Arsenal missed the chance to go nine points clear at the top of the table as they were frustrated by Nottingham Forest in a 0-0 draw at the City Ground, with goalkeeper Matz Sels making an outstanding save to keep the scores level.
The Gunners went into Saturday's late game knowing they had a big opportunity following second-placed Manchester City’s earlier defeat to Manchester United.
Yet the Gunners, like against Liverpool in their previous league outing, were unable to find a way through a well-drilled defence.
On the occasion when they did create a clear opening, Sels was on hand to brilliantly keep out Bukayo Saka’s header.
Arsenal have increased their lead to seven points, but that gap would close to four if third-placed Aston Villa beat Everton on Sunday.
Forest stay 17th, five points above the relegation zone.
How the match unfolded
The visitors spurned two chances in the space of a minute as the half-hour mark approached. First, Ola Aina just beat Declan Rice to a delicious Ben White cross, before Gabriel Martinelli somehow turned wide from point-blank range after meeting a deflected Noni Madueke cross.
After a clumsy mistake on the halfway line, Murillo did well to prevent Viktor Gyokeres from getting through five minutes before half-time. Sels was not called into action until the 59th minute, when he kept out Rice’s volley.
Sels pulled off a more impressive stop soon after – Saka’s header seemed destined to find the back of the net, but Forest’s goalkeeper acrobatically lunged to his right to tip it wide.
Sels also bravely smothered Gabriel Jesus’ close-range flick, before Mikel Merino nodded wide from a wonderful Rice free-kick.
Arteta was left frustrated on the touchline as, after a VAR check, a potential handball by Aina was adjudged to have been a natural action.
Another chance missed
With Man City now winless in four league games, Arsenal could have all but finished off the hopes of Pep Guardiola’s team in the title race, but as it is, the Gunners' back-to-back goalless draws mean the hunt is still very much alive.
Indeed, it may not be City that Arsenal primarily have to worry about, and Arteta will be hoping for a favour from his old manager and former club when David Moyes’ Everton take on Villa.
While Arteta fumed about the decision to clear Aina of any wrongdoing, with the ball having hit the defender’s shoulder before his arm, Arsenal failed to convert their dominance of the ball into clear chances.
Martinelli squandered a big one before the break; even if he was on the stretch, he should have managed to squeeze his finish between the posts, rather than steering it across the face of goal and wide.
But then they did come up against a goalkeeper in top form, and Arteta, who bemoaned a lack of a “magic moment” against Liverpool, may feel this is the kind of match that only needed one of the fine margins to fall in Arsenal’s favour. It was not to be.
Arsenal are at home next weekend, but their opponents, a resurgent Man Utd, will certainly pose a threat.
Sels stands tall
Sels and David Raya shared the Premier League Golden Glove last season, but while Arsenal’s shot-stopper has had another excellent campaign, that has not been the case for his Forest counterpart.
After a 3-0 defeat to Everton on 6 December, Sean Dyche decided to change things between the sticks, introducing John Victor and dropping Sels to the bench.
Victor got a run of five straight league starts, but a blunder against Villa this month – an incident in which the Brazilian also sustained an injury – has seen Sels get a second chance.
It is an opportunity that, based on this performance, the Belgian is very keen to take.
His stop from Saka’s header was the standout moment of the match, as Sels adjusted his feet fantastically to leap off in the opposite direction, and then get his fongers to the looping ball.
Sels showed plenty of bravery to dive in at the feet of Jesus to parry that chance wide soon after, and he was the bedrock of the type of solid display that Forest fans will have been expecting under Dyche, and the kind of performance they will need to steer themselves clear of danger.
Forest are on the road next weekend, as they head to London to face Brentford.
Club reports
Forest report | Arsenal report
What the managers said
Sean Dyche: "It's not easy playing these sides, the commitment is different. There's the commitment to score a goal of course, but what about the commitment to the shape, the basics, the hard yards of the game? And I thought we did that fantastically well as a group.
"They still had a couple of chances, but listen, they're a top side and they're flying. But to get a clean sheet against them is amazing. We had a couple of chances ourselves but it's hard to open them up, as they've shown all season."
Mikel Arteta: "We obviously wanted to win the game, we knew the game was going to be very tough and very close as well from the way that they play. We created four big, big, big chances but we weren't able to win the game.
"We could've been better, but as well, this is happening all around the league for every single team. We have to improve and be better, especially when we create four big chances you have to put them away.
"You have to produce that moment. We've created certain moments, but credit to them as well because they are very well organised and they disrupt your momentum in clever ways as well all the time. We knew that. We tried to find a goal at the end. I don't think we conceded a single shot, again. But that's the margins and we didn't find a way to win it."
PL form and fixtures
Key facts
Arsenal have had consecutive goalless draws in the Premier League for the first time since their opening two games of the 2012/13 season against Sunderland and Stoke City.
The Gunners didn’t face a single shot on target in a match for the fifth time in the Premier League this season, their most on record in a single campaign (since 2003/04) and the most by any side since Chelsea in 2020/21 (also five).
Forest have failed to score in 11 different Premier League games this season, more than any other side.
Forest failed to register a single shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since November 2024 (v Arsenal at Emirates Stadium), and for the first time at home since April 2023 (v Manchester United).