Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal: Player ratings as woeful Gunners suffer FA Cup shock
Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup at the third round stage with a second-half strike from Lewis Grabban earning Championship Nottingham Forest a famous 1-0 win on Sunday night.
The Gunners were lacklustre all evening and the Tricky Trees were good value for their victory, which sets up a mouth-watering fourth-round meeting with East Midlands rivals Leicester.
During the first half chances were few and far between. Arsenal enjoyed more of the ball but struggled to break a stoic Forest side down.
The closest either team went to opening the scoring was when Eddie Nketiah cut in from the right before firing a deflected effort past the post.
The Gunners continued to struggle after the break and Bernd Leno was forced into a good save to deny Philip Zinckernagel after Brennan Johnson had burst past Rob Holding in transition.
Leno was called into action again soon after, preventing James Garner's well-hit free kick from nestling in the top corner.
Despite these scares Arsenal continued to underwhelm and they were finally punished eight minutes from time. Ryan Yates burst into space on the right and teed up a perfect cross for substitute Grabban to slide in at the back post.
Arsenal tried their best to grab an equaliser but never looked like scoring with Forest holding on to secure an FA Cup giant-killing.
Here are your Arsenal player ratings from the City Ground...
Arsenal player ratings
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Bernd Leno (GK) - 5/10 - Made a fine, reflex stop to deny Zinckernagel in the second half. Pulled out an even better save a few minutes later. Beaten by the cross for the goal.
Cedric Soares (RB) - 3/10 - Spence and Johnson both got the better of him with concerning regularity. Delivery was awful.
Ben White (CB) - 4/10 - Arsenal's best defender, which is not the highest compliment. Could have done with his forward passing in midfield. Should have snuffed out the danger for Grabban's goal earlier.
Rob Holding (CB) - 3/10 - Relished the physical battle with Davis. Distribution was terrible at times and he struggled with Forest's pace too.
Nuno Tavares (LB) - 2/10 - Started really poorly, making a string of mistakes. Was hauled off after half an hour. It will be interesting to see how he responds in the future.
2. Midfielders
Albert Sambi Lokonga (CM) - 4/10 - Played his role effectively at times. A bit more dynamism on the ball would have been nice, though.
Charlie Patino (CM) - 3/10 - Not in the game at all in the first half, really poor. Barely improved before being subbed.
Martin Odegaard (AM) - 3/10 - Needed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck as one of his side's more experienced operators. Drifted around helping Arsenal keep the ball but penetration was lacking.
3. Forwards
Bukayo Saka (RW) - 5/10 - A rare disappointing performance from the golden boy. Ran down a few dead ends and often made the wrong choice. Saying that, he was still Arsenal's best forward by some distance.
Eddie Nketiah (ST) - 3/10 - Wasteful. Have no idea what his future career will bring but he needs to leave Arsenal this window.
Gabriel Martinelli (LW) - 2/10 - Decision making and offensive execution were poor. Lacked movement too. Hacking down Spence in the second half summed up his defensive contribution. Awful.
4. Substitutes
Kieran Tierney (LB) - 5/10 - A lot better than Tavares.
Alexandre Lacazette (ST) - 5/10 - Failed to grab an equaliser.
Sead Kolasinac (LB) - N/A - Utterly bizarre sub.
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