Noni Madueke came off the bench to make the difference for Arsenal as his deflected effort clinched a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Arsenal: Madueke makes the difference
Arsenal were far from their best at the City Ground, but Noni Madueke's deflected effort saw them beat Nottingham Forest 1-0.
The reigning Premier League champions were largely flat at the City Ground on Sunday, yet they had the quality to get the job done in the end.
A low-key first half saw Kai Havertz head over from Declan Rice's free-kick, but little else of note occurred at either end.
Forest, shorn of the injured Morgan Gibbs-White, were quick out of the blocks after the interval, with Liam Delap almost setting up Neco Williams.
Gabriel Magalhaes headed over from a corner, before Rice blasted over the crossbar from inside the Forest box.
Yet the deadlock was finally broken in the 80th minute as Madueke, who replaced Eberechi Eze at half-time, skipped in from the left, took on Daniel Munoz and found the far corner courtesy of a huge deflection off Jair Cunha.
Oliver Glasner's team came on strong in the closing stages, with Rice denying Chris Wood a free shot before Murillo, on his 100th appearance for Forest, fired just over at the end of a brilliant run.
But their fate was sealed when Ezri Konsa made a fine recovery challenge on Delap, condemning Forest to a third straight defeat.
Arsenal's away-day specialist strikes again
Madueke has scored 13 of his 17 Premier League goals away from home (76%), including all four for Arsenal.
This is the highest away ratio of any player with 15+ goals in Premier League history.
The England winger is also coming up big in the key moments, too. Three of his last five goals in the top flight have been the first of the game.
It was far from a classic, as evidenced by both teams managing just one attempt on target between them. Forest had two of those, but Arsenal made theirs count, even if they did get lucky with Cunha's deflection.
Arsenal generated the slightly better chances, recording 1.07 expected goals (xG) to Forest's 0.75, but Mikel Arteta will know his team can reach much greater heights.
That said, this is a familiar scoreline for the Gunners. Since Arteta took charge in December 2019, Arsenal have registered 32 1-0 wins in the Premier League, the joint-most of any team, along with Everton.
Forest, meanwhile, find themselves in the relegation zone with just five points from their seven games, having won just one of their last 15 Premier League games at the City Ground (D8 L6).
