Nottingham Forest Manager Nuno Espirito Santo's brutal reasoning for his tactical adjustment On Wednesday evening, Martin Keown apparently had astonished.
Forest welcomed Arsenal in the city area one night in which the Gunners desperately had to conjure a response to their disappointing defeat by West Ham on the weekend.
Yet Mikel Arteta and Co could not find a way due to the determined defense of Forest, which clashes because the visitors are due to a lack of a striker and still miss bustling star Bukayo Saka.
By doing this, if they had not disappeared this weekend, the slim title heap of Arsenal became even slimmer, with Liverpool Newcastle beating 2-0 to extend their lead to 13 points with 10 to play.
Forest has been one of the surprise packages of the campaign and next season on the hunt for Champions League football, and a point at home with one of the best teams in the country, their references further underlined.
After the game, Espirito Santo explained how he had eliminated the Gunners after a question from Keown.
In the past about his decision to go to a rear four instead of the five-man defensive unit he preferred so far, he explained that it was all based on the lack of a striker of Arsenal.
“I'll tell you. Because Arsenal has no striker, with [Mikel] Merino plays in that position – no extra body is needed.
“The overload will be in midfield and it is about comprehending midfield.”
Keown replied, “Right, ok.”
It was a masterful movement of Espirito Santo, leaving his side an extra body in the middle of the park, where arsenal is traditional dominant.
Without a striker in the side, Arsenal Merino started through the center after he scored two games twice ago, although he had a somewhat quieter time of things against West Ham.
As a result, the Gunners also worked on the field with three defensive midfielders with Jorginho and Declan Rice, and it was not surprising to have the goal of Matz Sels in too much.
The visitors had 13 shots in the game, but only one of them was on goal in a largely simple night for Sels.
According to BBC statistics, Arsenal Alone and XG (expected goals) of 0.31 from Open Play, which emphasizes their inefficiency in a accidental creation in the night.
For Forest, however, it was a night that further underlined their ambitions to play the next term Champions League football, after bouncing back from a 4-3 defeat by Newcastle in the weekend and consolidates their third place in the table.
Next for the tricky trees is a FA Cup collision with wrestlers Ipswich for a heavy series of fixtures that will probably determine which European competition they will end in the next term.
They compete against both Manchester clubs, before they collide with Aston Villa and the revival of David Moyes Everton and a trip to Tottenham.
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