this match
Arsenal (name)
At home to Nottingham Forest, the Gunners lined up in a 433 formation, although there were a few changes to the players, with Saliba, BenWhite, and Timber at the back, while Thomas Partey, who was originally a defensive midfielder, was posed at right back, with Rice, Havertz, and Ødegaard in central midfield and Martinelli, Saka Nketiah
Forest played a 343 with Boly, Worrail, McKenna at the back, Aurier, Aina on the wing, Yates, Mangala in midfield and Danilo, Johnson, Gibbs-White up front.
(Pre-emptive link)
Nottingham Forest retreated from the start of the match, facing the Gunners' possession lineup, they could only let their team retreat and play counter-attacks. The Gunners soon started to try to attack, and the obvious difference from the previous one was that Thomas Partey soon entered the midfield from the right back position, and went straight back to the midfield position he had been playing before, only more to the right side, and with the support from the right side, Saka was able to concentrate on the attack. With ThomasPartey on the right side of the pitch, Saka was able to concentrate on the attack, and the Gunners' incursions in the early part of the first half continued to come from the right side.
The Gunners pressed Nottingham Forest all the way to the 25th minute when Martinelli received the ball on the right side of the box, he surprisingly made a turn to try to break through under Danilo and Aurier, and the ball hit his foot and bounced to Nketiah, who then shot from the left side of the 12-yard box, which was refracted and broke through the goal.
This is quite a beautiful goal and shows that Martinelli is in good form, Forest couldn't quite hold him with two men, Nketiah's grasp of the shot is also very good, Forest even if they keep thickening the defensive zone, but the Gunners' side keeps penetrating in, the defensive position in the box will always still be messed up
After falling behind, Forest tried to press out, but this process was fully expected by the Gunners, so they were able to counter-attack, with more space in front of them, and the Gunners also showed good tackling ability, Rice and Ødegaard, who were constantly intercepting Forest's passes in the middle of the field to start the attack.
Forest were in a bit of a mess at this point, and were soon rewarded with another goal on 34 minutes, when the Gunners took a corner and Forest had a hard time clearing the ball, but Saliba ran down the wing and used his positioning to steal the ball back, and then teamed up with Thomas Partey to pass the ball back to Saka, who moved across the box to the top of the arc and fired a shot into the far corner of the net.
Saka's shot was very nice and Forest couldn't block him fast enough, exposing the angle of the shot, Saka seems to be very comfortable and in good shape!
Forest then tried to make a charge but couldn't threaten the Gunners backfield and the first half basically ended with the Gunners in the ascendancy.
Not long after the start of the second half, Timber was injured without being touched and was replaced by Kenyo Tomiyasu. After that, we could see Forest trying to press on, and the Gunners defense did feel pressured, Gibbs-White also received the ball in front of the field and tried to charge, but overall the scene in the first part of the second half was already in the Gunners' control of the time, and Forest wanted to recover a goal as soon as possible. Form
Forest began to make substitutions on 70 minutes, bringing on Neco Williams and Awoniyi, and the Gunners also brought on Nketiah for Trossard on 74 minutes, with both sides looking to step up their attacking play, and on 75 minutes Rice had a long-range shot from the back of the net, which he'd hit the target on a number of occasions throughout the day, and was noticeably more free-flowing than he'd been in the Community Shield.
Forest's attack stepped up after the substitutions, gradually threatening the Gunners' goal as the substitutions were made by players who could charge forward, and they made a further substitution at the 80:00 mark when the forward
Manchester United Football Club
Elanga, who scored immediately.
