Will Unwin was at Molineux, and here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM.
A much happier Rob Edwards talks to Sky Sports … though he still takes the opportunity to fire a shot across the bows of grumbling supporters. “It was a great moment … a good night for the Football Club … it was only a draw but to come back from 2-0 down against one of the best teams in Europe is pretty special … a good performance as well … that’s three defeats in 11 games so we’re not doing that bad … we’re not giving up … we know what could happen but we’re never going to give up, all the way to the 38th game, and we’re showing that … I hope everyone has a little bit of realism and understands what we’re up against … we were never going to roll Arsenal over easily … especially when you go 1-0 down early on … I’d have liked a little bit more backing at that point if I’m being honest … but the way we finished, the energy was around … the lads are fighting hard, but Arsenal are really good … we didn’t lose our heads … took control for long periods … really proud of the players … we want to try to build some momentum and a connection around the place … I can understand the frustration and anger … it’s been really tough … but we have to try to find a way to energise the players in difficult moments … some really good energy tonight … we have to try to bottle it … I don’t want to make a big headline of it … the fans are well within their rights to feel hurt and angry this year … I get it … but during the game it’s going to help the players if they have their backing … it was there at the end.”
Mikel Arteta – whose team have only won two of their last seven in the Premier League - fronts up on Sky. “It is very tough to accept … the second half we didn’t perform at any level … in any aspect of the game at the standards required to win a game in the Premier League and we paid the price … too many things went wrong one after the other … we never got dominance or control … it is not the time to judge it … we are all too emotional … not the moment to do it … you have to take the hit and we deserve it … it is very easy now to say things that can damage the team … everybody wants to do their best … when you want to be at this level, you have to take the hit … the enjoyment comes from moments of suffering as well … get through and find a way to do it … today we paid the price … we have to do simple basic things much better than we have done … we need to be very critical with ourselves … it is the reality that we have not been as consistent in the league that we were through the first months … you have to stand up when you have a moment of difficulty … we have the perfect game, Spurs away, to show how much we want it.”
An extremely grim-faced Bukayo Saka talks to Sky. “[The Arsenal dressing room] is very flat … we are very disappointed with the result and especially how we played in the second half … far from the level we have set this season … it’s not so much about a reoccurring theme … it’s time to reflect on the last few performances … fix the issues immediately … get back to winning games … go on a run and build momentum … we’ve lost that a bit right now … I don’t think about [big prizes and pressure] … we just need to get back to our level … do the basics right … we’ve got more than enough quality to win games … that’s all our focus is right now.”
Edozie awarded equaliser
The 19 year old Wolves sub Tom Edozie – who will hopefully be awarded the equalising goal, though I’m not 100 percent hopeful, with it currently being credited as a Riccardo Calafiori og – is nevertheless delighted! He tells Sky Sports: “Playing football as a kid, you dream of things like this … I am so thankful for Rob [Edwards] putting me on the pitch … a dream come true … hopefully it is my goal! … when [Edwards] said my name, I didn’t think he said my name! … I looked round … my heart just started beating! … but I was ready to go on the pitch … just do what I can to try to help the team.”
He’s then informed mid-interview that early reports suggest the goal is indeed his! “It just means the world … to score on my Premier League debut … the feelings I can’t describe … it is just amazing!”
Next to Edozie, Wolves’ other goalscorer, Hugo Bueno, who also scored his first Premier League goal tonight, adds with a twinkle: “It took me a little longer than him!”
It was a strike worth waiting 67 top-flight matches for, to be fair. One of the feelgood interviews of the year!
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Sky Sports co-commentator and Arsenal legend Alan Smith gives his post-match verdict. “It feels like a pivotal moment … it’s in Manchester City’s hands now … having been two goals up against the team that’s rock bottom on nine points … just not good enough for a team that’s hoping to win the title … the way things unravelled at the end … Trossard trying to waste time … Raya panicking, coming out when he didn’t need to … it doesn’t bode well about Arsenal being able to handle the pressure … they got twitchy … there seem to be a lot of nerves in the camp getting the better of them … hopefully that won’t be the case going forward but it doesn’t bode well.”
