🏏 Sun, 18 Oct 2026 16:30 BST
Nottingham Forest
vs
Arsenal FC
3-4-2-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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- Nottingham Forest sit 18th on five points from six matches (1W 2D 3L, goal difference -3) and host an Arsenal side third on 15 points with a +5 difference after five wins and one defeat. Forest are a point behind 16th-placed Coventry and level with Fulham in 17th. Arsenal trail leaders Manchester City by six points but have played a game fewer than City's seven.
- Forest's last five league outings read D-D-W-L-L. They drew 2-2 away at Liverpool and 0-0 at home with Tottenham, then won 2-1 at Aston Villa in round four. Since then it has been two defeats: 0-1 at home to Coventry and 1-3 away at Crystal Palace. Just five goals scored in six matches explains their position in the bottom three.
- Arsenal arrive on the back of a W-W-W-L-W run. They have won away at Villa (1-0) and Sunderland (2-0) and beaten Chelsea 2-1 at the Emirates. Their only loss came in round five, a 3-0 reverse at second-placed Brighton, whose +18 goal difference is the best in the division, but they responded immediately by seeing off seventh-placed Leeds 2-1.
- The shape battle pits Forest's 3-4-2-1 against Arsenal's 4-2-3-1, which puts the focus on the wing-back duels. Neco Williams, the 25-year-old Wales international who came through at Liverpool, must handle Bukayo Saka on that flank, while Daniel Munoz goes up against Riccardo Calafiori. The 30-year-old Colombian made 148 appearances for Genk before Crystal Palace and is relentless in the overlap.
- Both sides use a double pivot. Forest pair Xaver Schlager, the 29-year-old Austria international with 51 caps and four goals who arrived from RB Leipzig via Wolfsburg and Salzburg, with Nicolas Dominguez, an Argentine who spent four Serie A seasons at Bologna. Arsenal counter with 188cm Declan Rice, a product of West Ham, and Bruno Guimaraes, the 28-year-old Brazil midfielder signed from Newcastle.
- Liam Delap leads the Forest line at 23. A Manchester City academy graduate, he broke through during Ipswich Town's season in the top flight before a 30 million pound move to Chelsea, and his game is built on hold-up play and runs in behind. He faces Gabriel Magalhaes, the 190cm left-footed centre-back signed from Lille, and Ezri Konsa, a quick, physical defender who previously played for Aston Villa and Brentford.
- Arsenal's attacking trio of Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze and Saka operates behind Kai Havertz. Odegaard, Norway's captain, joined Real Madrid at 16 and is the side's chief playmaker, while Eze is a two-footed attacking midfielder who drove Crystal Palace to the 2025 FA Cup. Saka cuts in off the right on his left foot, and the 193cm Havertz, formerly of Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen, drops in to link play as a false nine.
- Forest's back three is strikingly young. Left-footed Murillo, 24, arrived from Corinthians; Ousmane Diomande, a 22-year-old Ivory Coast international standing 190cm, signed a four-year deal from Sporting CP in August 2026 after two league titles in Portugal; and 21-year-old Jair da Cunha, 198cm, came via Santos and Botafogo. Nikola Milenkovic, 195cm with 264 Serie A appearances for Fiorentina, waits on the bench.
- The benches could decide the closing stages. Arsenal can call on Viktor Gyokeres, who scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting CP, holding midfielder Martin Zubimendi, Euro 2024 winner Mikel Merino and 16-year-old Max Dowman, who made his Premier League debut at 15. Forest have 191cm Chris Wood, the 34-year-old New Zealand captain, plus Ibrahim Sangare, a 2024 Africa Cup of Nations winner formerly of PSV.
- The two Forest shadow strikers are both technicians. James McAtee, a 24-year-old left-footed attacking midfielder, spent 11 years at Manchester City and captained England to the 2025 Under-21 European Championship title. Alongside him, Dan Ndoye brings explosive pace: the 25-year-old Switzerland winger won the Coppa Italia with Bologna and featured for his country at Euro 2024.