Forest 1-0 Arsenal | May 20th, 2023
*Please sign in to your MyForest account to watch this content.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon in May 2023, Forest welcomed Arsenal to The City Ground with Premier League survival very much on their minds.
The Gunners meanwhile, were intent on keeping up the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table and keep their title hopes alive.
Plenty to play for, but it was those in red shirts from Nottingham who would head home happy that afternoon.
Morgan Gibbs-White picked up a loose pass from Martin Ødegaard, drove at the Arsenal backline, slipped the ball to Taiwo Awoniyi who made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the Gunners’ net. Cue bedlam at The City Ground.
The visitors would push for an equaliser, but the Forest defence remained resolute and saw out a famous win in NG2, and one that would see Forest secure their Premier League status.
Forest 1-0 Arsenal | January 9th, 2022
*Please sign in to your MyForest account to watch this content.
The third round of the FA Cup is a special event in the football calendar, and January 2022 saw then Championship Forest pitted against Premier League Arsenal at The City Ground.
After a first half dominated by the Gunners in terms of chances, Forest fought back in the second half and could easily have taken the lead through Philip Zinckernagel or Rodrigo Ribeiro, with both players denied by outstanding saves from Berd Leno.
With a replay looming and a trip to the Emirates on Forest’s horizon, Lewis Grabban stepped sent The City Ground into raptures.
Brennan Johnson released Ryan Yates down the right side, who whipped the ball into Grabban, who made no mistake sweeping the ball beyond Leno in the final seven minutes of the match.
Forest’s place in the fourth round of the cup was secured on another memorable night in NG2.
Forest 4-2 Arsenal | January 7th, 2018
Four years before Lewis Grabban’s memorable matchwinner against Arsenal, there was a meeting at The City Ground between Forest and the Gunners which sent shockwaves through English football.
The Reds were without a permanent manager, and Arsène Wenger had never lost an FA Cup fixture in the third round of the competition. Until 2018.
Kieran Dowell’s powerful free-kick was headed into the roof of the Arsenal net after just 20 minutes, by Eric Lichaj and what would be a special evening for the USA defender.
Per Mertesacker levelled the scoreline three minutes later before Lichaj spectacularly found the top left corner on the stroke of half-time to send Forest in at half-time with the advantage.
Ben Brereton extended Forest’s advantage from the penalty spot on 64 minutes before Danny Welbeck set up a tense finale, making the scoreline 3-2 with 11 minutes remaining.
Any doubts of an Arsenal comeback were quashed six minutes later however, when Dowell stepped up to make it 4-2 to Forest from the spot to round of a stunning evening Trentside.
Forest 2-1 Arsenal | December 21st, 1996
With Stuart Pearce in temporary charge at The City Ground and Forest sitting bottom of the Premier League table, hopes weren’t high when Arsenal travelled to Nottingham just before Christmas in 1996.
However, the result would not go the way the formbook would suggest…
After dominating the first half, the Gunners would eventually take the lead after halt-time when Ian Wright rifled the ball into the roof of the Trent End net after Mark Crossley had mis-handled a Nigel Winterburn cross.
The lead would last just four minutes however, when Alf Inge Haaland would sweep home a Dean Saunders cross to send the Forest fans wild and raise hopes of a positive result against all the odds.
Wright completed his arch from hero to villain when he was sent off two minutes after Forest’s equaliser. Hopes of a precious three points began to rise.
One minute from time, Arsenal failed to deal with Pearce’s cross into the Gunners’ box and Haaland was there to complete Forest’s comeback on a memorable afternoon Trentside.