Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal LIVE RESULT: Gunners drop more points to leave slim title hopes in tatters after drab draw

Match report

Here was another desperate indictment of Arsenal’s inability to sign a striker in January.

After Mikel Arteta’s bare-bones society failed to score for a third time in four matches, it looks as though the Gunners will struggle to finish second in a one-horse race.

A point away against Nuno Espirito’s Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest – who are unbeaten at home since September – is not a terrible result in itself.

But with midfield man Mikel Merino struggling as a false nine, there was precious little prospect of Arsenal scoring on the banks of the Trent.

Since their 5-1 pasting of Manchester City, the Gunners have only managed to score against the whipping boys of Leicester City.

And in defence of Merino, it was not as if Arteta’s team created any chances for him to miss.

Out the top four?

Martin Keown reckons Arsenal have to be careful or they might lose out on the TOP FOUR.

It’s a bold claim but the Gunners hero reckons the lack of goals could end up costing them if they don’t buck their ideas up.

He told TNT Sports: “Just because you can’t be champions doesn’t mean that you throw it all away. If they don’t score goals there is a danger that they might slip out of the top four.

“Tonight when you come away with a point you think that is important because it means Forest don’t get any closer to catching them.

“Rest, recover and then they are away to Manchester United, and they must win.”

Next four

Forest have Ipswich in the FA Cup this weekend and then again in the league in a fortnight.

But Man City and Man Utd visit the City Ground in the next month too as part of their next four games.

Arsenal have the Champions League to content with, with games against PSV to come.

A trip to Old Trafford is their next league game the weekend after next before a home game with Chelsea as their game in hand.

“Finished”

Martin O’Neill told TNT Sports: “I cannot see Arsenal catching Liverpool, not at all. First of all Arsenal have to win their games, and that is not a given by any stretch of the imagination.

“Also then you are talking about Liverpool dropping points, which they will do because they are involved in a few other competitions.

“I think tonight is the result that finished it.”

Title race still on?

Only the most diehard of Arsenal fans will feel it is.

Even then, they’ll probably admit behind closed doors it isn’t.

Arteta isn’t giving up, though. Asked about the title race he told BBC Sport: “It was same a week ago, two weeks ago, three months ago.

“The only thing we can do is win our matches and see how many points we get.”

‘Very happy’

Nuno Espirito Santo said his players have worked all week on dealing with Arsenal’s set pieces.

And the Forest boss was thrilled to get back to being hard to beat after a spell of conceding goals.

He told BBC Sport: “I’m very happy with the way we did things, the way we played against Arsenal.

“It’s very difficult to play against them. They’re a very good team. It requires a lot of effort. We were solid and compact. Very positive game.

“After this period we had conceding it was important to go back to basics – solid, clean sheet. We had a couple of moments to do it better. But in terms of the game, positive because it was very important to go back to the team we are that allows us to be successful.

“They have danger all over the place. Set-pieces are some of them. It requires focus. The boys did well. We prepared it.”

Arteta reacts

Mikel Arteta told the BBC: ” It was unquestionable character, how much we wanted it and tried.

“We dominated the game. We tried in many different ways. We insisted but lacked that spark, that final pass to unlock a well organised team. We have to generate more shots on target.

“Very different to the weekend. We defended with energy, purpose, fight, willingness to make things happen. It wasn’t because we lacked that. We tried until the end but weren’t able to do it.”