Arsenal Beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 as Madueke's Deflected Shot Settles a Scrappy Game

Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground on Sunday, with substitute Noni Madueke scoring the only goal ten minutes from time. His shot from the left took a heavy deflection off Forest defender Jair Cunha, wrongfooted goalkeeper Matz Sels, and settled a scrappy Premier League game that had produced little for more than an hour.

The win lifts Arsenal to 18 points from seven games. Reuters reported before kickoff that Arsenal began the day on 15 points, and the three points move Mikel Arteta's side up to second place, three points behind leaders Manchester City.

A first half with almost nothing in it

The first half was poor. OneFootball's live coverage noted that neither side had managed a shot on target in the first 35 minutes, and the game reached halftime goalless. Arsenal had more of the ball, but Forest kept their shape, defended their box in numbers, and stopped the visitors from building any rhythm.

Forest's best moments came on the break. James McAtee sent a free kick well over the bar, and striker Liam Delap could only manage a tame effort at David Raya after a strong run through the middle. At the other end, Sels had little to do as Arsenal's attacks broke down before they reached him.

Arteta turns to his bench

Arteta acted at halftime, sending Madueke on for Eberechi Eze. Madueke was booked in the second half for stopping a Forest counterattack, but he gave Arsenal more direct running on the left.

Just past the hour, Arteta made three more changes at once, bringing on Jurrien Timber, Viktor Gyokeres, and Mikel Merino for Ben White, Kai Havertz, and Bruno Guimaraes. The tempo rose straight away. Timber cut the ball back for Declan Rice inside the box, and Rice fired over the bar from a good position, the clearest chance of the match to that point.

Forest answered with changes of their own, Ibrahim Sangare replacing Nicolas Dominguez and Arnaud Kalimuendo coming on for Dan Ndoye, but the pressure stayed at their end.

A deflection settles it

The goal came with ten minutes left. Madueke shot from the left side, the ball struck Jair Cunha on the knee, and the deflection took it past Sels, who had the original shot covered, The Times reported. Sportradar's match data credited the goal to Madueke, with the assist to Rice.

Forest sent on Chris Wood and Callum Hudson-Odoi for the closing minutes, but they could not create a clear chance to level. Arsenal's defence held firm, Raya kept a clean sheet, and the visitors saw out the win.

It was not a fluent performance, and Arteta will know his side made hard work of it. But away wins like this one, ground out late in a game that was drifting to 0-0, are the kind that keep a team in a title race. Arsenal leave Nottingham second in the table, and Forest are left to regret a deflection.