Arsenal will begin their journey to their 15th FA Cup glory when take a trip to City Ground to take on a Championship outfit Nottingham in the third round of the competition on Sunday night with kickoff at 20:10.
Nottingham Forest had a difficult start to their Championship campaign this season, but, the arrival of Steve Cooper has a sparked a surge up the table following a nine-match unbeaten run and will pushing for playoff spots as it is possibility now.
However, Forest head into the match on the back of two consecutive defeats suffering 2-0 to Middlesbrough at away before surrendering to 1-0 defeat to Huddersfield at home ending their resurgence under the new manager.
They fixture against Barnsley in the Championship was called off meaning that their first match this year will be a tricky FA Cup tie against a top-flight outfit Arsenal who are flying high at the moment. Focusing in FA Cup Forest beat Cardiff City 1-0 at this stage last season but were knocked out in a 5-1 defeat to Swansea in the next round and will be hoping to go further up the competition this time around.
Meanwhile Arsenal opened the year with a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Emirates with the match overshadowed by refereeing and VAR controversies and it was unfortunate for the Gunners who often were on the wrong side of the said decisions. Mikel Arteta’s side deserved a victory the match but things did just go their way with Gabriel Magalhaes being sent off.
The Gunners though, were able to leave the field with their heads held high after demonstrating clear signs of progress from their Etihad humbling earlier in the season, and the Gunners were due to take on Liverpool in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg before the Emirates encounter was postponed.
They will now shift their focus to the FA Cup where they are record holders, having won the cup competition 14 times, but they saw the defence of the crown end in the fourth round last season at Southampton.
With their form and team spirit this season we expect that the Gunners to challenge for the glory this season hence they will be for a win here.
Nottingham vs Arsenal head to head
Both sides have met in 11 encounters since 1994 with Arsenal claiming seven victories while Nottingham have claimed two victories and there have been two draws.
- Arsenal 5-0 Nottingham
- Nottingham 4-2 Arsenal
- Nottingham 0-4 Arsenal
- Nottingham 0-1 Arsenal
- Arsenal 2-1 Nottingham
Home
- Nottingham 0-1 Huddersfield
- Middlesbrough 2-0 Nottingham
- Nottingham 2-1 Hull City
- Swansea 1-4 Nottingham
- Nottingham 2-0 Peterborough
Away
- Arsenal 1-2 Man City
- Norwich 0-5 Arsenal
- Arsenal 5-1 Sunderland
- Leeds 1-4 Arsenal
- Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
Nottingham team news
Nottingham will be without Loic Mbe Soh, Max Lowe, Joe Lolley, Alex Mighten and Rodrigo Ely due to injuries while Mohamed Drager left for AFCON.
Arsenal team news
Arsenal will be without Sead Kolasinac due to injury while Gabriel will miss due to suspension and Mohamed Elneny, Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Thomas Partey are all unvailable as they left for the AFCON.
Prediction and odds
- Arsenal win
- Goals over 2.5
- Both sides to score(no)
