Manchester City are champions of the 2022/23 Premier League as Arsenal slumped to a shock defeat at City Ground
Steve Cooper paraded an unchanged squad, keeping all the players that earned a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in his starting lineup.
Nottingham Forest lineup: Keylor Navas; Joe Worrall, Felipe, Moussa Niakhate; Serge Aurier, Orel Mangala, Ryan Yates, Renan Lodi; Morgan Gibbs-White, Danilo; Taiwo Awoniyi.
Mikel Arteta made two changes to the squad that lost against Brighton in the last game.
Thomas Partey started in place of Tierney with Xhaka dropping deep while Leandro Trossard replaced injured Gabriel Martinelli.
Arsenal lineup: Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, Jakub Kiwior, Gabriel Magalhaes, Granit Xhaka; Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Thomas Partey; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard.
It was dreary start for Arsenal at the City Ground amid a roaring home crowd cheering on Nottingham Forest.
The Tricky Trees maintained a good spell of possession at the start before Arsenal started making inroads into the game in the 10th minute.
Nevertheless, the Gunners could not wield absolute control. It was largely a balanced game with both sides struggling to dominate proceedings going forward.
Arsenal came close to dropping the curtain-raiser in the 13th minute when Oddegard fed Partey, who then located Gabriel Jesus but the latter’s shot was blocked.
The Gunners were again close to an opener when Saka’s corner was headed away by Serge Aurier but the header looped towards Gabriel Jesus, who then attempted a header towards the back post but it was off the crossbar.
Arsenal continued to dominate proceedings but were dealt a heavy blow in the 19th minute against the run of play.
Nigeria international Taiwo Awoniyi broke the goal deadlock to boost Nottingham Forest’s survival hopes.
Oddegard cheaply lost possession, mistakenly passing the ball to Gibbs-White who wasted no time sending a through ball to Taiwo Awoniyi after pacing through the Arsenal middle.
Gabriel Jesus attempted to stop Awoniyi’s strike but the ball deflected off his leg and looped pass Aaron Ramsdale into the net.
The goal sparked an uproar in the ranks of Nottingham Forest fans who were closing in on surviving the relegation battle but it was a devastating blow to Arsenal title hopes.
Arsenal had enough time on their hands to find the equaliser and possibly pull a comeback before the first-half break. They ramped up their attempts to find an equaliser but could not level the scores before the break.
Nottingham Forest zeroed into their half to defend and preserve the lead till the end of the first half.
Arsenal went into the break with their morale down. A defeat against the Tricky Trees would see Manchester City crowned champions before the game against Chelsea.
The game got underway in the second half with early threats from Nottingham Forest but Arsenal were more dominant.
The Gunners had 45 minutes to overturn the game and avert a capitulation at City Ground that will hand Manchester City the Premier League title on a platter.
Arsenal continued to heap pressure in search of an equaliser with less than 10 minutes left to play. Both sides made late substitutions with Nottingham Forest holding on to the narrow lead.
It was gameover for the Gunners as the match entered added time with the Tricky Trees still holding on to grab a title-deciding win.
It was another capitulation for Arsenal at the City Ground as they ended up surrendering the Premier League title to Manchester City on a platter as Nottingham Forest held their nerves to grab a big win after the final whistle.