Another Arsenal great, Paul Merson, adds that “it’s gonna come on full blast now, being bottle jobs, melting, the last few years, it’s full on now.” None of which will make for easy listening around N5 way tonight. There will be chat. The north London derby on Sunday afternoon in N17 suddenly becomes even bigger, and that’s before we fold in Tottenham Hotspur’s own problems. Tune in!
Post-match postbag. “Grrr! As an Arsenal fan, I’m raging about their performance tonight. The faffing about has been an embarrasment. Squabbling on the pitch. The players need to take a long hard look at themselves. Crikey, what a self-inflicted disaster” – Mark in Cornwall
“Amazing capitulation from Arsenal” – Peter Crosby
“Arsenal going 2-0 to draw tonight is foreboding. I think it was a bit later in the season last year but it was the same situation against West Ham and Aston Villa. The demand must be to absolutely pump Spurs on Sunday. I also had the thought that does the team deserve to be champions if they can’t dispatch one of the worst teams to ever play in the Barclays” – David Bowen
“Santiago Bueno should have been a bit kinder. And as for Jesus, he wasn’t very forgiving, was he?” – Simon McMahon (Aberdeen held on for a 2-0 win over Motherwell, incidentally)
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An astonishing end to that game. So passive from Arsenal, who saw a possible seven-point advantage over Manchester City shrink to five as a result of their injury-time implosion …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 27 | 32 | 58 |
| 2 | Man City | 26 | 30 | 53 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 26 | 10 | 50 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 26 | 10 | 45 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 26 | 17 | 44 |
… and so spirited from Wolves, who are now just two points away from besting Derby’s record-low total of 2007-08. A performance that should give them great hope for the future under Rob Edwards in the Championship. Both teams with very different ambitions and targets; one very happy tonight, the other rocked to their core.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Tottenham Hotspur | 26 | -1 | 29 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 26 | -13 | 27 |
| 18 | West Ham | 26 | -17 | 24 |
| 19 | Burnley | 26 | -23 | 18 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 27 | -32 | 10 |
No obvious action against Jesus for that petulant tanty. But almost to a man, Arsenal storm off looking utterly furious. Riccardo Calafiori disappearing down the tunnel with a face like thunder after his late ill-fated cameo. Bukayo Saka wandering around stunned. Mikel Arteta half-drained, half-irritated. Their captain Declan Rice the calmest head among them. Wolves by contrast cavorting! That’s no more than they deserve for their second-half showing. Arsenal sat off them, hoping to see the game over the line, just like they did at the Emirates. They got away with that tactic on that occasion. Not today. What a huge result this could prove to be in the title race.
FULL TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-2 Arsenal
The whistle goes! Arsenal have given up a two-goal lead. And as that whistle sounds, Jesus, losing the head altogether, sticks out his chest and barges Mosquera to the floor! Everyone involved in a post-match brouhaha!
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90 min +8: Calafiori and Armstrong come together in a full-blooded challenge for a throw on halfway. How much this means to both sides!
90 min +7: It wasn’t so long ago that Arsenal were taking their performative time over a corner. But now look. They’re trying to pick up the speed again, but the passes aren’t sticking. They got themselves out of a similar position in the reverse fixture a couple of months ago. Can they somehow manage another escape act?
90 min +6: Arsenal try to respond to that hammer blow, but Eze’s speculative effort sails miles wide right and similarly high. But what a balls-up by Raya and Gabriel. The keeper perhaps more at fault, with Gabriel preparing to head clear. How costly could that miscommunication be?!
GOAL! Wolves 2-2 Arsenal (Calafiori 90+4 og)
When play restarts, Molineux erupts! Mane crosses from the left. Raya comes to claim. But Gabriel is preparing to head clear. They get in each other’s way. The ball breaks to Edozie, who fires low and hard towards the bottom right. Calafiori blocks on the line, but the ball shoots straight right, clanks off the base of the post, back onto the hapless defender, and in! Wild scenes!
NOTE: After the match, this goal was awarded to Edozie.
