The theme before kick-off was blanks. Or, more precisely, whether either team could stop firing them at the City Ground. It is a detail to make Oliver Glasner extremely uncomfortable that his Nottingham Forest team had still to score at their home stadium. Arsenal, meanwhile, had drawn 0-0 on each of their previous two visits to this part of the East Midlands.
Forest’s frustrations under their new manager go on. It was another spirited performance from them, bits to like, especially a full throttle performance from Liam Delap in the No 9 position. But, for the fifth time under Glasner in all competitions, there was not a goal to celebrate in front of the club’s home fans.