Winners and Losers: Nottingham Forest (a)
On Sunday, Nottingham Forest knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup in the third round for the second time in four years. Arsenal supposedly took the field at the City Ground, but they certainly did not show up for the match. After 82 minutes of the Gunners looking fairly toothless, and borderline nonexistent in midfield, Lewis Grabban got on to the end of an impressive cross to notch the winner. Arsenal finished with zero shots on goal. With Granit Xhaka confirmed to be out with COVID-19, Arsenal may also have zero midfielders they can trust available for the North London Derby in a week’s time. If they play like this moving forward, they might as well use their all-white “No More Red” kits as flags. Below are three winners and four losers from a putrid showing.
Winners
Charlie Patino
The highly-rated academy youngster earned his first senior start on Sunday. Unfortunately, with only Sambi next to him in midfield, Patino was effectively nullified by Forest. While he wasn’t particularly impactful, the fact that he is playing first-team football at such a young age can only bode well for Patino. The future continues to look bright for him.
Granit Xhaka
Xhaka is not everyone’s cup of tea, which is fair enough. However, Arsenal have demonstrated time and time again how much they need him. With Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny at the Africa Cup of Nations, Xhaka remains as the only pillar of stability in midfield. However, COVID prevented Xhaka’s participation on the day. Additionally, Ainsley Maitland-Niles is now on loan at Roma, leaving Sambi Lokonga as the most senior midfielder available. As has often been the case when the Swiss has not featured, Arsenal’s midfield was easily overrun and unable to provide much in terms of attacking either. If Xhaka cannot return in the next week, Arsenal may be in big trouble when they face Spurs.
The speed of Arsenal’s January business
With Arsenal’s midfield stripped down to bare bones and ailing, reinforcements are clearly needed. The first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals against Liverpool on Thursday is probably not Arsenal’s largest priority, but the North London Derby on Sunday certainly is. Arsenal’s next league match represents a potential six-point swing against one of the Gunners’ fiercest rivals for a top-four spot. If Arteta and Edu truly mean business, they need to make moves in the transfer market immediately. The club has been linked to players such as Bruno Guimaraes and Gini Wijnaldum, and the arrival of either one would at least provide a starting-caliber midfielder to feature in perhaps some of the most important matches of the season. Arsenal cannot walk into those games with the depth it currently has, and today made that point emphatically.
Losers
Nuno Tavares
At one point firmly in a tussle with Kieran Tierney for the starting left-back position, Tavares has very much taken a backseat to the Scot recently. His performance today certainly didn’t help his case. After starting against Forest, the Portuguese left-back proceeded to have an absolute mare. He gave the ball away several times. He was consistently out of position. One especially wayward pass could have put Bernd Leno in a severely awkward situation. By the 33rd minute, Arteta was furious enough with the player to hook him for Tierney. At the moment, there is not much evidence that this will develop into the massive drama that many fans are making it out to be. Hopefully it is a situation Tavares can learn and improve from. But it was an embarrassing evening from him, and it might be a while before he is trusted again.
Cedric Soares
Speaking of not being trusted again, Cedric showed why he too is worthy of that treatment. The backup right-back was marginally less disastrous than his compatriot was against Forest. He failed to click offensively with Saka, and Forest had little trouble getting past him on the flank. Most crucially, he failed to pick up Grabban as the Forest man ran in to score the winner. Apparently Atletico Madrid maintained interest in signing him on loan, but after the match news broke that Diego Simeone now desires the services of Daniel Wass. The fact of the matter is, Cedric rarely has justified his signing. He must be near the top of the list of players Arsenal wish to show the door.
Eddie Nketiah
Many are pointing to today’s match as a reason why Arsenal need to sign a midfielder. This, of course, is true. Arsenal do need a midfielder, preferably this week. But Nketiah demonstrated that Arteta and Edu also must acquire a striker if they are to compete for the top four until the end of the season. Beyond Lacazette, only Nketiah remains on the depth chart with Aubameyang exiled and Balogun about to go on loan. However, Arsenal registered no shots on target against Forest, and the 22-year-old is a big reason why. He missed the best chance of the game and didn’t really provide much else. The prospect of having to rely on him in the Premier League is becoming increasingly concerning.
Rob Holding
There isn’t really much left to say about Holding at this point. The drop in quality between him and Arsenal’s starting center-backs could kill a man. He struggled to handle Forest’s forwards and misplaced a concerning number of passes, and just generally failed to replicate Gabriel’s quality on the ball. Arsene Wenger once sarcastically apologized for not spending £55 million on Holding. But after years of, let’s face it, mediocrity from the Englishman, it’s time that Arsenal admitted they got what they paid for with him. He simply is not good enough, and he probably never was.
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