Premier League Matchday 7: Three Key Takeaways as Arsenal Struggle Against Nottingham Forest

Premier League Matchday 7 is officially in the books, with the Premier League season continuing to take shape. Premier League Matchday 7 began Saturday, October 17, with Chelsea defeating Everton 2-0, giving the Toffees their first loss of the season.

It concluded on Monday with Tottenham's first win of the season, as they beat Coventry City 3-1. Manchester City remain the only team to have won all their games this season and still lead the Premier League by three points.

As teams find their form after the two-weekinternational break, Premier League Matchday 7 showed which teams are building momentum and which are showing flaws. From exciting drama to tight contests, here are my biggest takeaways from Premier League Matchday 7.

Three Key Takeaways From Premier League Matchday 7 1. Arsenal Lack a Difference-Maker in Hard-Fought Win Over Nottingham Forest Arsenal did what they were supposed to do this week, taking an away win over Nottingham Forest to stay within three points of Manchester City for now, pending the Cityzens' future punishment.

However, they had to fight harder than they should to win. It wasn't a pretty win for the Gunners in Premier League Matchday 7 as they struggled to threaten and break down Nottingham Forest for most of the game.

Nottingham Forest have been one of the worst Premier League teams this season, with only one win, a -4 goal difference, and no home goals in any competition. Yet Arsenal struggled to break them down, despite having 74% possession.

Arsenal had fewer shots, corners, duels won, and shots on target than Nottingham Forest, and David Raya made two critical saves to keep the game scoreless. They were also very lucky on their goal, as Noni Madueke's shot in the 80th minute was deflected off Nottingham defender Jair Cunha's knee into the back of the net.

In the end, this Premier League Matchday 7 result spoke more to Arsenal's lack of a difference-maker in attack. The attack lacked quality throughout, as they didn't get a single shot on target in eight attempts before scoring the winner with their only shot on target.

They looked disjointed in the first half, and Mikel Arteta didn't hesitate to make changes, bringing on Madueke for Eberechi Eze at the start of the second half to inject energy. The team looked better in the second half but still struggled, as Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz combined for two shots before Arteta took Havertz off in the 66th minute.