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90 min +3: Trossard makes way for Calafiori, which suggests he really did feel that shoulder. His initial response looked theatrical, but fair measure. Santiago Bueno, who has already been booked, suddenly looks a bit sheepish.
90 min +2: Trossard gets up, then goes down again. This is eating into the six minutes of additional time that’s been announced. There will surely be more now.
90 min: Trossard, having taken Santiago’s shoulder in the mush, thinks about going down. Then goes down in stages. Not a great challenge, but a cynical response as well. Neither man covering themselves in glory here.
89 min: Rice takes his sweet time to go over and take the corner. A theatrical row with Eze and Jesus uses up quite a few seconds. The Wolves fans are super-irritated. Rice eventually takes it … but instead of launching it into the mixer, he plays it back up the flank. Zubimendi eventually crosses over everyone’s head. A waste on one hand, but on the other, the clock has ticked on healthily from Arsenal’s point of view.
87 min: Martinelli barges into space down the right. He’s got Jesus and Trossard in the middle, but can’t force his low cross past Santiago Bueno. Just a corner.
85 min: Wolves have lost their earlier momentum, so here’s a late curveball from Rob Edwards, who replaces Bellegarde with the teenage winger Tom Edozie.
83 min: … but nothing much is going on right now, and that favours Arsenal, who just want to get over the line tonight. No extra marks for style during the run-in.
81 min: Rob Edwards is similarly soaked and equally agitated, to be fair. Wolves still need three points to best Derby County’s all-time low Premier League haul (11 in 2007-08). They should get past that mark easily, especially if they keep playing like this for the rest of the season, but time is not on their side and every little helps. What succour a draw tonight would give them.
79 min: Gabriel is good to continue.
78 min: While the medical men give Gabriel the once-over, Arteta shouts at the rest of his team while pointing at both temples, the internationally recognised signal to Keep Calm And Concentrate Will You For The Love Of God.
77 min: Gabriel leads with his head into a 50-50 duel with Armstrong. He comes off second best. On comes the physio. “That strike from Hugo Bueno had some dip on it,” observes Kári Tulinius. “People who know about these things have said that this season’s Premier League ball swerves a lot more sharply than those of previous seasons. I keep hoping that will bring a new golden age of thwacks from deep, but xG apparently still discourages that, sadly.”
75 min: A frowning Mikel Arteta, coat soaked through with rain, sleet and perhaps even a little bit of snow, comes to the touchline to offer his players some encouragement via the medium of the crisply-performed handclap. The Arsenal nerves, momentarily settled after Hincapie’s goal, seemingly jangling a little.
73 min: Saka goes down, feeling his knee gingerly. He gets up and looks well enough, but Arsenal are taking no chances with their star man, and replace him with Trossard. Saka wanders down the touchline, seemingly unconcerned.
71 min: Rodrigo Gomes’s first act is to curl a low cross from the right into the arms of Raya. Arsenal attempt to counter through Zubimendi, who is clanked unceremoniously to the ground by Bellegarde. The Wolves man is booked.
70 min: Wolves make their first unenforced change, replacing Tchatchoua with Rodrigo Gomes.
68 min: Jesus backheels cutely down the inside-left channel to release Martinelli, who dribbles left to right through the Wolves box before swivelling on the penalty spot and aiming for the bottom left. Sa reads the danger well and sweep-kicks away. All a bit moot, because had that gone in, Martinelli was surely offside.
67 min: Tchatchoua has the chance to deliver a ball into the Arsenal mixer from the right, but a heavy touch allows Hincapie to drive him back upfield. The crowd groan.
66 min: Martinelli makes space down the left and flashes a low cross through the Wolves six-yard box. But there’s nobody there in red to poke home.
65 min: Arsenal respond with a double change. On come Eze and Jesus, with Madueke and the ineffectual Gyokeres standing down. Meanwhile in Scotland … “In tonight’s rearranged Scottish Cup last 16 tie, Motherwell have clearly taken their inspiration from Dundee United, who defeated Spartans at Tannadice last night despite playing almost the entire 90 minutes a man down,” begins Simon McMahon. “Motherwell have actually gone one better, currently playing with nine men to Aberdeen’s ten but unfortunately for the Steelmen, the similarities end there as they find themselves 2-0 down with 20 minutes to go. Serves them right for playing in a ridiculous baby-blue change kit.”
