Manchester City have crowned 2022/23 Premier League champions without kicking a ball after Arsenal suffered a defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
Premier League
Result: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal
Date: 20 May 2023
Venue: City Ground
Arsenal made two changes to the side that heavily lost to Brighton and Hove Albion, as Leandro Trossard took the place of the injured Gabriel Martinelli and Thomas Partey took the place of Kieran Tierney, as Granit Xhaka was deployed at left-back.
The Gunners were the most threatening side in the early stages but they went behind on 19 minutes after a mistake by Martin Odegaard led to a counter-attack by Forest and Taiwo Awoniyi was credited with their opener, after a last-ditch tackle by Gabriel came off the Nigerian and found the back of the net.
Mikel Arteta's charges found the going tough after that, with the likes of Bukayo Saka subdued, especially by the physicality from the Reds.
However, with Forest sitting deep and in numbers in the closing phase of the first stanza, Saka himself came to life for the Gunners, looking for gaps with diagonal passes and cut-backs but he could not locate Gabriel Jesus and Trossard in the final third.
After a laboured start in the second stanza, Arsenal had their first threatening shot on target on the hour-mark after Saka went through on goal at the near post but his blasting strike was pushed away by goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Arteta made a tactical change after that as Eddie Nketiah added numbers upfront in place of Xhaka and for a better balance at the back, Tierney came on for Jakub Kiwior.
Steve Cooper's men stayed compact at the back in the closing stages, as they made it difficult for Arsenal to break through them and eventually held on to a vital win that sealed their safety with one game to spare.
The Gunners' defeat, meanwhile, meant leaders Manchester City were crowned champions before hosting Chelsea on Sunday evening in their penultimate game of the season.
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