Nottingham Forest upsets Arsenal to continue the magic of the FA Cup

 

Lewis Grabban celebrates after scoring the winner against Arsenal on Sunday to help Nottingham Forest to the 4th round of the FA Cup. (Photo credit: TheFA)

Nottingham Forest, a team with a very big history and a promising future rose above their fears on Sunday and dumped Arsenal out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle for the second time in four years, they deserved every bit of it from their display last night.

Covid and injuries meant Arsenal were without Emile Smith Rowe, Granit Xhaka and a few more but they really shouldn’t need these guys for a clash against a championship side, no disrespect to Forest and they indeed proved they’re more than a small club with big history.

Arsenal spotted an all white jersey, lending their voices to the no red campaign against brutality and knife attacks, the Gunners were tepid and didn’t even register a single shot on target all game long with the hosts scoring the winner with five minutes left on the clock.

Top four is still very much within the grasps of the Gunners but displays like the one they offered against Nottingham Forest wouldn’t even see them finish in the top half, Mikel Arteta and the lads must pick things up and never show up terribly like that again.

Elsewhere on Sunday in the FA Cup, Westham scored twice to dump Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United out of the cup competition, to be honest the Elland Road Landlords need to concentrate on league engagements as they’re threatened around the drop zone but the momentum can help the Hammers.

Norwich City went to Charlton and returned with a fourth round qualification, Milot Rashica’s strike was enough to hand Dean Smith a confidence boosting win and they will now take that to their league game against Westham on Wednesday.

Liverpool fielded lots of kids but that wasn’t a problem even though they conceded first but found a way to reply Shrewsbury four times, it was a dream FA Cup appearance for Kaide Gordon as he equalized for the Kops before Fabinho’s double sandwiched Firminho’s crisp finish.

Tottenham didn’t take chances, they fielded a strong side and were rewarded with a 3-1 win over Morecambe, the lower league side scored first to continue the run of minnows scoring against the big boys but Harry Winks, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane responded to ensure a fourth round berth for Spurs.

Wolves beat Sheffield United silly but it wasn’t unprecedented, Wolves have been on the rise and their win at Old Trafford last week adds credence to that, the FA Cup is full of magic and Arsenal is already a casualty, the question is… Who’s next?