All football teams have their bogey sides or bogey grounds. Even Manchester City, who can prove themselves to be the greatest team in English football history by winning a fourth successive top-flight title this season, have had one, losing and failing to score at Tottenham‘s new ground for six years until they won their FA Cup tie there last week. As for Arsenal, their bogey ground is undoubtedly Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, which they visit for their next Premier League match this week.
The Gunners have lost on their last three visits to the City Ground, a statistic that is even more bizarre given that two of those games were in the FA Cup. Indeed, because Forest have spent so long in the lower divisions in recent decades, Arsenal have only played them once in the league at their ground this century – and they lost that one, too.
Here’s a brief look back at Arsenal’s hat-trick of losses at the City Ground and a look forward to how they can end that record this week.
Recent Arsenal Losses At Forest
1. Nottingham Forest 4, Arsenal 2 (FA Cup 3rd Round, 5 Jan. 2018)
Arsenal’s loss to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup in January 2018 was the first and only time that Arsène Wenger ever lost an FA Cup third-round match with Arsenal. However, it also proved to be one of the last nails in his managerial coffin after more than two decades in charge of The Gunners.
Wenger actually had to watch the game from the stands at the City Ground, as he served the first of a three-match ban for abusive behaviour after a previous game. Consequently, he had a fan’s-eye view of his team, which was much changed from the previous Premier League match against Chelsea, as it capitulated against aTricky Tree’s team who, at the time, were not even challenging for promotion from the Championship and actually had a caretaker manager in Gary Brazil. Presumably, Wenger also heard the Arsenal fans’ boos after his side had lost 4-2.
Read More: Fabrizio Romano: Arsenal Face Competition For Signing Of ‘Extraordinary’ La Liga Midfielder
Forest had scored as early as the third minute, through their American defender Eric Lichaj, but one of Arsenal’s defenders, Per Mertesacker, who was appearing in one of his very last games, equalised just after the hour mark. Incredibly, Lichaj scored a second goal soon afterwards and then Ben Brereton scored a third for Forest from the penalty spot. Danny Welbeck got one goal back for The Gunners, but Forest scored a second penalty, taken by a different player (Kieran Dowell), to seal one of the biggest FA Cup upsets in recent years.
Arsenal had actually been the FA Cup holders after Wenger’s team had beaten champions Chelsea in the final the previous season to win a record 13th Cup for the club and a record seventh Cup for Wenger himself. However, the sheer misery of losing so unexpectedly to a mediocre Championship side that did not even have a proper manager seemed to expose the scale of Arsenal’s decline under Wenger and he left the club within a matter of months.
-
Nottingham Forest 1, Arsenal 0 (FA Cup 3rd Round, 7 Jan. 2022)
Those Arsenal fans who returned to the City Ground four years later must have been convinced that lightning could not strike twice and that their team could not lose again to a struggling Forest. At the time, Mikel Arteta’s side were putting their awful start to the 2021/22 season, in which they had lost their first three Premier League games, behind them and appeared set for a return to the Champions League, at least. However, footballing lightning did strike twice, as Arsenal again caved in to Forest.
They may have had a different manager for this match, in Arteta, but his approach was much the same as that of Wenger four years earlier, arguably disrespecting (and therefore riling up) his opponents by fielding a much weaker side for the cup than he ever would have done in the league. In addition, Arsenal were also facing a very different Forest side. They had a permanent manager, Steve Cooper, and he was about to launch them on a tremendous run of form that would ultimately see them promoted to the Premier League.
Apart from the miserable result, which was confirmed when striker Lewis Grabban scored an 83rd-minute winner, the most memorable thing about Arsenal’s performance that day was their kit. For the first time, they wore an all-white strip, to promote celebrity supporter Idris Elba’s “No More Red” anti-knife violence campaign. However, Arsenal were truly anaemic and the all-white shirt was not worn again until this season’s FA Cup “campaign” (i.e. game), when they lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool after dominating most of the match. The sentiment behind the all-white strip is admirable, but Arsenal fans will be hoping it is not worn again for a long, long time.
-
Nottingham Forest 1, Arsenal 0 (Premier League, 20 May 2023)
Arsenal’s most recent loss at the City Ground was in many ways their most painful, for two reasons. The first was that defeat for The Gunners confirmed that Manchester City were the Premier League winners (while also ensuring that Forest would remain in the division). The second is that this match can be seen, in retrospect, as the one where Arteta seemed to lose faith in Thomas Partey, his Ghanaian central midfielder.
Arsenal had been in a tailspin for several weeks by the time they arrived at the City Ground for a Saturday evening kick-off against Forest. They had let their lead over Manchester City slip with a succession of draws and defeats, and the final, fatal blow for their title hopes was delivered within 20 minutes by Taiwo Awoniyi, Forest’s best striker, who Gunners fans will be grateful is still missing through injury for the game at the City Ground this week.
It was the manner of the defeat to Forest that was so dispiriting for Arsenal and their fans. The Gunners barely created a chance worthy of the name and Forest definitely deserved to win. However, Arsenal were arguably fatally undermined by their own manager before the game started, when Arteta moved Partey from central midfield, where he had formed such an impressive partnership with Granit Xhaka all season, to right-back. Entirely predictably, Partey was a whale out of water at full-back and the whole team was completely unbalanced as a result.
That “experiment” was so unsuccessful that it seemed unlikely Arteta would ever try it again, but try it again he did, in the first Premier League game of this season, against Forest at The Emirates. Partey was again selected at right-back, albeit as an attacking right-back who could advance into midfield when Arsenal were going forward. Yet again, however, he played badly, with his poor positioning (albeit in a completely new position for him) exposed for all to see. Although Arsenal won the match 2-1, it was an unconvincing start to the season for The Gunners. And the worst part is that afterwards Arteta appeared to dispense with Partey altogether, such that he has hardly played again this season.
Fourth Time Lucky For Arsenal?
Arsenal and their fans will hope it is fourth time lucky for them at the City Ground this week. They need to win, just to try and keep pace with Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, especially as they face Liverpool at home this weekend. However, they cannot afford to worry about that match until they have dealt with Forest.
Perhaps the best thing that Arteta could do to reinforce his side is to finally pair Partey with Declan Rice in central midfield, which was the expected midfield partnership before the season started. It has not worked out that way so far, but it is not too late for Arteta to learn the error of his ways. If Partey is fit again after the recent mid-season break, he should be played alongside Rice, allowing Rice to get forward and support the attack rather than playing wholly defensively. However, if Arteta leaves Partey out again, or the Ghanaian is unfit to play, Rice could have a torrid time as the one orthodox central midfielder in a team full of outright attackers.
