Nuno Espirito Santo given crucial boost as Arsenal star to miss Wednesday clash with Nottingham Forest

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Nottingham Forest’s next set of Premier League fixtures will go a long way to deciding their Champions League fate.

Forest face Newcastle on Sunday, before back-to-back clashes at the City Ground against Arsenal and Manchester City in three matches against European rivals.

Nuno Espirito Santo won’t be looking too far past Sunday, as Chris Sutton expects Newcastle to beat Forest which highlights how difficult the trip to St James’ Park will be.

Eddie Howe has loved watching Chris Wood this season as the Kiwi international looks to punish his former employers once more, a task which has been made somewhat easier as Sven Botman is injured for Newcastle.

A win against the Magpies will go a long way to help secure European football for Forest but if Espirito Santo can earn positive results against Arsenal and City, it will be hard to look past the Reds for the Champions League.

Both games will be incredibly testing for the Forest squad, but what happened in Arsenal’s shock home loss to West Ham United on Saturday will give Espirito Santo a welcome boost.

Myles Lewis-Skelly sees red ahead of Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest

Sitting ahead of Forest in the Premier League table, the Arsenal clash looks to be the most difficult of the three for the Portuguese manager to handle but the Gunners will go into Wednesday at a disadvantage.

Attempting to prevent West Ham from scoring a second goal, Lewis-Skelly slid in and fouled Mohammed Kudus to eventually be dismissed after a VAR check overturned the original yellow card decision.

The Premier League justified the decision, saying: “VAR checked the referee’s call of yellow card to Lewis-Skelly for a challenge on Kudus – deeming it denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity due to the goalkeeper’s position and there being no covering defender.”

Lewis-Skelly has been a useful addition to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal squad since his emergence from academy level, possessing the ability to play as a central midfielder as well as starring at left-back.

The 18-year-old provides an athleticism and technical prowess that Arsenal will miss, but Forest could exploit.

Nottingham Forest can exploit Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly absence

Forest fans may know little about Lewis-Skelly, but the wider media have been waxing lyrical about the 18-year-old’s emergence into the first team.

A report by Opta Analyst on Lewis-Skelly said: “On the ball, he is calm in pressured situations, happy to dribble his way out of trouble when facing his own goal as he did in one key moment this weekend, and a composed figure when Arsenal look to play out from the back.

“Defensively, he stands out for his physicality despite only having turned 18 in September. Against [Manchester] City, he won eight of his nine duels, giving him the highest duel success rate (88.9%) of anyone in the game for either team.”

Clearly, Anthony Elanga has been one of Forest’s most impactful attackers on the right side so with Arsenal missing their breakout star at left back, the Swedish winger could have a crucial part to play on Wednesday night.

Elanga was exceptional against Brighton with his three assists so if he can reach similar levels against Arsenal, the Gunners may truly miss Lewis-Skelly.