Brian Laws names the Nottingham Forest player who was ‘overwhelmed’ against Arsenal

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Nottingham Forest endured a tough afternoon against Arsenal and lost the Premier League game at the Emirates Stadium quite comfortably.

Arsenal were the better team over the course of 90 minutes and picked up all three points against Forest in North London courtesy of a 3-0 win.

A number of Forest players struggled to make an impact against an Arsenal side who are aiming to win the Premier League title this season.

Anthony Elanga failed to do much against Arsenal. Forest head coach Nuno decided to take him off at half-time.

Taiwo Awoniyi started ahead of Chris Wood for the Tricky Trees. Like Elanga, Awoniyi failed to trouble the Arsenal defence.

What Brian Laws noticed about Nottingham Forest left-back Alex Moreno vs Arsenal

Another Forest player who had a disappointing game against Arsenal was Alex Moreno. The 31-year-old started at left-back and faced Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka.

Saka scored the opening goal for Arsenal and provided the assist for the second. He was superb for the North London club. Moreno, on loan from Aston Villa at Forest, failed to cope with the England international winger.

Brian Laws was following the match for BBC Radio Nottingham. The Forest legend was on co-commentary duty for the match.

The pundit said after the game that he felt sorry for Moreno because he was left on his own to tackle Saka.

Laws said about Moreno on BBC Radio Nottingham (5:08pm, November 23, 2024): “As a former full-back, Moreno, I felt terrible for him because it felt like he was overwhelmed at times.

“And it’s not because he was the inferior player, it’s just that it felt like two or three on him, in and around him. It was a tough afternoon.

“You have got to play with a winger that’s going to support you in a defensive mechanism. If not, you are on your own. And he looked isolated at times.”

Alex Moreno’s game in numbers

Moreno did well against Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, but he failed to hold his own against Saka on Saturday afternoon.

The former Real Betis left-back did not take a single shot against Arsenal. He had a pass accuracy of 71.4% and took 29 touches. The Forest player was dribbled past twice and lost possession six times.

Moreno did not play a single key pass. He made four tackles, two interceptions and two clearances. The left-back put in one cross.

Saka is one of the best players in the Premier League, and there is no reason for Moreno to feel too bad about himself that he could not cope with him.