Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has warned Nottingham Forest that the team will be looking to ‘bounce back’ from the disappointment of falling further behind in the title race last weekend.
Forest host the Gunners at the City Ground this afternoon (5.30pm kick off) as they look to take a step closer to Premier League safety. Arsenal will also look to keep their slim hopes of beating Manchester City to the Premier League title alive.
A 3-0 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion less than a week ago means that a loss against the Reds would hand Man City the title ahead of the final games of the season. The disappointment from that loss is something that Ramsdale says can be used by the squad when they take on Forest.
READ MORE: Full Arsenal squad available to Mikel Arteta for crucial Nottingham Forest clash
'It's a slim chance,' he told the Daily Mail about winning the title. “Hopefully the disappointment we are feeling at the minute… we can use this, as we did last year, to bounce back and be hungrier and fight again.”
The goalkeeper has also explained a change that manager Mikel Arteta has made this week in the build-up to the game in order to get over the disappointment of last week.
Ramsdale added: “We did a different style of meeting, just remembering how far we've come. He put on the board about how we can still have the most amount of wins by an Arsenal team in the Premier League ever,' Ramsdale explains.
“About how, again, it's very disappointing at the minute, but how progressive the season has been, how positive we can be.”
Ramsdale is in his second season at Arsenal, having suffered relegation with Sheffield United and Bournemouth in his two previous campaigns. He has outlined the pressures that come with battling the drop, which Forest have been involved with this season.
“The pressure of a relegation battle is much worse than fighting for the title,” he said.
“It's more of an enjoyment when you're at the top of the league – you're trying to play with freedom, with a smile. When you're down there, it's really difficult to have that mindset because at times you're worrying about what people are thinking: "He shouldn't be enjoying it as much…"
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