Gunners need deflected to strike to break deadlock at City Ground and keep within touching distance of Premier League leaders Manchester City

Show caption: Noni Madueke celebrates scoring Arsenal’s winner at Nottingh…

Arsenal left it late before snatching a late Premier League victory at Nottingham Forest on Sunday, courtesy of a deflected Noni Madueke strike.

The Gunners had been misfiring in front of goal at the City Ground having failed to register a shot on target for 79 minutes.

But then Declan Rice, who had been guilty of a glaring miss seven minutes earlier when he swept a glorious chance to break the deadlock over the bar, had slipped the ball into the feet of Madueke.

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The former Chelsea winger then cut inside Daniel Munoz with a couple of stopovers before firing off a shot that clipped off Jair Cunha then flew into the back of the net.

There would still be time for Forest to nearly snatch a leveller, though. First, a brilliant solo run by Murillo ended with the Brazilian curling an effort over the bar, while Liam Delap was then denied a shot on goal by a superbly-timed Ezri Konsa tackle.

It was a far from scintillating performance from Mikel Arteta's side but the champions have that enviable habit of being able to eke out three points when it matters.

“This place is so hard to come to, everybody knows it,” said Match-winner Madueke.” They make it so difficult for you. It was a really tough game but we are really happy as we did it all together. We showed grit and determination and a champion's spirit.

“The first half is usually cagey here, in the last few years it has been 0-0. The manager told us to stick in there and stick with the game plan. To me he just told me to go out there and try to attacking the opposition, be dangerous and be myself.”

With Manchester City beating Ipswich Town 3-2 on Saturday, maintaining their perfect start of seven wins from seven games, Arenal could have ended the weekend in third place, with Brighton second on goal difference after the Seagulls trounced Crystal Palace 5-0 earlier on Sunday.

But the late intervention of half-time substitute Madueke meant the North London club head into the midweek Uefa Champions League clash with Harry Kane's Bayern Munich one place and three points behind Man City in the domestic standings.

Arsenal's only defeat this season remains last month's 3-0 loss at Brighton ands they have won nine out of 10 matches across all competitions with three of those being 1-0 victories.

Forest, meanwhile, remain third from bottom after what was their third successive defeat with Oliver Glasner's team having registered just one point from four home matches without scoring a single goal.

“I had already beaten a couple of times on the outside so I thought I would come inside and let rip. Thank god it went in,” added Madueke.

“At times last year this game wouldn’t have gone as it did in the end. We have that extra belief and extra mentality now. We are Champions and we can pull it out the bag wherever we go.

“The Premier League can shock you, and we had that shock against Brighton. It is up to us to regroup and show why we are Champions.

“If you look at the quality of our starting XI and bench it's absurd so we know that we're going to start some and finish some and for me it's the same mentality every time I just want to create or score.

“We have elite players, all 20-something players are elite and of the highest level. Great to have that type of competition. You know on the bench you're ready to have an impact.”