There was no sign of Win, Arsenal’s chocolate Labrador, at the City Ground. Maybe he was on a choke chain somewhere. There was no sign of win, the opposite of lose, either. Not for Mikel Arteta’s team anyway. They have only recorded two of those in their last eight games. It appears they have given their dog a bad name.
This 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in front of an uproarious crowd deliriously happy at being delivered from relegation meant that a title race that once promised to go down to the wire ended with a whimper. Faced with the relentlessness of Manchester City, Arsenal simply could not keep up.