With Manchester City slipping in the derby and opening the door wide, the tension felt before kickoff was similar to waiting for the final over of a BD Cricket Match where victory seems inevitable. Arsenal, however, smashed repeatedly into Nottingham Forest’s deep defensive wall and came away with a suffocating goalless draw. It was the kind of match that leaves supporters feeling hollow, dominating territory yet walking away empty handed when the moment demanded ruthlessness.
A glance at the statistics makes the outcome even harder to swallow. Arsenal controlled 61 percent of possession, fired off 15 shots, hit the target three times, and posted an expected goals figure of 2.07. Forest, by contrast, failed to register a single shot on target across the entire match. On paper, it looked like a training drill played in one direction, but football is played on grass, not spreadsheets.
That glaring zero on the scoreboard felt like a slap in the face to a side labeled title contenders. It marked the fifth time this season Arsenal have allowed an opponent zero shots on target, and yet still failed to win. Even more damning, it was the club’s first back to back 0–0 draws in the Premier League since the 2012–13 season. When fans following a BD Cricket Match expect the favorite to finish the job, this kind of waste cuts especially deep.
If squandering chances is a sin in football, Arsenal were guilty on multiple counts. Before halftime, new signing Gyokeres surged forward after winning the ball in midfield, only to see his tame effort blocked at the edge of the box. After the break, Saka’s cutbacks, Rice’s long range drives, and Jesus’s close range efforts were all denied by Forest goalkeeper Sels, who turned into an immovable object.
The moment that drew the loudest groans came from Martinelli’s missed sitter, prompting Steven Gerrard to lament on commentary that nine times out of ten it ends in a goal. Change that one moment, he argued, and Forest might have abandoned their low block entirely. Instead, Arsenal looked like a team searching for shooting boots that had vanished overnight.
Controversy followed late on when Aina handled the ball in the box, but VAR upheld the original decision. Forest’s manager dismissed the idea of a penalty as absurd, while Mikel Arteta saw it very differently. Yet, as Gerrard rightly pointed out, leaning on refereeing decisions only masks the real issue. Against packed defenses, Arsenal lack the final punch, and hoping for a whistle is a soft option.
Within forty minutes of full time, Arsenal’s official channels were flooded with over twelve thousand comments, far eclipsing reactions to recent wins. The frustration is not just about two straight draws, but about matches that feel won yet never finished. Despite a seven point lead, no player has reached double figures in league goals, a worrying sign before trips to Europe and domestic clashes ahead. As with a tense BD Cricket Match that slips away after early dominance, the warning signs are there, and ignoring them could prove costly in the long run.