Chris Wood fires Arsenal clear warning as Mikel Arteta reminded of Nottingham Forest reality

With the third international of the season now drawing to a close, Arsenal can finally look forward to more than three months of football without interruption.

side welcome Nottingham Forest to on Saturday and while we are only in November, it really is a must-win match for the . The north Londoners are currently fourth in the four points off Manchester City in second and nine points behind Liverpool in first.

Nottingham Forest is no easy fixture, though, with side perhaps this season's surprise packages. Fifth in the league and already beaten the likes of Liverpool at Anfield, Nottingham Forest also have the second-best defence in the league, having conceded 10 goals in 11 games.

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One of the main reasons for their high-flying start is the form of Chris Wood. The 32-year-old has scored eight goals for Forest in the league this season, with only Erling Haaland (12) scoring more. Mohamed Salah and Bryan Mbeumo have also netted eight goals this season so Wood is in esteemed company.

Perhaps worryingly for , Wood continued his incredible form during the November international break. First featuring for New Zealand against Vanuatu in a World Cup qualifier on Friday, Wood scored two as he helped his national side to an 8-1 victory.

Wood also started against Samoa on Monday, with the striker scoring a hat-trick as New Zealand romped to a 8-0 win. It means it was a sensational few days for Wood, as he helped himself to five goals to ensure New Zealand topped their OFC World Cup qualifying round 2 group to set up a semi-final clash with Fiji next March.

"It's nice," Wood told New Zealand Football after the match against Samoa. "The boys put in a professional performance again and that's all we can ask for. Samoa came out and done extremely well, caused us a lot of problems at times. But the boys done well to overcome them and it's nice to have a few goals for the team to go away and get some confidence."

Wood's three goals against Samoa means the striker now has 41 goals for New Zealand. Asked what it feels like to surpass the 40 goal mark, Wood said: "It's very nice. Obviously I just want to keep going and keep getting as many as possible but also it's always about the team. Progressing through to the next round, into the semi-finals now, two games away from the World Cup so we got to take care of that."

Wood will return to Nottingham Forest training in the coming days as Espirito Santo prepares his side for the trip to London on Saturday against Arsenal. Arteta will be confident his side has what it takes to keep Wood and Nottingham Forest quiet, although the New Zealand international is likely to have other ideas.