Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal FA Cup preview: How to watch, lineups, Patino, & prediction

Arsenal Predicted Lineup to Face Nottingham Forest – Patino to Start?

Nottingham Forest: Horvath; Spence, Cook, Worrall, Bong; Garner, Cafu; Zinckernagel, Carvalho, Johnson; Davis

Arsenal: Leno; Cedric, Holding, Mari, Tavares; Patino, Lokonga; Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli; Nketiah

Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest Prediction

Arteta would love to rotate heavily for this match, but with transfers out of the club and AFCON taking place, his hands are somewhat tied.

Pepe and Elneny would surely have been handed starts, with Balogun and Maitland-Niles also likely to have been included from the off. A trio of academy stars have been training with the first team but it’s unlikely all will be starting.

Given the time off in midweek, Arteta might prefer to build some match sharpness and continuity with his usual trio behind the striker, which is more than enough firepower to see off a resurgent Forest side.

The hosts have improved considerably since Cooper took charge, losing only three of his 17 games at the helm, and that form has sky rocketed them up from relegation candidates to play-off contenders. They also haven’t played since December 30th, with their midweek league match prior to this called off due to Covid cases, and with six days until their next match away at Millwall, Cooper may look to go strong again.

Arsenal hold the upper hand, of course. Forest are missing some key players and their focus remains solely on promotion to the Premier League, and with the form the Gunners are in at the minute they should have passage to the fourth round booked come full-time.

Score Prediction: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Arsenal