PREVIEW: Arsenal look to make it 11 without defeat at the City Ground | OneFootball

Goal-shy Nottingham Forest face the stern test of Premier League leaders Arsenal, seeking 11 without defeat, at the City Ground on Saturday.

Sean Dyche, their third manager this season, has won eight of his 18 games in charge – yet their goal return ranks only above bottom side Wolves, four places below them.

At the other end of the table, the Gunners have extended the cushion over Man City to nine points and are in pole position to win their first league title in 12 years.

Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White smashing home his penalty in the final moments at West Ham felt like a very decisive moment in the season.

The penalty and resulting victory put the Tricky Trees seven points clear of their relegation rivals, seriously denting the mood of at the West London club.

It hasn’t been an overly successful reign under Sean Dyche, however, with the Hammers not completely out of sight nor out of mind despite their crucial win.

They failed to follow it up, though, bowing out to Wrexham in the third round of the FA Cup on penalties.

However, the exit may be a blessing in disguise as the Trees’ main focus for now will be building up a points barrier between them and the bottom three.

Forest have been a far cry from their exploits of last season, one of the biggest examples is going from free scoring to the second worst attacking record in the league.

Their top scorer last season, Chris Wood, will be out until late on in the campaign with a knee injury, as Ryan Yates and goalkeeper John Victor are also injured.

Their poor attacking credentials will be tested against the best defence in the league on Saturday, which has conceded just 14 times in 21 league games.

Arsenal have made themselves almost inevitable in recent weeks even despite what the harshest of critics would say have been underwhelming performances.

But they responded emphatically with a 4-1 thrashing of Portsmouth and an important win at Chelsea in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

William Saliba and Leandro Trossard both return, but defenders Piero Hincapie and Ricardo Calafiori both remain out with a thigh and muscle injury respectively.

Newer Arsenal recruit Christian Mosquera is expected to spend the next month recovering from an ankle injury, leaving Mikel Arteta relying on his star-studded defensive reserve.

Potential Line-Ups