Forest Rewind in association with Football Index - Reds gun down Gunners - News

In association with Football Index, we take a look back to January 2018 and an FA Cup classic at The City Ground as Nottingham Forest entertained cup holders Arsenal...

Nottingham Forest 4-2 Arsenal

(Lichaj 20', 44' Brereton pen 64', Dowell pen 85'; Mertesacker 23', Welbeck 79')

Forest: Smith, Lichaj, Worrall, Mancienne, Traore, Vaughan, Osborn, Cash (McKay 87'), Dowell (Mills 90'), Clough (Walker 56'), Brereton

Arsenal: Ospina, Debuchy (Akpom 87'), Mertesacker, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock (Nketiah 65'), Walcott, Iwobi, Nelson, Welbeck

Nottingham Forest produced a fantastic performance to dump Emirates FA Cup holders Arsenal out of the competition with a 4-2 win at The City Ground on 7th January 2018.

Forest started brightly, putting pressure on The Gunners' goal and took the lead on 20 minutes through Eric Lichaj. Kieran Dowell had done well to initially win a free kick on the byline, then the loanee delivered a dangerous free kick straight at David Ospina, and the full back dived in front of the keeper to head into the roof of the net.

But the lead didn't last long as Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker equalised four minutes later, poking home after Rob Holding's header hit the post following a corner.

An enthralling first half had one final moment to savour as Lichaj controlled the ball on his chest on the edge of the Arsenal area and sent a sumptuous volley dipping into the top corner of the net.

At the start of the second half, Arsenal showed plenty of attacking intent but Forest posed a threat of their own through Ben Brereton, and the crucial third goal arrived with Brereton the one to get it from the penalty spot. Matty Cash was brought down in the area by Holding and Brereton stepped up to send Ospina the wrong way and get the goal that his performance deserved.

On 79 minutes a defensive mix-up allowed Arsenal a way back into the game, with Danny Welbeck prodding past Jordan Smith, but with five minutes left on the clock Armand Traore's superb run ended with him being hauled down inside the penalty area. Dowell assumed penalty-taking duties and, despite slipping when kicking it, sent the ball high into Ospina's net, cueing a raft of protests from the Arsenal players who believed he kicked the ball twice.

The action didn't end there though as a crunching tackle by Worrall in the middle of the park saw the Forest defender shown a red card with just minutes remaining but ultimately it didn't matter as Forest sent the holders out of the competition on a memorable afternoon on Trentside.

Post-match reaction

Forest caretaker manager Gary Brazil: "That was a fantastic day for the football club. I may be a little bit biased but I think it was a well-deserved win. There were some big performances from the players this afternoon and I always felt comfortable we would go on and win the game and so it proved.

"It would have been foolish to play the game Arsenal wanted us to so we had to go on the front foot and get in amongst them. We didn't want to give them space or time on the ball or allow them to dictate the game. Our first 10 minutes showed our intent and we really set the tempo of the contest."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "It was very frustrating [being in the stands] and unfortunately it was a case on top of that of seeing the team lose. We played a very good Forest team who were sharp and focused. The challenges were decisive. Overall our performance wasn't good enough.

"We have many players on the edge [of fitness] and we play again on Wednesday. When you don't win the selection is always questioned. I believe we had an experienced team - eight or nine internationals. It would be easy to think that was the problem.

"When you're against a team like that they're very difficult to beat. Defensively you cannot afford the mistakes we made."

Other third-round results

Liverpool 2-1 Everton	Bournemouth 2-2 Wigan	Blackburn 0-1 Hull	Wycombe 1-5 Preston
Manchester United 2-0 Derby	Coventry 2-1 Stoke	Cardiff 0-0 Mansfield	Carlisle 0-0 Sheffield Weds
Fleetwood 0-0 Leicester	Bolton 1-2 Huddersfield	Manchester City 4-1 Burnley	Norwich 0-0 Chelsea
Middlesbrough 2-0 Sunderland	Yeovil 2-0 Bradford	Wolves 0-0 Swansea	Newport 2-1 Leeds
Ipswich 0-1 Sheffield United	Brentford 0-1 Notts County	Stevenage 0-0 Reading	Shrewsbury 0-0 West Ham
Watford 3-0 Bristol City	QPR 0-1 MK Dons	Newcastle 3-1 Luton	Tottenham 3-0 Wimbledon
Birmingham 1-0 Burton	Exeter 0-2 West Brom	Millwall 4-1 Barnsley	Brighton 2-1 Crystal Palace
Aston Villa 1-3 Peterborough	Doncaster 0-1 Rochdale	Fulham 0-1 Southampton

Top of the Pops

Ed Sheeran was number one in the UK music charts with his song Perfect in on 7th January 2018, with this song remaining at the top of the charts for six weeks.

At the cinema

The film at the top of the UK box office in January 2018 was Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a modern reboot of the classic 1990s film which is set 21 years after the original story. The film starred Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart.

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