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

Arsenal kick off their FA Cup campaign in 2021/22 with an away trip to the City Ground to take on Championship Nottingham Forest in the third round. Here is the match preview.

A game at last! Due to have taken on Liverpool in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday, an outbreak in Covid cases among Jurgen Klopp’s side prompted the match to be postponed.

It’s unfortunate for Mikel Arteta’s side as would the request have been rejected they would have fancied their chances of a strong first leg showing against a heavily depleted Reds team. However, were the shoe on the other foot, then naturally the calls for postponement would have rung out from north London as well.

The fixture list is now jumbled up, not to the Gunners’ favour.

Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal FA Cup third round preview: Mikel Arteta could hand Charlie Patino first Gunners start against Steve Cooper’s side

Playing Tottenham in a gigantic North London Derby in between their two legs against Liverpool makes for a daunting week of fixtures, therefore the manager may look to rotate heavily for Sunday’s FA Cup tie.

He likely would have done anyway, though. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been allowed to leave on loan to Roma ahead of the weekend, while Folarin Balogun is also closing in on a temporary move to Middlesbrough for the remainder of the campaign.

With quartet Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all away on AFCON duty, the numbers were slim as it was.

Granit Xhaka has also not been pictured in training building up to Forest, which strongly hints that everyone’s favourite academy star, Charlie Patino, could be in with a shout of his first senior start in red and white.

How important is the FA Cup this season? Not only is it silverware, it’s a route back into Europe via the Europa League, something Arteta knows well having scooped the trophy in his first season at the helm.

Fans will remember the previous meeting with this opposition, coming four years ago as Arsene Wenger suffered his one and only third round exit as manager in a 4-2 loss away from home. Less of that this time, please.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Sunday 9 January
What Time Is Kick Off? 17:10 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? City Ground
TV Channel/Live Stream? ITV (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Craig Pawson

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Arsenal Team News vs Nottingham Forest – Heavy Rotation for Arteta?

The main talking points ahead of this match centre on who will come in and be given a chance up from the academy.

It looks like there will be a vacancy in midfield for someone like Patino with Xhaka expected to miss out for an undisclosed reason (he wasn’t in training) while Maitland-Niles’ departure also frees up room for someone to come in and impress.

Sambi Lokonga looks set for his first start in a number of weeks with Partey and Elneny away in Cameroon for AFCON, and despite being the centre of endless transfer speculation, Eddie Nketiah may be given the nod up front.

How about Pablo Mari? Another forgotten man in line for minutes, Arsenal are said to be willing to move the Spaniard on this window as he grows restless on the sidelines, and maybe even Calum Chambers could get a nod. Gabriel will serve his one-match suspension for this game.

It will depend on the news of Arteta’s press conference with player updates, as the squad may well have been hit with further Covid cases.

As for the hosts, Mohamed Drager is away on AFCON duty, while Jordi Osei-Tutu returned to parent club Arsenal following the termination of his loan.

Alex Mighten, Max Lowe, Loic Mbe Soh, Joe Lolley and Richie Laryea are five injury concerns Steve Cooper, who could hand debuts to new signings Keinan Davis and Steve Cook on Sunday.

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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