English FA Cup
Result: Nottingham Forest 4-2 Arsenal
Date: 7 January 2018
Venue: City Ground
Nottingham Forest shocked Arsenal after beating the English Premier League side 4-2 in an FA Cup, third round match at the City Ground on Sunday.
It was a cagey start to the match from both sides with neither team able to maintain a sustained period of pressure due to poor decision making in the final third.
Nottingham, though, began to settle in front of their home fans and took the lead in the 20th minute following a thunderous long range effort from Eric Lichaj that almost broke through the net, 1-0.
Three minutes later Arsenal hit back when Per Mertesacker was quickest to latch onto his initial attempt which came back off the woodwork and tapped the ball home from close range, 1-1.
Just after the half hour mark Nottingham nearly scored their second goal when Ben Brereton broke behind the Arsenal defence, but he was not able to beat keeper David Ospina in a one-on-one.
Nottingham did take the lead for a second time a minute before the break after a powerful shot from the edge of the box by Eric Lichaj found the back of the goal, 2-1.
Despite coming into the second half a goal behind Arsenal still struggled to find their rhythm.
The first decent chance of the second half fell to the home side in the 61st minute when Ben Brereton met an inch perfect cross into the box, but he fired over from 14-yards out.
Nottingham did find their third goal four minutes later thanks to a penalty goal from Ben Brereton after a foul inside the box by Arsenal's Rob Holding, 3-1.
Arsenal, though, were not going to go down without a fight and pulled a goal back in the 79th minute after a mistake by Jordan Smith allowed Danny Welbeck an easy tap in, 3-2.
The result was put beyond doubt in the 86th minute after another penalty goal, this time from Kieran Dowell after Mathieu Debuchy committed a foul inside the box, 4-2.
The match did end on a bit of a sour note for Nottingham who were reduced to ten men in the 90th minute following a red card for Joe Worrall.
