Tuesday night marks Arsenal’s first trip to Nottingham Forest since their 1-0 loss in May, which put an end to their Premier League title campaign.
Mikel Arteta has acknowledged that he was “not in a good place” following the demise of Arsenal’s Premier League title campaign in their most recent match against Nottingham Forest in the previous campaign.
For the first time since their 1-0 loss in May, the Gunners visit The City Ground on Tuesday. After the match, Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal in the first half proved to be the deciding factor, and Manchester City won the championship for the third time in a row.
Despite pushing City for most of the season, Arsenal ultimately ended up five points behind Pep Guardiola’s team. Prior to the Gunners’ trip to Trentside, Arteta talked candidly about the pain and destruction he experienced following the conclusion of their title challenge.
“I was absolutely devastated,” Arteta murmured. “I was in a bad place when I was in that particular room. That was the only image I could think of, and that is when you know that all the happiness and hopes you had made are no longer coming true. Indeed, that was a challenging day.
With their dismal recent record in Nottingham, Arsenal had a gloomy afternoon. The Gunners had suffered defeats in their previous three away games at Forest, including a 1-0 loss in the FA Cup third round in January 2022.
They have the opportunity to change that miserable trend, though, as they head to Forest with the goal of closing the gap on leaders Liverpool in the Premier League title chase to just two points. Following defeats to West Ham and Fulham in the Premier League, Arsenal triumphed over Crystal Palace 5-0 in their most recent match.
When asked about how the squad won against Palace, Arteta responded, “I was hoping that it wouldn’t carry on the way it did, but this is football and it can still happen when the team performs the way we did and loses games.”
“However, I had a great deal of confidence that it will arrive because I could see the team’s performance and how unhappy and furious they were at not getting what we deserved. In addition, I believe it served as inspiration to make amends and get back on track following the hiatus.”
On Sunday, reports from Spain implied that Arteta might take Xavi’s place at Barcelona come summertime. But Arteta put an end to those rumours without delay. “No, that’s completely fake news,” he added. I’m not sure where the information that you read yesterday came from. It’s completely false, and I’m furious about it.
“It was unbelievable,” Arteta went on. “I don’t know where it’s coming from, it’s got no sources, it’s got nothing and I think we have to be very cautious when we talk about personal things, to put it in the way that it was put yesterday.”
