Arsenal's Premier League title hopes hang in the balance against Nottingham Forest

Already nine points behind league leading Liverpool, Arsenal host the surprise team of the season, Nottingham Forest, with the Gunners' title hopes hanging in the balance.

With only one win in their last five games, Arsenal are in freefall. The international break may have come at the right time for Mikel Arteta but their opponents won't be a pushover with Forest tied with Arsenal on 19 points.

Injuries have hit Arsenal hard, particularly in defense. Against Forest, they'll be without Ben White who faces some significant time off due to an injury.

"Ben is going to be out for months," Arteta said. "It's been different kind of struggles, it's never been the same thing, but we had to make a decision in the last few weeks, unfortunately. We know that Ben is going to push every boundary but it got to a point where we had to protect that player and we decided to do the surgery."

There is a bit of good news on the injury front with Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka back in training. Saka was unavailable for England during the international break but is trending in the right direction and could be available.

Suffice to say things aren't going as planned for Arsenal. Pushing Manchester City the past two seasons, the hopes were high entering this one considering some of the new additions. But Liverpool's resurgence combined with some decisions not going their way, Arsenal find themselves tied for fourth, quite some distance away from Liverpool at that.

"I think about everything that we've done. Is the reason that we haven't won games because the opponent has been superior to us? The clear answer is no," Arteta said. "Should we have won more of those games? The answer is yes. Do I like what our team is doing? The answer is yes, but we have to improve certain things, especiallly how we have defended attacking the box."

As far as Nottingham Forest is concerned, they'll look to pile on the misery for Arsenal and jump over them in the league table, perhaps putting their name in the running as league title contenders.

Having already beaten Liverpool earlier in the season, they're unlikely to be intimidated by the atmosphere at the Emirates. Though Nuno admits it won't be a similar affair.

"The performance, definitely," Nuno said. "The tactical approach will be different because the opponent is not the same. Arsenal play in a very specific way that we have to really control them. But it's a new approach because it's a new team."

The pressure heading in to the match is on Arsenal. No one expected Forest to be doing as well as they are while the Gunners were favorites for some to win the league. Anything less than a win for Arsenal could potentially see them 12 points behind Liverpool with their title hopes all but over before the end of the year.