Nottm Forest vs Arsenal

The City Ground on a Monday night is not a comfortable place for a title contender to visit. Nottingham Forest had set up with specific defensive intent — Murillo commanding at centre-back, the midfield compact, the crowd making it as difficult as possible for Arsenal to play their game. For 79 minutes, it worked. Arsenal had the ball, had the pressure, had Arteta growing increasingly tense in the technical area. Forest had a clean sheet.

Then Noni Madueke struck at 80'. Madueke, who arrived at Arsenal last summer to add directness and pace to Arteta's system, took the ball in a tight space, drove at the Forest defence, and found the finish. One nil. The City Ground fell silent. Arsenal had won a match they had not dominated — which is, in many ways, the most important kind of win in a title race.

This is what champions do. In previous seasons, Arsenal have been accused of struggling in exactly these moments — visiting difficult grounds, failing to find the goal against organised defences, dropping points that cost them the title. On a Monday night in Nottingham, they refused to do that. Madueke was the instrument. Arteta's management of the game was the framework. Three points from one of the hardest away fixtures in the Premier League.

The gap to Manchester City holds at three points. City won their game. Arsenal won theirs. The race is exactly where it was before the week began — except that both sides have demonstrated, in different ways, that they are capable of grinding out results when the football does not flow. Arsenal: 18 points. Second. Still there. Still threatening.