63 min: That was a hell of a strike. In from the moment it left his boot. Raya had no chance. Some response to falling two behind.
GOAL! Wolves 1-2 Arsenal (Hugo Bueno 61)
… and here’s the goal their start to the second half deserved! Hincapie cleared the corner. But Wolves picked up possession again, and the ball was shuttled wide right to Hugo Bueno, who took a touch infield and aimed an unstoppable curler across Raya and into the top left! A peach of a finish!
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60 min: Wolves had been going well before that goal. A sickener for the home side, but they respond staunchly to the setback by pressing forward and winning a corner down the right. Hincapie clears the set piece, but there’s an early sign that Wolves haven’t quite given up yet.
59 min: As Alan Smith on Sky points out, that was a striker’s goal. Not so much the finish, though that was decent, but the run, which was curved to stay onside and beat the offside trap all ends up. Smith wasn’t half bad at making those himself.
57 min: Yep, the goal stands. Hincapie celebrates his first goal for Arsenal again. That is a huge goal, finished well by Hincapie, but made brilliantly by Gabriel. It was Hugo Bueno on the far side who played Hincapie on. Nowhere near off! An egregious error by the linesman if we’re throwing shade.
GOAL! Wolves 0-2 Arsenal (Hincapie 56)
Gabriel plays a clever pass down the inside-left channel. Hincapie meets it on the edge of the box. He takes a couple of strides in, before roofing a shot through/over Sa! A fine finish, though the flag goes up for offside. VAR to check, but to the naked eye of this observer, that looked onside.
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55 min: Wolves are getting on top here. Bellegarde is sent into space down the right by Tchatchoua, and his cross is clanked out for a throw. From that, Andre fizzes a shot-cum-cross in from a tight angle on the right. Raya deals with it well, down at his near post. Handling at a premium in these conditions.
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53 min: Hugo Bueno steals the ball off Saliba and hares off down the left. He manages to get past Zubimendi and dig out a cross. Arokodare competes for it at the far stick but comes off second best in a duel with Hincapie. But Wolves come again, Armstrong – who has been very quiet up until now – cutting in from the right and aiming for the top left. Inches over. Raya probably had that covered, but it would have necessitated a fingertip save.
51 min: A bit of time and space for Tchatchoua on the right. He clanks a dismal cross over everyone’s head. Goal kick. This second period still hasn’t got going.
50 min: Gyokeres probes down the left but there’s no way past Mosquera and through to the box. This second period hasn’t got going yet.
48 min: Both managers are giving it plenty in the technical areas. Paying no heed to the sleet.
47 min: Here’s a fine stat courtesy of Sky Sports. Arsenal have now scored in 37 consecutive games against Wolves, a record that’s only bettered historically by Wrexham, who managed a run of 49 against Darlington.
Arsenal break out of a huddle and get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes.
Arsenal have been well worthy of their lead at the break. The xG is 0.06-1.33 in their favour; the possession 32-68. They’ve had 23 touches in the opposition box; Wolves just the four. David Raya hasn’t faced a shot on target yet. But they were equally dominant against Wolves at the Emirates, and the wheels nearly came off then. Arsenal wouldn’t be human if they didn’t start thinking of that near miss, or how the Brentford game played out last week. A second goal would be priceless in this title race.
Half-time reading. Jonathan Liew as essential as ever.
HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal have been the better team and deserve their lead. But the floodgates didn’t open, as they briefly threatened to, and Wolves are still in this. Arsenal showing a few signs of nerves during the closing stages of the half.
45 min +5: … but Santiago Bueno wants Hincapie booked for a dive. And earns himself a booking instead.
45 min +4: Rice dinks a backheel into the path of Hincapie, who tries to barge his way into a shooting position down the inside-left channel. Andre comes over to block-tackle and clear. Arsenal want a penalty, but they’re not getting one. Neither referee nor VAR interested.
