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Noni Madueke Scores Late as Arsenal Beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at City Ground
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Madueke scored the 81st-minute winner after coming on as a substitute. Arsenal remain second, three points behind Manchester City.
Madueke ends it
Noni Madueke scored the only goal as Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground, with the champions surviving a scrappy display to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City. Mikel Arteta’s side did not register a shot on target until Madueke bagged their winner 10 minutes from full-time, and the Gunners’ breakthrough came in the 80th minute when Madueke cut in from the left flank and unleashed a powerful drive that took a hefty deflection off Forest’s Jair Cunha. Arsenal’s late winner arrived after a first half in which the match had gone quiet, with the first time since 2023 that Arsenal failed to have a shot on target in the first 70 minutes of a Premier League match.
Oliver Glasner’s Nottingham Forest had tested Arsenal through Dan Ndoye, and Murillo was inches away from snatching a late leveller as his rocket whistled over. Arsenal then turned to the next fixtures, with Arteta’s team heading to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday before hosting Everton in the top flight next weekend.
Arteta and Madueke
Mikel Arteta said the win was “hard-fought but well deserved” as Arsenal made it 18 points out of a possible 21 to start the Premier League season, after netting only in the 80th minute. Arteta told reporters “A big win,” and he said the team had to be patient at a venue where Arsenal had drawn 0-0 in each of their past two visits. Noni Madueke described the moment of his goal by saying, “I'd beaten him on the outside a couple of times so I thought I'll come inside and just let rip,” after he was introduced at half-time.
Madueke also said he took Arteta’s instructions onto the pitch, telling BBC Match of the Day: “Hang in there, stick to the gameplan, go out there and try to attack the opposition, be dangerous, be yourself and be good defensively as well.” Arsenal’s late control came with nervy moments at the end, as Forest created their best three chances in injury-time and Ezri Konsa denied Liam Delap with a huge block.
Title pressure and next
Arsenal’s victory kept them in the Premier League title fight, with the result leaving them within three points of Manchester City after City beat Ipswich 3-2 on Saturday. The match also extended Arsenal’s run of grinding out results, with Al Jazeera saying it was their sixth in seven league matches, even as the Gunners were “well below their best” at the City Ground. Nottingham Forest’s league position remained precarious, with the BBC describing them as third-from-bottom and saying boss Oliver Glasner had managed only one victory in seven top-flight matches since taking charge in the close season.
“Arsenal sealed a tight 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at City Ground in matchweek 7 of the Premier League, decided by a goal from Noni Madueke in the 80th minute.”
Sofascore’s match account put Arsenal’s control into numbers, listing 74% possession and 629 total passes for Arsenal compared with Forest’s 221, while also saying the decisive play arrived in the 80th minute. Arsenal then set up a rapid turnaround, with Al Jazeera stating they would travel to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday before hosting Everton next weekend.