Despite creating by far the greater number of chances – and hitting the post – we had to settle for a point away to Nottingham Forest.
Riccardo Calafiori struck the upright in the first half, and Mikel Merino had a good header saved, but we couldn’t break down the home defence.
So it finished goalless, and we lost further ground at the top of the table.
Patient start
Both sides picked up a booking apiece in the opening three minutes –Calafiori for us after he tugged back Calum Hudson-Odoi, then Nikola Milenkovic for not retreating at a free kick. Soon the game settled down. Declan Rice beat two men as he stormed into the area, but his shot was charged down as he bore down on the keeper. At the other end, Gabriel stood strong to block Chris Wood’s effort from the edge of the box.
The Brazilian denied the Forest top scorer again moments later. At one end Jurrien Timber couldn’t get his shot away after being set up by Martin Odegaard, and Forest broke. Morgan Gibbs-White released Wood, but Gabriel timed his sliding challenge to perfection.
Rice was the next to try his luck for us. Space seemed to open up in front of him outside the area, but his shot was deflected over.
Odegaard was seeing lots of the ball in the opening 20 minutes, and we put the Forest goal under plenty of pressure, albeit without working the keeper.
Calafiori comes close
Midway through the half, Calafiori struck the woodwork. Shortly after surviving a penalty appeal against him, the Italian broke into the area, chopped past his defender onto his right foot and his shot looked to be destined for the bottom corner, only for it to smack against the post and into the grateful arms of Matz Sels. At times the left back was our furthest man forward as we pinned back the home defence.
His effort was the closest either side came to scoring in the opening half.
Our build-up play continued to be patient as we switched the play from flank to flank before Leandro Trossard set up another chance. This time for Ethan Nwaneri, who spun Milenkovic superbly inside the box, but his shot was deflected wide of the near post.
Chances start coming
Mikel Arteta sent on Kieran Tierney for the second half, in place of Calafiori. Our first attempt on target came five minutes after the restart. Rice swung in a deep corner – our sixth of the game - from the left, for Merino to head goalwards at the far post, but Sels palmed it away to safety.
Corners continued to cause problems for Forest – Tierney headed our next one wide at the near post after good work from Timber to earn the set piece.
The attacking threat was all coming from us, but with 20 minutes remaining David Raya had to come smartly off his line to bat away a Wood drive. Then Saliba got back to make a last-ditch sliding challenge on the centre forward, though the offside flag later went up.
Odegaard had a shot cleared off the line as we entered the final 10 minutes, though Alex Zinchenko was flagged offside.
The hosts, who won 7-0 last time out at home, finished the game strongly. Ben White made a good block from Neco Williams in the area, but in the end, both teams had to settle for a draw.
FACTS AND STATS
We have failed to score in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since May 2023 (vs Brighton and Forest).
Nottingham Forest drew 0-0 in the Premier League for the first time since October 2023 v Crystal Palace, ending a run of 56 league games without one; among current Premier League clubs, only Spurs (107) were on a longer run in the top-flight without a goalless draw heading into Matchday 27.
We have drawn nine of our 27 Premier League games this season (W15 L3), our most stalemates in a league campaign since 2019-20 (14).
This was the second time in his last three appearances that Ethan Nwaneri completed 5+ dribbles (5 tonight, 7 v Leicester), the first 17-year-old to do so in multiple matches in a Premier League season since Raheem Sterling for Liverpool in 2012/13.
Declan Rice became the third youngest player to start 250 Premier League matches (26 years, 43 days), behind Gareth Barry (25 years, 219 days) and Wayne Rooney (26 years, 40 days).
What’s next
We don’t have a fixture this weekend, as the FA Cup takes centre stage, so we are back in action on Tuesday, away to PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of our Champions League round of 16 tie. Our next Premier League match is away to Manchester United, on Sunday, March 9.
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