NOTTINGHAM, England — Arsenal are currently playing to reach the finish line, not to burst through it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that, especially as Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest extended their advantage at the top of the Premier League to seven points. The Gunners are now unbeaten in 11 games across all competitions and remain favorites to win their first title since 2004. But it will only be in May when anyone can conclusively determine whether this was a point gained at a tricky venue or another missed opportunity to pull further clear and crank up the pressure on Manchester City and Aston Villa.
City’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester United earlier in the day gave this a familiar framing to last week’s home game against Liverpool. Pep Guardiola’s side had dropped points before then, too, but Arsenal could not capitalize, producing a timid display in a stalemate.
Nine days later, they repeated it. In fairness, Arsenal were better here, insofar as they carried a greater threat in the second half. But that chiefly came from set pieces and a lively cameo by Bukayo Saka, introduced as a 57th-minute substitute. In fact, Mikel Arteta changed five of his front six players across the 90 minutes here but never consistently carved open a Forest side typically well-organized by Sean Dyche yet residing in 17th place in the table.
There is little doubt that the Gunners possess the deepest, most balanced squad in the division after a summer outlay of £250 million on eight players. Perhaps the accompanying uncertainty, however, is that Arteta is still facing questions over how to best utilize the range of options at his disposal.
Arteta rotated his wingers from the outset here with Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke starting. Martinelli was withdrawn at halftime after a shocking miss from inside the six-yard box with the goal at his mercy moments after Nikola Milenkovic blocked Declan Rice’s close-range effort.
Madueke was part of a triple change on 57 minutes that saw Viktor Gyökeres and Martin Odegaard withdrawn for Mikel Merino, Saka and Gabriel Jesus. Eberechi Eze also got on the pitch, but had just 11 minutes at the end to try and influence the game. Arsenal improved, Saka chiefly driving that uptick as he and Merino both went close before an 80th-minute VAR check for an Ola Aina handball passed without punishment.
“The reality is we created four massive chances with Martinelli an open goal, Declan Rice a tap-in, Mikel [Merino], the header of Bukayo and on top of that obviously a very clear penalty in the box that has not been given,” said Arteta.
“So without conceding a single shot on target again, the fact we haven’t won the game with that, disappointing. And on top of that I think we can do things better, especially in certain areas attacking.”
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That last comment was the most revealing. Arsenal registered consecutive 0-0 draws in the Premier League for the first time in 14 years. There are signs of fatigue — this was their 33rd match of the season — and when it was put to Arteta that the schedule was catching up with his squad, he did not deny it.
“Yes a lot,” he replied. “Bukayo has had a lot of minutes and as well he had a niggle before the game. So we need to manage our players.
“We have some fantastic players who can provide different things. We tried from the beginning, we tried after halftime as well, taking more risk and bringing on more players in those attacking options and we tried in every way. It wasn’t enough, unfortunately.”
Arteta has been accused of taking insufficient risk in certain matches this season, notably home and away against Liverpool, against Chelsea when they had a man advantage in November, and at home to City earlier in the year when Guardiola’s side were palpably struggling for rhythm. That comment, therefore, felt pointed, but Arsenal still lacked the sustained attacking intensity to put a team with the sixth-worst defensive record in the division under enough pressure to fold.
The conservatism laced into their approach is surely born at least in part from the scars of the past — three consecutive second-place finishes aligned to the weight of a two-decade wait for a league title. And it might be enough to finish top.
“Every week is an opportunity obviously,” said Arteta. “We want to win every game and if we would have done that, we would have been in a different position. We made a step, a smaller one than we would have wanted, but it is a step.”
They are inching forward. Nobody has been able to keep up with their pace so far, but neither have Arsenal accelerated off into the horizon as seems possible.
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