Nottingham Forest just learned what Arsenal already knew about Oleksandr Zinchenko

Arsenal continue to fight on four fronts. It is six years since the Gunners last lifted silverware aloft, but Mikel Arteta's team are dreaming of picking up multiple trophies this time round.

On Wednesday night, Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-2 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge; Benjamin White, Viktor Gyökeres and then Martín Zubimendi the scorers. This leaves them in pole position to reach the final, with a second leg in North London to come, while Manchester City would almost certainly awaiting them at Wembley.

Meantime, Arteta's team are through to the FA Cup fourth round, set to host Wigan, while sitting pretty at the top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables.

Key figures such as Gabriel, William Saliba, Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and others have been pivotal players in Arsenal's exponential improvement under Arteta in recent seasons. That though is not to forget the contributions of beloved fans' favourites who are no longer at the club.

The likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Granit Xhaka, Emile Smith Rowe and Jorginho all played their part in helping to re-establish Arsenal as a force once more, before moving on to pastures new. Meanwhile, a forgotten figure, once an instrumental part of Arteta's team, is facing a nightmarish situation this January, so could he potentially be on his way back to the club?

Forgotten Arsenal star facing January transfer window nightmare

Back on deadline day in the summer, in one of the most surprising moves of the transfer window, Oleksandr Zinchenko departed Arsenal for Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan. Given that the Ukrainian international's contract with the club expires in the summer, this appeared to be the end of his Arsenal career.

However, Zinchenko has so far made just ten appearances for the Garibaldi Reds, totalling 713 minutes, and has started only four times in the Premier League. When he signed, Nuno Espírito Santo was still the manager, but his debut came against Swansea under Ange Postecoglou. Given that the Aussie likes his full-backs to drift inside, in classic Zinchenko fashion, it is clear that owner Evangelos Marinakis knew he was planning to replace Nuno with Ange long before he did.

After Postecoglou lasted just 39 days at the City Ground, Sean Dyche is now in charge, and to say the pair have a rather different footballing philosophy would be an understatement. Having started only once in the Premier League under Dyche, Zinchenko was in the lineup for Friday night's FA Cup defeat to Wrexham, hooked at halftime as part of a triple change.

After the match, Dyche said numerous fringe players in his squad are regularly asking him why they're not playing, before adding that they demonstrated exactly why at the Racecourse. So now, reports suggest that Forest are seeking to curtail Zinchenko's loan, having removed him from their UEFA Europa League squad to make room for fit-again Ola Aina.

When Zinchenko arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2022, he changed everyone's perspective on how a left-back could operate and how a team could funcion. Along with Gabriel Jesus, also joining from Man City, the pair raised the standards and, without him, the Gunners would not have been able to mount the unexpected title challenge that they did.

Now, though, Arteta's team and football in general appear to have evolved beyond him, with Zinchenko being such a unique player, an attacking midfielder deployed in defence, it's nearly impossible to find a team that would suit him. Unwanted at Forest, he could be on his way back to North London, with Andrea Berta surely working tirelessly to find a solution to this unwanted issue.