Premier League: Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest Preview, Odds, Predictions, Picks

Arsenal and Nottingham Forest played plenty of games over the past few years, and we always saw some interesting moments. The Gunners were extremely confident at home against the former European champions but couldn’t win at City Ground. These two units open the season now, at the Emirates, with Arsenal coming in flying high following the recent win in the Community Shield over Manchester City. Meanwhile, Forest is in problems, and their squad doesn’t look good at all these days. 

Here are more previews for EPL Round 1:

• Manchester United vs. Wolves
• Chelsea vs. Liverpool

Preview

Arsenal (-500) took the Community Shield leveling in the deep injury time, and after that, dispatching the Citizens back to Etihad after the penalty shootout. It was a magical start of the season for Arteta and the boys, who won their first trophy since taking over the team. 

The Gunners played six games during the preseason, losing just one to Manchester United, but posting some pretty impressive wins, like the one against Barcelona, 5-3, or the MLS All-Stars, 5-0. The team looked fine, and Declan Rice immediately began contributing in the midfield, just like Jurrien Timber did in the defense. 

In all but two events, Arsenal conceded, indicating certain problems with their defense. That was the case throughout last year’s second half of the season when the Gunners began losing their edge in the standings over Man City. 

Nottingham Forest (+1000) had seven games in the preseason, winning two of them, and both were in the beginning. After that, Forest was unrecognizable, posting mediocre and very pale performances that made them one of the top favorites for relegation.

At the moment, Nottingham is on a cold streak that saw them without a victory in the past five events. To make it even more painful for the fans, they couldn’t score in each of them, presenting a terrible form of the attackers. 

They lost to Leeds, 2-0, PSV 1-0, suffered a great humiliation against Rennes, 0-5, and finished the preseason against Eintracht Frankfurt, 0-0. All in all, things aren’t good for the former European champs. 

Latest News

Gabriel Jesus is injured, and the Brazilian will miss the start of the new season. Oleksandr Zinchenko will be ready, according to the latest info, while Mohamed Elneny won’t play either. Things are unclear with Jorginho and Reiss Nelson. 

Moussa Niakhate is out for Forest until October, and Felipe Monteiro for at least a couple of more weeks. Taiwo Awoniyi and Wayne Hennessey are both under question marks for the guests. 

Head to Head Games

Arsenal smashed Nottingham last year in London, beating Forest 5-0. Though, in the second part of the year, the Gunners fell at City Ground, losing 1-0 to the hosts, who have three wins in a row at home against the Gunners. 

However, the last two trips they had to the Emirates ended both with 5-0 for Arsenal.

Prediction

Arsenal is going up, while Nottingham’s performances aren’t indicating anything positive, and this could be another humiliation in London for the two-time European champs. The odds of Arsenal’s victory are way too low, so we have to increase that a bit, which is why we pick Arsenal to cover a 1.5-goal spread. The odds for that are at -165.

Pick: Arsenal -1.5 -165