Photo via Evening Standard

Arsenal player ratings vs Nottingham Forest: Surprise star delivers again but fringe player scores 3/10

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Cite

Verri, M. (2026, October 18). Arsenal player ratings vs Nottingham Forest: Surprise star delivers again but fringe player scores 3/10. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-fc-player-ratings-nottm-forest-madueke-gabriel-eze-b1301356.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Evening Standard · collected 2026-10-18 · by Matt Verri

Quick Summary

Arsenal played Nottingham Forest to a dull match with few chances until Noni Madueke scored the winning goal in the 80th minute, securing Arsenal’s position within three points of Manchester City at the top of the table. The article provides player ratings from Matt Verri, highlighting David Raya's confident performance and Ezri Konsa's defensive strength, while criticizing Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz for their lackluster contributions.
Written by AI on 2026-10-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

### Summary and Analysis of Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest Match

Match Outcome

Key Points

### Conclusion

The 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest was a testament to Arsenal's resilience and ability to win even when playing suboptimally. However, it also highlights the need for improvement in maintaining early-game dominance and consistent high-quality play throughout matches. Moving forward, addressing these issues will be crucial as they face tougher challenges both domestically and in European competitions.

Written for “Arsenal Vs Nottingham Forest Match Updates” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 10 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Arsenal Vs Nottingham Forest Match Updates
Sports · 11 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Al Jazeera
Hedges 4 of 36 claims Outlet record 60/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 8 claims Outlet record 64/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 64/100
Al Jazeera
Hedges 1 of 17 claims Outlet record 60/100
BBC News
Hedges 1 of 24 claims Outlet record 68/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 24 claims Outlet record 64/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
11
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 8456 article(s) · 73 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 73 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Matt Verri
124 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 That ban only applies domestically and so Dowman is in contention to feature in the Czech Republic, where Arteta is expected to rotate his side.
🔮 Liverpool were furious at that decision and Andoni Iraola said after the game that he would demand his players dive to the ground in future after Isak stayed on his feet.
🔮 "The process and the timings and the manner that the injury has been dealt with, especially the feelings that Willy has been having along the way, they have been very, very positive.
🔮 UEFA announced that a period of silence take place before every European games this week, which will include matches involving Spanish sides Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Villarreal.
🔮 Saliba's return will leave Arteta with a serious selection headache heading into another hectic period.
🔮 It’s seven years, and the first two seasons [they finished] maybe eighth or seventh.
🔮 Andoni Iraola was left bemused by the incident and revealed he will now have a very clear message for his players in the opposition’s box.
🔮 For large periods, there were passages of play that would have slotted in fairly well to those heavy defeats in previous years.
🔮 But to do so they will need to end their hoodoo at this famous old ground, where they have remarkably not won in the league since 2012.
🔮 The Gunners travel to Anfield this afternoon for what looks set to be one of their toughest tests of the season so far.
Also by Matt Verri
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 124 articles by Matt Verri →

Topics

Arsenal Forest Gunners Manchester City

Subjects

Arsenal ORG · 6× Forest ORG · 3× Delap PERSON · 2× Havertz PERSON · 2× Madueke PERSON · 2× Rice PERSON · 2× Gunners ORG · 1× Manchester City ORG · 1× Matt Verri PERSON · 1× Matz Sels PERSON · 1×

Narrative

It was a largely turgid encounter lacking in any attacking quality or excitement from both sides, with Arsenal having to wait until the 80th minute for their first shot on target.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-18
🔮 Got Williams booked early on but then did not do enough to test him.

Claims (20 extracted, 0 hedged)

It was a largely turgid encounter lacking in any attacking quality or excitement from both sides, with Arsenal having to wait until the 80th minute for their first shot on target. asserted
Arsenal → lack → target
That came via what proved to be the winner, as Madueke cut inside and beat Matz Sels to move the Gunners back to within three points of Manchester City at the top of the table. asserted
Madueke → come → table
Matt Verri rated the Arsenal players at the City Ground... asserted
Verri → rat → Ground
David Raya 7 Confidently dealt with every corner or cross that Forest swung into the box. asserted
Forest → deal → box
Ben White 5 Uncharacteristically loose when he got into dangerous positions in the final third, shanking one cross straight out. asserted
he → get → cross
Solid defensively but the usual combinations with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were nowhere to be seen. asserted
combinations → see → Saka
Made six clearances - no other Arsenal player made more than one. asserted
player → make → one
Riccardo Calafiori 5 No influence in attack and his sloppy pass in the first half led to a threatening Forest counter. asserted
pass → lead → counter
Relationship with either Eze or Madueke on the left does not look particularly natural. asserted
Relationship → look → left
Declan Rice 7 Created the best early chance with a great cross for Havertz, though it was a really poor effort when blazing over on 70 minutes. asserted
it → create → minutes
However, he still offered real bite in midfield, winning eight of his ten duels. asserted
he → offer → duels
Intent to play forward was there but did not really come off. asserted
Intent → play → ?
Got Williams booked early on but then did not do enough to test him. asserted
Williams → get → him
His delivery was good, on the whole, including from corners, but from open play the threat was lacking. asserted
threat → include → play
Read More Martin Odegaard 6 Frustrating how often he dropped deep. asserted
he → read → Odegaard
Added to the slow, safe nature of Arsenal’s build-up, though he wasn’t helped by a lack of movement. asserted
he → add → movement
Moment of magic to open up Forest defence was wasted by Rice. asserted
Moment → open → Rice
Lacked intensity with everything he did and kept making basic errors on the ball. asserted
he → lack → ball
Kai Havertz 4 Bad miss when the one first-half chance did come, heading wide from a free-kick. asserted
chance → come → kick
He was a nuisance for the Forest defenders, making runs in behind and holding the ball up. asserted
He → make → ball
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support