Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo’s brutal reason for tactical tweak against Arsenal leaves Martin Keown stunned
- Arsenal were held to a goalless draw by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground
- The Gunners were forced into play Mikel Merino as a striker once again
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Can INEOS really be judged after 12 months?
Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s brutal reasoning for his tactical tweak on Wednesday night left Martin Keown seemingly stunned.
Forest welcomed Arsenal to the City Ground on a night when the Gunners desperately needed to conjure a response to their disappointing defeat by West Ham at the weekend.
Yet Mikel Arteta and Co were unable to find a way through Forest’s resolute defence, blunted as the visitors are by a lack of a striker and still missing effervescent star Bukayo Saka.
In doing so, if they weren’t already dissipated over the weekend, Arsenal’s slim title hopes became even slimmer, with Liverpool beating Newcastle 2-0 to extend their lead to 13 points with 10 to play.
Forest have been one of the surprise packages of the campaign and are in the hunt for Champions League football next season, and a point at home to one of the best teams in the country further underlined their credentials.
After the game, Espirito Santo explained how he had gone about shutting out the Gunners after a question from Keown.
Nuno Espirito tweaked his formation adopting a back four rather than his usual five-man defence
Mikel Arteta’s side were held to a goalless draw by Nottingham Forest on Wednesday evening
Questioned on his decision to go to a back four rather than the five-man defensive unit he has preferred thus far, he explained it was all based on Arsenal’s lack of a striker.
‘I’ll tell you. As Arsenal doesn’t have a striker, with [Mikel] Merino playing in that position – there’s no need for an extra body.
‘The overload will be in the midfield and it’s about containing the midfield.’
Keown responded: ‘Right, ok.’
It was a masterful move from Espirito Santo, which allowed his side an extra body in the centre of the park, where Arsenal are traditionally dominant.
With no striker in the side, Arsenal deployed Merino through the middle after scoring twice against Leicester two games ago, though he had a somewhat quieter time of things against West Ham.
As a result, the Gunners were operating with three defensive midfielders with Jorginho and Declan Rice also on the field, and unsurprisingly struggled to trouble Matz Sels’ goal.
The visitors had 13 shots in the game, but only one of those was on target in a largely simple night for Sels.
Espirito Santo explained that his tweak was in order to help his side control the midfield
The Gunners struggled to create chances from open play with Matz Sels only making one save
According to BBC stats, Arsenal only had and xG (expected goals) of 0.31 from open play, highlighting their inefficacies in chance creation on the night.
For Forest though it was a night that further underlined their ambitions to play Champions League football next term, having bounced back from a 4-3 defeat by Newcastle at the weekend and consolidate their third place berth in the table.
Next up for the Tricky Trees is an FA Cup clash with strugglers Ipswich before a tough run of fixtures that will likely determine which European competition they end up in next term.
They will take on both Manchester clubs, before clashes with Aston Villa and David Moyes’ resurgent Everton side and a trip to Tottenham.
