nottingham side on Saturday. The Gunners come into this game having won just two of their last five Premier League games and have been dealt a huge blow with key player Gabriel Martinelli joining the likes of William Saliba, Mohamed Elneny, and Takehiro Tomiyasu as being ruled out for the last few games of the season.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest will be encouraged about successfully securing a crucial point against Chelsea last round. Steve Cooper's side still do have a bit of work to do, as although they sit in 16th spot, they are just three points away from 18th-ranked Leeds United. Simply put, if they can avoid a loss on Saturday, and Leeds don't win their game, they might be able to avoid the drop to the second tier.

A defeat for Nottingham won't condemn them either, but they will have to hope that Leeds in particular, who will take on Europa Conference finalists West Ham, don't manage to do better in their tie. Will Nottingham take one step closer towards securing their top flight status? Or will Arsenal manage to rebound from a shattering loss to put pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table?

Team news: Nottingham vs Arsenal

Nottingham: Giulian Biancone, Neco Williams, Omar Richards, Scott McKenna, Jack Colback, Jonjo Shelvey, Dean Henderson, Chris Wood, and Gustavo Scarpa are all out of the title race.

Arsenal: The visitors are missing quite a few players, including William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, Mohamed Elneny, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Match facts: Nottingham vs Arsenal

Nottingham have lost just two league games at their home ground in 2023
However, they have won just two of their last ten league home ties against Arsenal (D1 L7)
Arsenal cruised to a 5-0 win in the reverse fixture earlier this season...
...and could win five in a row against Nottingham Forest for the first time in club history
Arsenal have failed to score in just one of their 18 Premier League away games this season