Despite the fact that the next round of the Premier League contains such confrontations as Liverpool v Newcastle and Tottenham v Manchester City, the meeting in Nottingham is almost more important for the standings than the mentioned matches with a more "loud sign". The second and third teams of the current English league season will meet at the City Ground. The hosts are third, six points away from their upcoming opponents and dream of securing a place in the Champions League zone. Nottingham Forest's position in the top 4 has become more fragile in recent weeks, although the club is still in third place. The visitors still have not given up hope of winning the title. Arsenal are eight points behind Liverpool in terms of points lost, and in theory could catch up with the Reds if they stop making misfires like last round. Bookmakers have identified the visitors as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.95 on their victory.

Nottingham Forest have recently lost a lot. "Foresters" not only stopped playing as reliably as possible in defence of their own gates, but also began to lose. The 7-0 victory over Brighton emphasised that there is a powerful team at the City Ground, but that game was the only one won in the last four rounds. In the rest Nuno Santo's wards have conceded, respectively losing nine points in a month. The Portuguese coach missed that team style, due to which Nottingham Forest won for so long and which even the strongest representatives of the Premier League could not recognise.

Arsenal made a very unfortunate misfire in the last round. "Canaries" so much hoped that Manchester City will take points from Liverpool, that in the home walls lost to West Ham, conceding the only goal in the match in the 44th minute. Even more offensive looked the level of Arsenal's game. "The Canaries" were not like themselves, in attack for the whole match they managed to make only two strikes into the goalposts of the "Hammers". In the first round of the Premier League Arsenal defeated Nottingham Forest at home with a score of 3-0. To one goal in the first half, the Canaries added two in the second half. The opponents just have to play to win, in this regard, sharp attacking actions and goals can be expected until the final whistle.