Three Things We Learned after Arsenal's goalless draw at Forest 

Here's Ian Mills on Arsenal's stalemate at Forest 

An improved performance in all but the final third shows our desperate lack of firepower in the Midlands. 

Here are three things that stood out for me, writes Ian Mills.

1 - We need a Plan B and very quickly

– Not that it would have taken much to improve on the abysmal display against West Ham or indeed the first 70 minutes versus Leicester City, yet we did at least dominate large parts of this game and forced a succession of corners albeit once again our threadbare attack was unable to trouble the scorers.

Riccardo Calafiori’s smart turn and shot hit a post in the first period whilst Mikel Merino’s header from one of those aforementioned corners after the break brought a good save from Sels in the Forest goal.

Mikel Arteta had made once change to his starting line up by bringing in Jorginho for Partey and then replaced Calafiori with Tierney at half time. Our Scottish full back put a header wide from a corner not long after coming on.

The late substitutions of White and Partey were strange and made far too late to affect the outcome. Merino upfront clearly does not work from the start and once more Sterling was entrusted only with the final 15 minutes of which he had again was largely anonymous.

2 - Forget the title and concentrate on consolidating second place and progression in Europe

– an eleven-point gap felt far too much before the start of play and with it having stretched to thirteen after Liverpool’s win over Newcastle, it is far to say the men from Anfield have one hand firmly on the Premier League trophy.

I expect that gap to widen before the end of the season and we need to concentrate on not being caught for second place rather than looking to narrow any gap to the Champions in waiting.

We also need to find some form and a style and pattern of play that allows us to create and take chances with the two legs against PSV fast approaching.

Those ties bookmark a trip to Old Trafford to face one of the worst Manchester United sides in living memory.

If we finish runners-up in the League for a third successive season it will be immensely frustrating – after all many thought this was going to be OUR season at long last.

However, if would also replicate our performance in season’s 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2000-01 and we followed those near misses with the Double in 2002 – here’s hoping history can repeat itself in 2026.

3 - The striker/attacking additions must be ready to be added when the season ends

– the stories of the ‘warchest’ that is going to be made available to Arteta this summer will no doubt gain momentum each time we stumble for the remainder of this season.

My fear is Arteta has not shown a huge knack for attracting or signing attacking talent and it is clear the mistakes made in our summer 2024 and January 2025 transfer windows have severely damaged our trophy chances.

The same mistakes MUST not be repeated. We need a minimum of one new striker, a proper forward with a goalscoring record ready to come into our first team. I would actually sign two and add a wide player for good measure.