Arsenal’s last-flickering hopes of winning the Premier League were extinguished on Saturday by Nottingham Forest, whose 1-0 win courtesy of Taiwo Awoniyi secured their top-flight status.
Eight points clear at the top just two months ago, Mikel Arteta’s team has had a dismal end to the season, with its latest defeat ensuring what had become an inevitable-looking consecutive title for Manchester City.
By contrast to the visitor’s despondency, Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest were celebrating a remarkable survival after reaching 37 points to guarantee safety from relegation back to the second-tier Championship where they escaped a year ago.
The game turned in the 19th minute when Arsenal’s normally brilliant midfielder Martin Odegaard made a rare mistake to give possession to Morgan Gibbs-White who drove forward before finding Awoniyi to poke the ball home and spark wild scenes.
Predictably, Arsenal dominated possession but was unable to make it count, with Gabriel Jesus thwarted several times by the excellent Keylor Navas in goal for the hosts. Forest played on the counter-attack, also carving out a string of chances.
The result put Arsenal second on 81 points with one game remaining, while Manchester City has 85 points and three matches left starting at home to Chelsea on Sunday. Forest is 16th and six points clear of the bottom three.
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