45 min +3: Tchatchoua crosses from the right. Arokodare can’t connect properly at the far post. After being under the cosh for so long in this first half, Wolves are finishing it the stronger. They’ve not put Sa to work, mind you.
45 min +2: From the resulting throw, the ball lands to Andre, 25 yards out. Andre threads a low shot inches wide of the left-hand post. Raya had it covered.
45 min +1: Arokodale is putting himself about, and his presence wins another free kick on halfway. Hugo Bueno’s diagonal delivery is clanked out for a throw by Martinelli, who delays the restart. Mosquera complains, waving an imaginary card. Another referee might book both players, but this one simply tells them to get on with it.
45 min: Saka sends the ball to the near post. The ball’s half cleared, then sent back to Saka on the right. Saka miscues his cross behind for a goal kick. There will be five additional first-half minutes.
44 min: … and yes, this is better as Arsenal get on the front foot again, Saka and Timber causing a lot of trouble down the right and winning their team a second corner of the game. Saka dawdles over to take it as the sleet continues to pour.
42 min: Mosquera in a bit of space down the right. Arsenal are fortunate that his flat cross fails to beat the first man. But it’s a chance for the same player to fling in a couple of long throws. Nothing come of them … but Arsenal have let Wolves come back into this game a little bit, sitting back, making sure to take care. They were nearly undone by this tactic in the reverse fixture at the Emirates. They won’t make the same mistake again, surely?
40 min: Saka goes on a power-dribble down the right. He’s in full flight, but suddenly swarmed by three old-gold shirts. Santiago Bueno comes away with the ball. That’s fine defence, because Saka was looking dangerous for a minute there.
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38 min: A Wolves free kick on halfway. Hugo Bueno launches it long. His namesake Santiago tangles with Saliba in the Arsenal box, but can’t get on the end of the high ball. Saliba wrestling at the very edges of legality, but staying on the side of righteousness. Just. A risky tactic, though.
36 min: The rain is turning into sleet. Meanwhile there are a few challenges being put in. The crowd, having been muted for a while, are getting involved again.
34 min: Timber crosses from the right. Sa punches clear under pressure from Rice. Then Martinelli crosses from the left. Madueke heads harmlessly wide right. The Wolves fans aren’t happy, because earlier in the phase, Arokodare was threatening to burst into space down the left, only for Gabriel to step across him and put a stop to his gallop. Not necessarily in legal fashion, but there was no free kick, hence the collective fit of pique.
33 min: Mosquera goes down having taken a whack upside the head. Then spends 30 frustrating seconds off the pitch before he’s allowed back on. Nothing else much happening, which is progress of sorts for Wolves.
31 min: … so with that, Hincapie sits down both Tchatchoua and Mosquera with one elegant swivel down the left. His cross causes some mild discombobulation before the hosts eventually clear their lines.
30 min: It’s still mainly Arsenal, though Wolves have done a half-decent job in slowing the league leaders down a little bit. There’s not been much panic in the Wolves box for a wee while.
28 min: Wolves can’t complain about the scoreline, that is very much for sure. The current xG is Wolves 0, Arsenal 1.22.
26 min: Bellegarde barrels down the left after a speculative pass. Raya comes racing out of his area to blooter clear. Bellegarde leaves a little bit on the keeper, who doesn’t make a meal of it. Both players were within their rights to fly into the 50-50.
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25 min: Saka’s delivery is decent, whipped with pace towards the near post, where Martinelli eyebrows over the bar. Wolves have only conceded six goals from set pieces this season, a Premier League record they share with Brentford, Everton and … Arsenal.
24 min: Gyokeres busies himself down the right and wins Arsenal their first corner of the evening. Saka wanders over to take it.
23 min: Hugo Bueno catches Saka on the left boot. Saka goes down hollering. Not even a free kick. The referee playing things laissez-faire tonight. There wasn’t a whole lot in that, though, and Saka is back up again quickly enough.
22 min: Angel Gomes is replaced by Arokodare, who Rob Edwards really wanted to give a rest this evening. It’s been far from an ideal start for the hosts.
