Arsenal forward Noni Madueke has said that the club showed the spirit of champions in their hard-fought Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Forest had defended imperviously for most of the match and limited the Gunners to just one shot on target.
But Madueke broke the deadlock in the 80th minute, with his deflected strike earning Arsenal their 10th win in 11 games.
“This place is so hard to come to, everybody knows it,” Madueke said after the match. “They make it so difficult for you. It was a really tough game.
“We showed grit, determination and I think we showed a champions’ spirit here tonight.”
Arsenal received some criticism for their blunt display against Forest, as they failed to create high-quality chances.
Head coach Mikel Arteta acknowledged that his side struggled to find the breakthrough and put it down to Forests’ defensive shape, which he referred to as a “Christmas tree.”
“We knew we wouldn’t score in the first 20, 30 minutes. We weren’t going to face a different Forest because they are extremely well coached. They put a Christmas tree there. There is no space to play. You have to be so neat and tidy.
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“You have to otherwise generate a lot of chaos in the box, whether it is in open play or with set-pieces.
“We did a couple of times and created two big chances. We didn’t even hit the target, which is the difference.
“And the longer the game goes, we say, ‘OK, now we have to play a different game because [at] the moment we start to ramp up our level of frustration.’
“But we got the goal.”
Next up, Arsenal take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.
