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Nuno Espirito Santo delivers his verdict on Arsenal as a team after draw with Nottingham Forest
Despite the best efforts of the players on the pitch, Arsenal’s title challenge seemed to reach a conclusion after drawing against Nottingham Forest.
On the face of it, a point for Arsenal away at the City Ground this season is a good result, after all, Liverpool were only able to draw 1-1 with Forest back in January when at full strength.
ﷺIt’s now well documented that Mikel Arteta’s side are strikerless for the remainder of the season, a situation which was once again problematic against Forest.
🐼Mikel Merino was tasked with being Arsenal’s number nine, but it was actually left-back Riccardo Calafiori who looked most like scoring before he was withdrawn at half-time.
ꦏCalafiori was almost playing a secondary striker – Arteta’s latest efforts to try and force a goal without any of his preferred forwards.
Nuno Espirito Santo praises Arsenal despite not scoring against Nottingham Forest
That being said, when speaking to after the game, Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo🧜 still praised Arsenal, who dominated possession throughout.
🐼Nuno was proud of his own side’s attempts against a ‘very good team’, managing to stay compact and sticking to their game plan.
READ MORE: 𒉰Arsenal fans say Mikel Arteta made a ‘ridiculous’ decision in Nottingham Forest draw
🦂Nuno said: “I’m very happy with the way we did things, the way we played against Arsenal.
🥀“It’s very difficult to play against them. They are a very good team. It requires a lot of effort. We were solid and compact. Very positive game.
🐽“After this period we had conceding it was important to go back to basics – solid, clean sheet. We had a couple of moments to do it better.
𒁃“But in terms of the game, positive because it was very important to go back to the team we are that allows us to be successful.
♏“They have danger all over the place. Set-pieces are some of them. It requires focus. The boys did well. We prepared [for] it.”
Mikel Arteta’s Mikel Merino experiment isn’t working
🍬As mentioned, Arteta tried Merino from the start again as his number nine against Forest, as he did unsuccessfully in the club’s recent defeat to West Ham United.
♎And although Merino was superb against Leicester City off of the bench, starting as a nine is clearly not suiting the Spaniard’s skill set.
𒐪Merino looked effective timing his runs into the box against a tired Leicester side, but facing a resolute low-block is a whole different proposition.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 28 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 66 | 26 | 40 | 67 |
| 2 |  ArsenalArsenal | 27 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 51 | 23 | 28 | 54 |
Martin Keown spotted a concern at Arsenalꦚ after drawing to Forest on Wednesday night, a result that seemingly ended the club’s title-chances.
𓆏As has often been the case, Liverpool failed to slip up and won with ease against Newcastle United on the same evening, a gap that has now been stretched to 13 points.