Arsenal missed a slew of chances in a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday but went seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table after Manchester City’s 2-0 loss to Manchester United.
Mikel Arteta’s side had a golden opportunity to increase their advantage at the summit, but a dogged defensive performance from Forest and wasteful finishing from the Arsenal forwards meant they took only a point from a game they dominated for long spells.
Nicolas Dominguez brought the home crowd to their feet in the 12th minute, sending a deflected shot wide of the goal for a corner after a promising move by Forest, and Arsenal turned the screw.
Ben White whipped in a promising cross and from the resulting corner a shot by Noni Madueke made its way to Gabriel Martinelli who steered his close-range effort narrowly wide.
Brazilian defender Murillo recovered well from a mistake on the halfway line to deny Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres, who again struggled to justify the hefty transfer fee Arsenal paid to Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon for his services.
The best chance of the game fell to Arsenal substitute Bukayo Saka, who headed a Declan Rice cross back towards the far post, but Forest keeper Matz Sels pulled off a superb fingertip save to deny him.
Moments later Rice lofted a free kick into the box and although substitute Mikel Merino got his head to it, he flashed his effort wide as the Forest rearguard held firm.
Arsenal moved up to 50 points from 22 games, seven ahead of Manchester City and third-placed Aston Villa who play Everton on Sunday. Forest remained in 17th place on 22 points, five ahead of West Ham United.
After lamenting his side’s wasteful finishing, Arteta said he was frustrated that they were not awarded a penalty in the 80th minute when the ball struck Ola Aina on the arm, but a VAR review cleared the Forest defender of any wrongdoing.
“A clear penalty in the box that has not been given, so that’s the margins,” he told broadcaster TNT. “I saw it live, I saw it here, and I saw it now again. And yeah, that is very unnecessary.”
The Arsenal boss paid tribute to Forest’s stout defending and the level of competition in the title race this season.
“The league shows how difficult it is – nobody’s winning, winning, winning, winning, because it’s so tough, and especially when we have the (penalty) situation that we have today, we have to put them away, and there are areas as well that you have to get credit to the opponent,” he said.
