Noni Madueke came off the bench to win the game at the City Ground with Arsenal's only shot on target. He'd replaced Eberechi Eze at half-time, and ten minutes from the end he cut in from the left and let fly. The ball took a deflection off Jair Cunha and went in at the far corner. "I had already beaten [Daniel] Munoz a couple of times on the outside, so I thought I would come inside and let rip. Thank god it went in," Madueke said.
The 1-0 win keeps Arsenal close behind Manchester City at the top and drops Nottingham Forest into the bottom three. Mikel Arteta said Arsenal had done "something that we didn't do in the last two seasons" at the ground, "which is to win the game". A win that scrappy still matters because it ends that wait. Arteta's triple change with 25 minutes left brought on Jurrien Timber, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyokeres for Ben White, Bruno Guimarães and Kai Havertz. But the half-time switch was the one that decided the game.
It could easily have finished level, because Forest had their chances late on. Declan Rice blocked a shot from Chris Wood, and Murillo's right-footed strike flew inches over the bar. One shot on target is a thin return for the champions, but Madueke turned that single chance into the goal that took the points.
In the academy, Mylo Bernard got both goals in the Under-18s' 2-1 home win over Tottenham, the second coming seven minutes into added time just a month after his move was completed.
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