With the hosts out of form and Arsenal lacking a focal point up front, it perhaps wasn’t a surprise to see both sides struggling to create chances in a cagey contest. Riccardo Calafiori and Nikola Milenkovic both picked up cheap yellow cards in the early going, yet it was the Gunners’ Italian left-back - deputising for the suspended Myles Lewis-Skelly - who had the best chance of the first half.
Calafiori showed brilliant composure to turn Nicolas Domínguez inside the area and took aim at the far corner on his weak foot, but to the home crowd’s relief, the ball came back off the post.
Ultimately, neither goalkeeper was tested before the break, and with just one shot on target produced by either side, both managers would have been demanding improvements upon the restart.
That was most immediately visible among Mikel Arteta’s charges, as only a point-blank save from Matz Sels denied an unmarked Mikel Merino’s header at the back post. That chance came from a corner, and the division’s set-piece specialists were at it again moments later when HT substitute Kieran Tierney headed a whisker wide of the post from a Martin Odegaard delivery.
With the most sustained period of pressure from either side failing to bear fruit for the Gunners, threats began to rear their heads at the other end. Forest talisman Chris Wood finally tested David Raya after being slotted in by Morgan Gibbs-White, while he was denied a one-on-one chance moments later by a brilliant last-ditch tackle from William Saliba.
That was as much as Forest could muster going forward, and with Arsenal also unable to conjure the necessary quality, the spoils were shared in a result that suits neither side.
Forest remain third, but find their place in the top four increasingly under threat with just two points separating them from the chasing pack. The Gunners, meanwhile, stand to lose further ground in the title race after a second successive winless outing.