Arsenal vs Nottingham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-08-11 11:30.
Arsenal will kick off the new Premier League (PL) campaign on a positive note, after beating last season’s treble winners Manchester City on penalties in the Community Shield last weekend. That victory, after the Gunners gave up a double-figure lead to ultimately lose last season’s title race by a five-point margin, gives fans renewed hope that their near three-decade PL title drought might be coming to an end.
Coach Mikel Arteta has already fully shown his intent to mark the Invincibles’ 20th anniversary in style, with £105m midfielder Declan Rice the marquee arrival of this summer. Perhaps such a healthy spend heightens the pressure on Arsenal to start well, as does the fact that they open a PL campaign at home for the 21st time in 32 seasons. Encouragingly, they have a positive all-time record across their prior matchday one home games (W11, D3, L6), with a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest in 1998 amongst them.
That also set Forest on their way to relegation, and 23 years of top-flight absence. And with safety only secured on the penultimate weekend last term – via a 1-0 win in the latest H2H – Reds manager Steve Cooper has acted with the long-term future in mind. His three standout signings made so far all have prior PL experience, and will surely play a part if Forest are to win at Arsenal for the first time since March 1989, following a dozen failed attempts (D4, L8).
Despite suffering a 2-0 reverse at Newcastle a year ago on day one, Forest remain in positive territory when starting out away from home in this competition (W3, L2) – something they will do here for a sixth straight time as PL participants! It’s a curious streak that spans back to 1994/95, though with that season seeing the two-time European Cup winners finish a post-Brian Clough era high of third, starting on the road is not necessarily a bad thing!
Players to watch: Leandro Trossard saved Arsenal with a 90+11’ leveller in the Community Shield, meaning that each of his last six goalscoring matches in English competitions have seen both teams score. And the same trait applies in each of Anthony Elanga’s three prior PL games to see him net, though his last one came in February 2022.
Hot stat: A majority (eight) of Arsenal’s previous matchday one PL home wins have seen them score exactly twice.