'We are up for it!' - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta fires title warning to Man City after latest title race twist

Looking to pile as much pressure as possible on Arsenal ahead of their game against Brighton, City travelled to Forest hoping to make the most of their advantage of playing first on Saturday afternoon.

Following a tight opening 45 minutes which brought no goals, City broke the deadlock when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders latched onto Rayan Cherki’s cute pass to fire past Forest goalkeeper John Victor.

However, Pep Guardiola’s side were pegged back just six minutes later when winger Omari Hutchinson - a summer signing from Ipswich Town - scored his first goal for Forest.

Camped inside Forest’s half as they pushed for an all-important winner, City reclaimed the lead with just seven minutes of normal time left to play at NG2 as Cherki drilled the ball through Morgan Gibbs-White’s legs and past Victor.

And after managing to hold on to an eighth successive victory in all competitions, City leapfrogged Arsenal at the top of the league table, with attentions then turning to the Emirates Stadium to see how Arteta’s charges would respond.

And Arsenal responded brilliantly, racing into a one-goal lead as captain Martin Odegaard collected the ball from Bukayo Saka before rifling past Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen after just 14 minutes.

However, the hosts - who have not been at their best in recent wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton in the league and Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup - were again unable to sparkle following Odegaard’s opener.

It would take until the 52nd-minute for Arsenal to double their lead, requiring an own goal from Brighton forward Georginio Rutter in order to do so. The 23-year-old got his clearance all wrong as he headed the ball beyond team-mate Verbruggen and into his own net.

In the build up to the game, Arteta recalled feeling “hacked off” after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brighton in the same fixture last season, and the Seagulls threatened to cause the Spaniard more misery when midfielder Diego Gomez pulled a goal back for the Seagulls on the 64th-minute mark.

However, Arsenal were able to see out a massive victory which saw them move back above City ahead of a crunch home clash with Aston Villa next Tuesday, with the Villans having recorded their 11th successive win in a 2-1 triumph over Chelsea on Saturday evening.

Throwing down the gauntlet to a City side who will travel to Sunderland 24 hours after Arsenal’s game against Villa, manager Arteta said his side are more than up for the challenge of competing with Guardiola’s men for the league title this season.

“We can only control what we do, and we are doing a lot of good things that I think we have to improve as well to have the margins better,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference after the Brighton game.

“We need more players back as well to have better options and maintain the team very, very fresh. Every three days is going to be a challenge, and we are up for it.”

And when asked about what was a nervy atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium after Brighton pulled a goal back, Arteta added: “That's a willingness to win! We all want to win so badly.

“Now I don't want to lose what I have and we have to play to continue to score and show that composure and that ability and we should have scored the third one. We have two massive chances to put it to 3-1 and then it would have been different. We haven't, so we have to suffer a little bit more.”

Meanwhile, City boss Guardiola hailed a “massive three points” earned against a Forest side who had won three of their previous six league games before Saturday’s meeting between the two teams.

“Winter time, Nottingham Forest away… I know the memory is weak, but when we won one of the six Premier Leagues this type of game happens a lot,” he said.

“Three points, but it’s a massive three points, mainly for the quality of the opposition. Sean Dyche has created a proper team, because they’re so good. A few months ago they were fighting for the Champions League, Nuno made an incredible job here, they qualified for Europe.

“It’s a top, top side. I know the momentum isn’t good in terms of results but that doesn’t change the quality there and the aggression of Sean Dyche of all the teams is there.”

He added: “We talked about that; we needed an incredible mentality. It’s more important how you suffer and defend, accept you can be better and be in the game, otherwise, no chance will you win, that game last season we lost.

“Since then, a long time the team want to do it and of course, the last game of the first leg of the season it’s good to finish with this important three points.”