Facing opponents who sat off to deny us space in behind, but who also got touch-tight and aggressive in those deeper areas, made life awkward for our forwards. This table outlines the pressures each team encountered from the opposition when in possession, and highlights how close the home side got to us whenever we entered their territory:

While it was frustrating to register just one shot on target with so much of the ball, we found a better tempo and greater intensity later in the match. Beyond the winning goal, another slick move of real quality opened Forest up. The moment Bukayo Saka squared the ball to Martin Odegaard, he knew he could play a one-touch pass through the hole:

Eberechi Eze was replaced by Noni Madueke at the interval, and the manager's switch ultimately helped us take all three points. 

As you can see from their touch maps above, Eze (left, 22) and Madueke (right, 30) the main difference was Madueke's willingness to take on his man on the outside. This helped us win several corners, and stretched a very well-organised rearguard. Neither man created a chance, but Madueke attempted six crosses and two shots, while Eze registered none.

Madueke’s goal was clever because he had consistently driven on the outside, but on this occasion he cut infield before unleashing his strike. The key to this goal was a very early pass from Rice which allowed Madueke the rare luxury of enjoying a 1v1 without multiple red shirts covering the first defender:

With Jair Cunha slow to cover, Madueke got his shot away, and a deflection off the Brazilian sent it into the back of the net:

Madueke is an away day specialist. All four of his Premier League goals for us have come on the road, with 13 of his of 17 goals (76%) in total at this level coming away from home, the highest away ratio of any player with 15+ goals in Premier League history. 

It was a game of two halves in terms of how we tried to hurt Forest. In a largely uneventful first 45, we launched most of our raids down the right wing, feeding passes to Saka as often as possible, but from half-time onwards we focused much more on getting Madueke into the game:

DEALING WITH DELAP

Glasner's tactical approach was to counter-attack with 10 men behind the ball, before launching longer passes to striker Liam Delap. The centre forward is quick and powerful and loves to run the channels, so it was a good ploy which did cause us one or two problems.

This long ball up the line saw Delap enter a 1v1 with Ezri Konsa, with the England international blocking his shot from inside the box:

Deep into injury time a very similar situation unfolded when Delap ran off Gabriel, and in behind Konsa, who was initially unaware of his presence:

With three or four yards to make up, the front man was favourite to get his shot away, but a superb sprint and beautifully timed tackle prevented a highly dangerous moment from becoming an equaliser. It was a challenge that earned us three valuable points.

GABRIEL’S STRONG STATS

Konsa was our best player in many people’s eyes, but his central defensive partner Gabriel was also terrific in his resilience. The Brazilian made three huge blocks inside our own penalty area to deny shots on goal, and he was the only Gunners star to make more than one clearance, managing six in total.

The Gabriel-Konsa partnership is working very well indeed, and it has helped us gain clean-sheet wins away to Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Aston Villa. Last term we dropped points in all those fixtures.