And when Arsenal full-back Riccardo Calafiori and Forest’s Nikola Milenkovic were booked inside the first three and a half minutes, it was the earliest instance of two yellow cards in a Premier League game since 2012.
While Forest fans sang about being champions of Europe 45 years ago, and Arsenal sang about being champions of England 20-odd years ago, there was precious little to shout about in the here and now.
Forest finished the stronger side, bombing the Arsenal box with crosses in the dying minutes but of all the 0-0 draws you could witness, few could be quite as 0-0 as this one.
While three straight away defeats had bruised Forest’s hopes of Champions League forward, they had been red-hot at the City Ground - pasting Brighton 7-0 here the last time out.
As the tumbleweed swept across the pitch, Forest finally launched their first attack of the second half, the roof almost coming off the Trent End when Nuno’s men won a corner.
