Arsenal will return to club action this weekend when they will entertain Nottingham Forest at the Emirates in Saturday’s Premier League early kickoff.
Prior to the international break, the Gunners were handed their first defeat of the season, after losing 1-0 to league champions Liverpool at Anfield.
Mikel Arteta’s men headed into the fixture against the Reds on the back of two consecutive wins – a 1-0 win at Manchester United and a 5-0 thumping of Leeds United.
Now, the Gunners hope to return to winning way when they welcome Forest, who recently appointed former Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou.
For the Australian tactician and his players they would be expected to do what many before then have failed to do at home of Arsenal in over 30 years, that is record a win.
Forest Eye First Win At Arsenal Since 1989
Ahead of this weekend’s encounter, Arsenal have gone a staggering 36 years without defeat versus Forest at home – last going down to their visitors at Highbury in 1989.
In the last four Premier League meetings between both sides, Arsenal have secured three wins and one draw.
Also, Arteta oversaw three wins and a draw against Postecoglou during his counterpart’s time in charge of Tottenham.
Injury News
Arsenal
Conflicting claims have emerged over William Saliba’s ankle injury, as reports from France have stated that the defender may be out for up to four weeks, although journalist Charles Watts has told Sports Mole that that timeframe may not be entirely accurate, SportsMole reports.
Regardless, Saliba will surely make way for Cristhian Mosquera – who held his own at Anfield – for Saturday’s encounter, although Ben White might also return from his knock to offer Arteta another defensive alternative.
Christian Norgaard joins White on the touch-and-go list due to his own minor issue, while Gabriel Jesus (ACL), Kai Havertz (knee) and Bukayo Saka (hamstring) will play no part in this encounter.
The Gunners came through the international break unscathed, though, and Saturday will surely be the day that Eberechi Eze makes his first Arsenal start following Gabriel Martinelli’s lacklustre performance in Liverpool.
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Nottingham Forest
As for the visitors, Postecoglou is already in a pickle at full-back owing to a recent injury to Ola Aina, who appeared to hurt his hamstring while playing for Nigeria against South Africa earlier this month.
On-loan Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko cannot face his parent club, so new signing Nicolo Savona may be thrown into the deep end by the Forest boss, who is also without Nicolas Dominguez (knee) for his debut game.
