Arsenal travel to the City Ground on Sunday afternoon, looking to build on back-to-back victories over Leeds United and Lille.

The Gunners came from behind to beat Leeds 2-1 last weekend, before a seven-minute second-half blitz saw off Lille 3-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night. However, Nottingham has proved a difficult venue in recent years, with Arsenal failing to score on each of their last two visits, and in three of their four trips since Forest returned to the Premier League in 2022.

Forest have endured a difficult start to the campaign under Oliver Glasner, who was appointed in the summer. The Austrian has won one match at the club, with the Reds having won just one of their last 14 Premier League games at the City Ground.

The Reds welcome Arsenal on the back of two recent defeats, away at Crystal Palace and at home to newly-promoted Coventry City. 

Piero Hincapié will miss the trip after picking up an ankle injury in a post-match warm-down following the win over Leeds. Mikel Arteta said the Ecuadorian is progressing well but will probably need another week or two before he is in contention to feature.

Martin Zubimendi was injured in the same session, but Arteta revealed the midfielder already looked much better in training, and a decision on his availability will be made after Saturday’s session.

Christos Tzolis remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, though a scan on Thursday showed encouraging progress, and he could return in a few weeks. William Saliba is also still out, with the defender set for another MRI scan next week as he continues his recovery from a back injury.

Nicolò Savona and Igor Jesus will both miss out with knee and calf injuries respectively. Nikola Milenković returned to full training on Friday after a spell out with bone bruising, though, and could return to action on Sunday.

Morgan Gibbs-White is a doubt after picking up a minor injury against Crystal Palace. Glasner said the problem was not serious, and that the midfielder would be assessed after Saturday’s session.

The Englishman, who captains the side, would be a big miss for Glasner's side, having led the club charts for goal involvements in every league campaign since their return to the top flight, except for Chris Wood's impressive campaign in 2024/25.

Speaking ahead of the game, Arteta praised his side’s response to their defeat at Brighton before the international break. He said, 'We have responded really well in the last two games, two very good performances and results, and now we just focus on the game against Forest, which I know is going to be a really tough one.’

The Arsenal boss also addressed his side’s recent struggles at the City Ground, adding, ‘We’re going to try really hard to score goals and to prevent goals as well. It’s going to be a really tough match, they’re an extremely well-coached team. We know that, we already have experience with Oliver in the past and they’re a team that at home can create a really special momentum.’

Glasner, meanwhile, was full of praise for the champions, particularly their work rate, explaining, 'In every game this season they were outrunning the opposition. It’s incredible. The effort, the mindset, Mikel has created there is incredible. This makes it so tough to play against them, they have so many world class players.'

When asked about the difference in the two sides’ schedules, with Forest only playing Premier League matches for the rest of the year, the Austrian said, ‘It is what it is. Arsenal’s ten fixtures does not affect Sunday’s game, because they are playing afterwards - yes, they played midweek, but it was Tuesday. I think that is not an issue.’

Michael Oliver will take charge of the game at the City Ground, having refereed the same fixture in January last season which ended goalless.

The referee has been at the centre of several controversial decisions involving Arsenal in recent years, including sending off Leandro Trossard at Manchester City and Myles Lewis-Skelly at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2024/25. Following the match at Molineux, an independent regulatory commission upheld Arsenal’s appeal against Lewis-Skelly’s red card, though Oliver’s match report led to the club being fined three times the precedented amount for their protests.

It will be the first Arsenal match he has refereed this season, though he has already been involved in a decision that affected the title race, after allowing Erling Haaland’s winner for Manchester City in the derby at Old Trafford.

Oliver has refereed 65 league matches involving the Gunners in his career, showing red cards to Arsenal players in eight of them, which equates to more than 12 per cent of those games and is more than he has shown to any other club.

Referee: Michael Oliver

Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring

Fourth Official: Farai Hallam

VAR: Michael Salisbury

Nottingham Forest host Arsenal at the City Ground at 16:30 BST on Sunday 18 October.

Paris: 17:30 (Sunday)

Lagos: 16:30 (Sunday)

New York: 11:30 (Sunday)

Mumbai: 21:00 (Sunday)

Sydney: 02:30 (Monday)

The match is being broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports Main Event.