Mikel Arteta identifies where Arsenal fell short in attack vs Nottingham Forest

Arsenal are actually in a really good spot at the moment.

Despite drawing 0-0 with Nottingham Forest on Saturday night, they still find themselves seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table. Not because the point they earned was so much - well, it was crucial, but they could have had more - but because other teams in the league simply could not capitalise.

Before their draw against Forest, their closeset rivals, Manchester City lost to Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford.

Aston Villa were next up on Sunday, and surprisingly, even they could not capitalise - losing 1-0 to Everton at Villa Park.

Obviously, Arsenal were not at their best - far from it - but they did have some sort of luck go their way which meant that the one point they earned against Forest was much more valuable than it usually is.

Mikel Arteta identifies where Arsenal fell short in attack vs Nottingham Forest

Still, though, Arsenal were some way off where they want to be against Forest. Noni Madueke put it perfectly - Arsenal just could not score against Forest at the City Ground, and even though they did not pay the price, that does not mean they won't in a similar situation in the future.

Arteta, when asked about it, was pretty clear on his assessment of the entire game, too - particularly the team's attack.

He said: "I think it was different. The style is completely different and what we had to do with the ball, especially after regaining it in chaotic situations which is what they proposed.

"We lacked certain composure on the next two or three passes to be in the right areas to be able to dominate the game and not have these chaotic moments as often as we did, and then credit to them as well, because in every game that I've seen against them, they are a team that are very difficult to penetrate against.

"So when you have those moments, you have to make them because then you start to face a different game."

Arteta was spot on with his analysis. A team like Sean Dyche's Nottingham Forest, who are improving in the defense after every passing game, will sit back and defend as well as possible against a team like The Gunners.

So, if they had the opportunity to score as many times as Arsenal did, they should have taken at least one of them. The build-up was not a problem - it never was - but Arsenal needed a bit more from their forwards in the attacking third, and things just did not go their way in the game.