Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round for the second time in four years thanks to substitute Lewis Grabban’s late strike.
Grabban slid home Brennan Johnson’s inviting cross from six yards out to knock out the 14-time FA Cup winners.
The Gunners appeared to have turned a corner of late but deservedly lost at an atmospheric City Ground.
Mikel Arteta made numerous changes but Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and in-form Gabriel Martinelli all played.
Forest can now look forward to an East Midlands derby and another meeting with a Premier League side, Leicester City, in the fourth round.
The Championship side, who beat the Gunners 4-2 at the same stage in 2018 and who have not lost a home tie in six years, were physical from the start.
Debutant Kienan Davis, leading the line after completing a loan move from Aston Villa, caused problems for the visiting defence during a first half in which Arsenal failed to assert themselves.
Arteta’s frustration was illustrated when he substituted left-back Nuno Tavares – whose modest performance was summed up by a wild back pass that visiting keeper Bernd Leno had to chest away from goal – for Kieran Tierney after 34 minutes.
The Portuguese defender threw his gloves away as he left the field and did not acknowledge his manager on the sidelines.
After the break, Leno denied Philip Zinckernegal when he connected sweetly with Johnson’s inviting cross then kept out Joe Garner’s powerful free kick.
But with eight minutes left, substitute Grabban met another Johnson cross and this time it found the net to condemn Arsenal to another third-round exit in the East Midlands
BBC
