Arsenal will look to make it nine wins from their opening ten matches of the new season when they take on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon.
Despite a somewhat sour mood developing around N5 due to some slightly turgid recent performances , the Gunners have yielded excellent results at the start of this campaign. Mikel Arteta's side continue to look like the best team in the league from a defensive standpoint (and by a country mile on the advanced metrics), while their open-play attacking is showing signs of life.
This does not mean Sunday's clash against Oliver Glasner's outfit will be a walk in the park for the North Londoners. While the table reflects poorly on Forest, the East Midlanders currently boast the fourth-best expected goals difference in the league.
Glasner has created a defensively resilient team that are capable of launching dangerous counter-attacks in his short time in Nottingham. Combine these promising Forest performances with Arsenal's dismal recent record at the City Ground, and this has the potential to be a stumbling block in the Premier League Champions' season.
Based on this, here are three players who must start against Forest, and two who must be kept on the sidelines.
After a slow start to his Arsenal career, largely caused by niggling injuries and the form of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Bruno Guimaraes has come into his own in recent matches.
The Brazilian has found his feet in N5, and has started dominating matches. Introduced when the Gunners were struggling against Leeds, he changed the game with an outstanding cameo and a winning goal. Playing the full 90 minutes against Lille on Tuesday, he had 96 touches, made seven tackles, played nine line-breaking passes, won nine ground duels, had seven touches in the opposition box and took five shots. He did literally everything.
Dropping him now would be crazy, given how well he's playing. His inventiveness in the final third will also be needed against Forest's organised defensive block.
For 60 minutes against Lille, Eberechi Eze was ineffective. However, after Arsenal's more technical players were introduced, he came alive .
The creative midfielder thrives when surrounded by players who can combine in tight spaces and are on his wavelength. He scored an excellent goal against the French side, and Arteta needs to help the maverick man keep this momentum going by handing him a start in a more important game.
Like Guimaraes, Eze's ingenuity in the final third will be helpful against Forest's rigid structure.
Jurrien Timber's body has been through the wringer in the last 12 months. He's been overburdened with minutes and then out injured for several months.
Arsenal and the Netherlands have subsequently made the sensible decision to carefully manage the right-back's minutes since his return from his latest setback. Thus, Arteta might be tempted to rest the Dutchman on Sunday after he played on Tuesday and ahead of Wednesday's clash with Bayern Munich . The Spaniard shouldn't succumb to this temptation.
Timber was so excellent against Lille that he needs to start again at the City Ground. His defensive quality, combined with his technical security in the final third, makes him a crucial cog in this team.
Viktor Gyokeres was handed a start on Tuesday, and he didn't make the most of it. Managing no shots, creating no chances, and accumulating just 13 touches in his 65 minutes on the pitch, it was a completely ineffective display from the Swede against vastly inferior opposition.
There is simply no reason for him to earn a start over Kai Havertz at the moment, and thus, the German should be reinstated to the starting eleven for the visit to the East Midlands.
Producing a promising performance on the left wing against Leeds , there was optimism that Noni Madueke could build on this against Lille. He failed to do so.
While he remained a threat with his aggressive ball-carrying and pace, he delivered very little in terms of tangible output. His crossing was consistently inaccurate, his passing was sloppy and he took just one shot.
With Eze showing signs of life off the left, and with Saka surely returning on the right, there is no space for Madueke in the starting eleven on Sunday.
This article was originally published on www.paininthearsenal.com as 3 non-negotiable starters for Arsenal as 2 drop to the bench against Nottingham Forest .
