Nottingham Forest vs. Arsenal Betting Tips: Navas to be carded in 62/1 longshot

In a crucial Premier League clash, Arsenal travel to face relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday evening, live on Sky Sports with a 17:30 kick off. Dean Woodward is on hand with two bets he likes the look of, including a 62/1 longshot. 

Both teams had contrasting results in their previous matches, with Arsenal suffering a 3-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion, while Nottingham Forest secured a hard-fought point in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea.

Nottingham Forest surprised many by earning a point at Stamford Bridge, and they are now on the verge of securing their top-flight status. With a three-point gap to the relegation zone, Forest can ensure their survival by taking all three points or bettering the results of Leeds United and Leicester City. They have displayed a knack for finding the back of the net in their last five Premier League games scoring an impressive twelve goals, although they have struggled to prevent them going in at the opposite end with no clean sheets in fifteen games.

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Nottingham Forest's head coach, Steve Cooper, may face the challenge of dealing with multiple absentees once again as his squad deals with a string of injuries. The likes of Dean Henderson, Chris Wood, Neco Williams, Omar Richards, Scott McKenna, Jack Colback, and Jonjo Shelvey are all expected to miss out. Gustavo Scarpa and Emmanuel Dennis will require further assessment. 

For Arsenal, their ending to the season has been disappointing, and their hopes of clinching the Premier League title are hanging by a thread. Their heavy defeat to Brighton dealt a significant blow to their aspirations, and anything less than a win against Forest would all but hand the title to Manchester City, who possess a superior goal difference. The Gunners also face their own injury concerns. 

Arsenal are also grappling with fitness concerns at a critical juncture in the season. Gabriel Martinelli is set to miss the final two games due to an ankle injury sustained in a challenge against Brighton. William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko were rumoured to be out for the remainder of the campaign, but their involvement in training last week gives them a chance of returning. Mohamed Elneny and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who are recovering from knee injuries, will also remain absent.

A hugely disappointing result last time out against Brighton where Arsenal were completely blown away in that 3-0 mauling, I fully expect Arteta to get a positive reaction out of his side and bounce back with a win and keep their slim hopes of title glory alive. 

Arsenal are priced around the 4/7 mark against this relegation battling Forest side who haven’t kept a clean sheet in fifteen games, getting Arsenal onside looks wise. Combining the match result with Gabriel Jesus to register a shot on target gets us an appealing even money bet builder. Jesus has now registered a shot on target in seven of his eight starts since returning from injury, and facing this Forest side who have conceded an alarming forty shots on target in their last six games (6.66pg), it's hard not to see Jesus finding the target at some point.

It's extremely hard to claim any kind of bet like this is value, but they most certainly can be worth some loose change when it comes to the business end of the season.

Forest are priced around the 4/1 mark to win against Arsenal which implies they have around a 20% chance, no value in that price for me. Navas has only been booked twice this season, one of which for time wasting when winning against Brighton just four games ago. If Forest were to take a lead this weekend, I wouldn’t put it past the Costa Rican to do all in his powers to slow the game down, even if that means taking a booking. It could be the difference between Premier League survival or falling back into Championship football next season. 

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