![]() This has been a fine season for Arsenal, but it has ended tepidly. Felipe and Gibbs-White both had opportunities to seal the win in the second half, but they were never clinging on. There were a few corners, a few snap-shots from distance, but the clearer chances were Forest’s. Gabriel Jesus has a face that always seems to be mid-complaint about something, but here that was accompanied by waving arms until he was eventually booked after appealing for one penalty too many shortly after half-time. Ødegaard seemed constantly to be making compensatory runs, as though by overt effort he could find redemption for his error. This was reminiscent of the defeat at Everton earlier in the season as they toiled in front of a noisy home support against combative and deep-lying opponents. Injuries had forced changes for Arsenal – Jakub Kiwior to left-back, Ben White into the centre and Thomas Partey at right-back – and whether because of that or despondency at the fizzling out of the title challenge, Arsenal struggled for rhythm. Everybody knew the title race was done, the mood of resignation so pervasive that Forest fans’ taunts that Arsenal were “top of the league and fucked it up” seemed oddly out of place, almost distasteful, and were soon discontinued. They weren’t at half-pace or indifferent to the result, as such, but there was a lack of intensity. Their pursuit of the implacable excellence of City no more than perfunctory, their place in next season’s Champions League already secure, they played without any great sense of purpose. Since throwing away that 2-0 lead at Anfield, they have won just two of eight games. Whether you define what has happened as a choke or the inevitable consequence of chasing an almost indestructible opponent with a squad clearly lacking depth in certain key areas, or some combination of the two, Arsenal’s season has dwindled miserably. Given the sense of chaos induced by the fleets of summer signings, and then again by the seven January arrivals, Steve Cooper, who used 33 players this season, can be said to have done a remarkable job.īut while this was certainly about Forest’s aggression and organisation, about the attacking thrusts led by Morgan Gibbs-White and Danilo, about Keylor Navas’s command of his box, it was also about the fading of Arsenal. ![]() ![]() ![]() Everton’s draw against Wolves earlier in the day had given Forest the chance to seal survival here, without having to worry about their dismal away form – just seven points all season – letting them down at Crystal Palace next weekend. By the end, every challenge, every misplaced pass from an Arsenal player, every ball that drifted out of play, was greeted with a great roar. From midway through the second half, the City Ground anticipated its triumph. ![]()
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