Arsenal · Premier League · Match recap

Forest 0–1 Arsenal: Madueke finds the opening

A decisive substitute and a clean sheet bring three points from a difficult afternoon at the City Ground.

Match and report · 18 October 2026 · City Ground

The result

Noni Madueke’s deflected 80th-minute strike earned Arsenal a 1–0 Premier League win at Nottingham Forest on 18 October 2026.

The decisive moments

According to Sky Sports, Madueke replaced Eberechi Eze at half-time, then cut in from the left and scored via a deflection off Jair Cunha. It was Arsenal’s only shot on target.

Forest kept the contest alive to the end: Murillo curled narrowly wide in stoppage time. Madueke was the decisive attacking performer; Declan Rice also contributed a late block against Chris Wood as Arsenal protected their lead.

What it means — and what comes next

The three points sustain Arsenal’s pursuit of Manchester City. Their next scheduled match is away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday 21 October, at 8pm UK time, according to Sky Sports’ fixture list.

Southwood perspective

Winning a tight away match matters, but the attacking performance still invites scrutiny. Southwood’s view: the bench supplied a solution, not a reason to overlook the difficulty creating chances. The useful lesson is to keep that willingness to change the attack while finding greater fluency before the next close game.