This was an Arsenal performance that would have embarrassed them in September and will be forgotten by Wednesday. They went to the City Ground, produced nothing resembling attacking football for 80 minutes, then stole the game through a deflected Noni Madueke strike. The gap to Manchester City is three points. Nobody at Arsenal will lose sleep over the aesthetics. The first half was dire by any standard. Bukayo Saka forced Matz Sels into one early save, Kai Havertz fired into the side netting from a tight angle, and that was the sum of Arsenal's creativity. Forest's Dan Ndoye tested David Raya, and Liam Delap looked the more threatening striker on the pitch. Mikel Arteta's frustration was visible on the touchline well before halftime. Arteta's response was aggressive substitution. Eberechi Eze was hooked at the break for Madueke. When that didn't work, Mikel Merino, Viktor Gyokeres, and Jurrien Timber all came on. Bruno Guimaraes was one of the casualties — his second league start since arriving from Newcastle in the summer, and another display that raised questions about his integration into this system. The breakthrough, when it came, owed more to fortune than design. Madueke cut inside from the left and hit a drive that caught a significant deflection off Forest's Jair Cunha, wrong-footing Sels completely. Arsenal's first shot on target arrived in the 80th minute — the first time since 2023 they had gone 70 minutes without one in a Premier League match. Forest will feel hard done by. They matched Arsenal physically, restricted their space, and nearly snatched a point when Murillo's late rocket whistled over. Oliver Glasner's side remain third from bottom with just one win in seven league matches under the new manager, and only two home wins in their last 17 league games. The underlying quality gap between these sides was not visible on the pitch. What was visible is the trait that won Arsenal the title last season: the capacity to win without playing well. Six victories in seven league matches, including this one, suggests the machinery is functional even when the performance is not. The Champions League trip to Bayern Munich on Wednesday will demand a different level entirely. The broader picture is a title race being run on margins. City beat Ipswich 3-2 the day before — not exactly imperious either. Arsenal's post-Brighton recovery (three straight wins after that 3-0 humiliation) shows the squad's psychological resilience even when the football is artless. Titles are won in games like this, not in spite of them.
