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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Luke Pawley

Roy Keane delivers brutal Arsenal verdict ahead of Nottingham Forest clash

Roy Keane has taken a swipe at Arsenal as they prepare to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday.

Arsenal lost 3-0 to Brighton at the Emirates Stadium, smashing their own chances of lifting the Premier League trophy at the end of the season. They now go into the game at Forest desperate to cling on to the hope they have left. Forest, meanwhile, will be looking to secure their Premier League status.

After the game, Keane was speaking on Sky Sports about where things have gone wrong for Arsenal, picking out the crucial moments in the season that have seen the Premier League trophy slip away. He also explained why some of Mikel Arteta's choices are to blame.

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Speaking about where Arsenal have fallen short, Keane said: "When you look at some of the games over the last five or six weeks - particularly West Ham and Southampton stand out for me - I know they dropped points losing at City, they had Liverpool - which can happen, you can’t win every game. They’ve won 25 league games which is fantastic, but the points they lost against West Ham and Southampton definitely knocked them back a little bit.

"We saw a team today that I think was physically and mentally shot, it really was. There wasn’t enough effort there and as soon as Brighton started flexing their muscles, passing and moving, looking really sharp, they looked quicker, sharper. We’d been saying it for a few months, if they had injuries, they’d struggle, and I think the bottom line is they certainly didn’t have the strength in depth of Man City or the experience and better quality in terms of their squad. They’ve just come up short and it’s as simple as that.

"They’ll need players - four or five players - but that’s easy to roll up your tongue and say a team needs players. Man United need players, Man City will be getting players. It’s about getting the right players and the right characters so if they ever get in this position again - pole position - and they have one or two injuries, they’ve got quality to come in.

"We spoke about Man City today, they made changes but they brought in pure quality players and the team didn’t weaken. When Arsenal make changes, the team weakens."

Can Forest beat Arsenal at the City Ground on Saturday? Let us know your thoughts ahead of the game in the comments section.

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