Noni Madueke breaks Nottingham Forest resistance to earn Arsenal late victory

Noni Madueke climbed off the bench to earn toothless Arsenal a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.

Madueke, dropped from the recent England squad, came on at half-time and his deflected effort 10 minutes from time was enough for the three points at the City Ground.

The goal was Arsenal’s only shot on target in a disjointed performance that lacked attacking quality, although the champions’ ability to grind out a result cannot be questioned.

The victory moved them back up to second, three points behind leaders Manchester City, but what that actually means given the wider picture of City’s guilty verdict over breaches of Premier League financial rules remains to be seen.

It was a third 1-0 home defeat of the season for Forest, who are struggling to adapt to life under Oliver Glasner, and they have not scored in five home matches in all competitions after missing two big late chances.

This was also a third league defeat in a row and they now sit in the relegation zone after seven games.

It was a pedestrian first half, in which both sides sparred without showing any threat in the final third.

Forest had the first meaningful attack as a breakaway after capitalising on a Riccardo Calafiori error ended in Dan Ndoye’s shot being deflected for a corner after 20 minutes.

But it was slim pickings from there as Kai Havertz headed over a Declan Rice free-kick in a dismal opening 45 minutes that yielded no shots on target.

Arteta was not impressed and replaced Eberechi Eze with Madueke at half-time in a bid to inject some more energy.

But it was Forest who began the second period invigorated as Liam Delap began to find space and he drilled a shot which was deflected into the side-netting, with Murillo then not getting enough on his header from the resulting corner.

Ndoye gave Gabriel the slip as he burst into the box, but he was unable to get his shot away.

Arteta sent for the heavy artillery midway through the second half as Viktor Gyokeres and Mikel Merino came on.

And Arsenal should have gone ahead in the 72nd minute as they fashioned their best chance.

A slick move saw Jurrien Timber get to the byline and pull back for Rice, who slammed over the crossbar from 12 yards.

The Gunners finally upped the ante and went ahead in the 80th minute.

Rice worked the ball out to Madueke, who cut inside from the left and fired a shot which deflected off Jair Cunha and into the far corner.

Forest should have equalised in the 89th minute as they broke clear, but Chris Wood took too long to shoot and was snuffed out.

They had an even better chance deep into stoppage time as Murillo danced into the area but fizzed his shot over.

Ezri Konsa then produced a brilliant last-gasp tackle to deny Delap as the hosts could not force a leveller.