The 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest helped Arsenal extend their Premier League lead to 7 points. They are unbeaten in 11 consecutive matches in all competitions and are still the top contenders for their first national championship since 2004.
However, it will not be until May that people can confirm whether this is a valuable score at a difficult stadium or another missed opportunity to create greater pressure on Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Man City's 0-2 defeat to Manchester United earlier in the day once opened up a familiar scenario. Last week, when The Citizens slipped, Arsenal could not take advantage in the lackluster draw with Liverpool at home.
9 days later, that scenario repeated. To be fair, Arsenal played better at City Ground, especially in the second half. However, most of their threats came from set pieces and the outstanding performance of Bukayo Saka, who was brought on in the 57th minute.
Mikel Arteta has changed 5 out of 6 attacking players in 90 minutes but still could not penetrate Forest's tightly organized defense. Sean Dyche's team, although ranked 17th, continues to show disciplined defense.
The "Gunners" possess the most comprehensive squad in the league after spending nearly 250 million pounds for 8 new players in the summer of 2025. However, the big question still exists when it comes to how to optimally use those cards.
Arteta rotated the wings from the beginning when he let Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke start. Martinelli was substituted in the second half after an unbelievable miss at close range, when the goal was almost empty just seconds after Nikola Milenkovic's save from Declan Rice's shot.
In the 57th minute, Arteta made three consecutive substitutions when bringing Mikel Merino, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus onto the field, replacing Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Odegaard and Madueke. Eberechi Eze also appeared, but only had more than 10 minutes to make an impression.
Arsenal increased the pressure. Saka and Merino both had clear chances, before VAR considered Ola Aina's hand-to-hand situation in the 80th minute but did not award the away team a penalty.
We created four very big chances. Martinelli faced the empty goal, Declan Rice finished close range, Merino headed from Bukayo's pass and clearly it was a penalty situation in the penalty area that the referee did not blow.
We didn't give the opponent any shots on target, but still couldn't win. That was really disappointing" - Arteta said after the match.
Notably, this is the first time in 14 years that Arsenal has drawn 0-0 in two consecutive Premier League matches. Signs of fatigue began to emerge when this match was their 33rd match of the season.
When asked if the tight schedule would affect him, Arteta did not deny: "Very a lot. Bukayo played for too many minutes and also had minor fitness problems before the match. We were forced to manage the players".
That caution partly stems from the scars in the past - 3 consecutive seasons in second place and the burden of more than two decades of waiting for titles. The approach of preserving advantage may be enough to keep Arsenal at the top of the table. But it also makes them lack the necessary cruelty to truly break away from the rest.
Every week is an opportunity. We want to win every match. Today we are taking a step forward, even smaller than expected, but still one step" - the Spanish captain added.
Arsenal is moving forward, slowly but surely. Until now, no team has caught up with them. However, the problem is that they have not yet been able to go far.
