Ola Aina’s Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal: Preview, team news, predictions & H2H

Ola Aina has not reclaimed a regular starting spot since Oliver Glasner switched to a back three, and the makeshift shape that has kept him out looks set to continue.

Nicolo Savona is now a confirmed long-term absentee after knee surgery, Nikola Milenkovic is a fresh doubt with a bone bruise, and Morgan Gibbs-White has been added to the list with a minor muscle injury that could matter more to Forest’s output than either defender’s absence.

Arsenal arrive at the City Ground in the opposite condition entirely. Mikel Arteta has just signed a contract through June 2030, the reward for ending a 22-year wait for the league title last season, and his side sit second in the table having lost only once in six Premier League matches.

Forest, by contrast, are 15th with five points, still searching for their first home league win under a manager who only took the job in July.

Match Radar: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal

Form & Context: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal

Forest have won only one of their last five league matches, a 2-1 success at Aston Villa on September 12, and that result sits between a goalless home draw with Tottenham Hotspur and a 0-1 home defeat to Coventry City.

Their most recent outing brought a 3-1 defeat away at Crystal Palace on October 11, a result that leaves them with a goal difference of minus three from six games. Dan Ndoye is the nearest thing Forest have to a goal threat, with two strikes from six appearances, and even he has not scored since the win at Villa.

Arsenal have lost only once in the same period, a 3-0 defeat at Brighton on September 19, sandwiched between wins over Aston Villa, Chelsea and Sunderland and a 2-1 victory at Leeds United on October 10.

That run has produced a goal difference of plus five from six games and second place in the table. Bukayo Saka has three goals from six appearances, the best return at the club this season, and the form that is carrying Arsenal’s attack through a period with two senior defenders missing.

Head-to-Head: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal

Arsenal have not lost any of the last five meetings between these clubs, winning three and drawing two since January 2024, with the most recent meeting on January 17, 2026 finishing goalless at the City Ground.

Across the past 12 meetings between both sides, Nottingham Forest have won three to Arsenal’s seven, with two draws between them.

Team News: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal

Nottingham Forest

Igor Jesus is out with a calf injury, and Savona’s recovery from knee surgery has no fixed timeline, but it is Gibbs-White’s muscle complaint that cuts deepest, since Forest have so little attacking output to spare that losing their most creative midfielder could matter more than either centre-back absence.

That reshuffle is exactly what keeps Aina on the outside: with Daniel Munoz and Neco Williams filling the wing-back berths either side of a makeshift back three, Nigeria’s first-choice right-back has no obvious route into the XI unless Glasner changes system entirely.

Arsenal

On the visiting side, Ezri Konsa lines up alongside Gabriel Magalhaes in place of the long-term absent William Saliba, while Martin Zubimendi’s recovery from the same ankle knock that ruled out Piero Hincapie has gone well enough that he could be among the substitutes rather than a certain absentee.

Star Player Comparison: Dan Ndoye vs Bukayo Saka

The Managers: Oliver Glasner vs Mikel Arteta

Glasner took the Forest job on July 6, 2026, succeeding Vitor Pereira as the club’s fifth permanent manager in the preceding 12 months, after a spell that produced an FA Cup and a Community Shield at Crystal Palace.

Results have been slow to arrive since, and a second successive home defeat would sharpen questions about how much time he realistically has.

Arteta has been in charge at Arsenal since December 2019 and has just been rewarded with a contract to 2030, a deal signed within a week of this fixture and proof that the club’s hierarchy sees no reason to look elsewhere after a first title in 22 years.

Tactical Preview: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal

Glasner’s back three of Ousmane Diomande, Murillo and Jair Cunha is a product of necessity rather than design, built to cover for two unavailable centre-backs rather than to exploit anything specific about Arsenal.

Pushing Munoz and Williams into wing-back areas gives Forest width, but it also leaves space behind that Saka and Eze are built to attack.

Arteta’s back line is missing Saliba and Hincapie, with Konsa and Gabriel as the central pairing, but Declan Rice and Myles Lewis-Skelly in front of them have the profile to cover a defence that is unfamiliar rather than weak.

Whichever side’s patched-together backline holds its shape longer is likely to decide the afternoon.

The Naija Slip: Best betting tips for Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal

Score Prediction: Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal