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Mikel Arteta has explained the reason why Bukayo Saka has been benched for Arsenal's clash with Nottingham Forest. The Gunners travel to the City Ground with the chance to go a whopping nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

It follows title rivals Manchester City dropping points for the fourth game in a row, as they lost 2-0 against Manchester United. Meanwhile, Aston Villa - who are tied on points with City - don't play until Sunday.

Arteta made three changes to the side which beat Chelsea 3-2 in Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. David Raya replaced Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal while Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli came in for Saka and Leandro Trossard.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Arteta explained: "We have a lot of games, so freshness. The capacity as well to change the game in any moment and a profile of wingers that we think will suit what we want to do in the game well."

Last week, the Arsenal manager reiterated that he wanted to 'protect' Saka in order to 'get the best out of him. "We have to be very smart," Arteta affirmed.

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"The minutes he has played, the load that he is going through as well. It's unique at his age, since he started with us. I want to protect him to get the best out of him, which is the ultimate goal."

Meanwhile, Viktor Gyokeres retained his place up front, having ended a run of 10 games without a goal from open play at Chelsea. Arteta said when asked if Gyokeres has the opportunity to kick on: "Yes, and maintain now the momentum that he's built after the great performance that he had against Chelsea and we go again."

Will Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest? Give us your prediction in the comments section.

But it won't be easy, as Arteta praised Sean Dyche's team. "First of all, he leads a really good team," the Gunners boss went on to say. They have a big squad, they did really well last year and I think Sean brings a huge level of organisation, experience in the league and he knows how to manage games really well."

On the chance to go nine points clear, Arteta added: We are where we want to be, and we know the amount of work we still have to do and the difficulty of every game, so we just focus on that."

Nottingham Forest XI: Sels; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina; Sangare, Anderson; Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Dominguez; Jesus

Subs: Gunn, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Ndoye, Hutchinson, Yates, McAtee, Savona

Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Rice, Zubimendi, Odegaard; Madueke, Gyokeres, Martinelli

Subs: Kepa, Mosquera, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Eze, Trossard, Saka, Havertz, Jesus

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