21 min: Angel Gomes is down again, this time getting treatment for a sore back. Not sure he’ll be able to continue.
19 min: … so having said that, Wolves complete their very first pass in the Arsenal final third. (Arsenal have made 26 in Wolves’ final third, by way of comparison.) It’s made by Andre to Mane on the left. Mane’s cross fails to beat the first man. Small acorns, all that.
18 min: That early Arsenal goal has done a good job of settling the Molineux faithful. The fact that Wolves can barely get out of their final third, never mind their own half, isn’t helping in that regard.
17 min: … and to further illustrate that, Madueke picks up Gyokeres’s cutback on the right-hand corner of the Wolves box. He aims for the bottom left. Sa spills, but Martinelli can’t tuck away the rebound. Sa redeems himself by making himself big enough to stop a second goal.
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16 min: Madueke drops a shoulder to get past Hugo Bueno on the right touchline. He crosses long. Gyokeres challenges at the far stick, but Sa claims confidently. Madueke looks up for this once again at a ground he very much likes visiting, whatever his initial observations were.
14 min: After some careful checking, Angel Gomes is cleared to continue.
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12 min: Saka battles for a loose ball with Angel Gomes. He catches the Wolves man on the ear. More slap of forearm than point of elbow, but that will have hurt. Not enough force for a booking … and yet you have seen them given, and Saka may not get another free hit.
10 min: Arsenal have flown out of the blocks, just like Mikel Arteta promised they would. Martinelli crosses from the left. Madueke sends one in from the right. Wolves just about hold out, whacking both clear. The Gunners looking to get this game done and dusted with Novocastrian haste.
8 min: Rice struts down the middle and whips a low curler inches wide of the bottom right. Not sure Sa was getting to that.
7 min: Saka celebrates by miming the signing of a contract. Then Arsenal nearly celebrate a second goal in short order, Timber creaming a mid-height cross through the Wolves six-yard box from the right. Had Gyokeres looked lively, he’d have trundled that home.
GOAL! Wolves 0-1 Arsenal (Saka 5)
Saka celebrates his new bumper contract with a goal! Rice curls an easy cross in from the left. Saka, unmarked six yards out, stoops to guide a header past Sa, who had no chance. Saka couldn’t miss. Not sure what the Wolves defenders were up to, other than standing still.
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4 min: A first touch for Madueke down the right. The Wolves fans welcome him pretty much as you’d expect. Pantomime fun.
3 min: Bellegarde puts himself about down the Wolves right. He looks to have nicked the ball away from a snoozing Zzzzzubimendi, but a whistle that’s generous to Arsenal blows. The visitors counter through Martinelli down the left, but his cross is easily snaffled by Sa.
2 min: It’s not a pleasant evening weather-wise. It’s raining in the West Midlands, and that rain could turn to sleet or snow later. Slapstick entertainment not yet off the menu.
Wolves get the ball rolling. “A quiet night is wanted, I think, from all parties, at least in the sense of avoiding the ghastly shenanigans on view in the notorious match last night,” begins Charles Antaki, who speaks for us all. “Raucous is good, animated is fine, full bloodedness welcome, but none of the other stuff, please. British football has been pretty free of it these last years, for which we should all be grateful.”
The teams are out! Wolves in old gold, Arsenal in red and white, a grand look all round. A fine atmosphere at Molineux ahead of what the kids are calling the Billy Wright derby (490 appearances for Wolves between 1939 and 1959, managed Arsenal from 1962 to 1966). We’ll be off in a minute!
Rob Edwards speaks to Sky Sports … “A few lads were feeling the effects of [the FA Cup win over Grimsby] … it was like playing on chocolate gateau … it was tough … João Gomes has had a bit of a hip issue … Tolu [Arokodare] has played four 90s in a row … we need to be able to run tonight … we have to get around the pitch … we have to be connected with and without the ball … a level of security that you have to have first.”
… and so does Mikel Arteta. “We attack the game right from the beginning … like we try to do in every game … [Wolves] have caused a lot of problems recently to a lot of teams … it’s always very tough [at Molineux] so we are very aware of that.”
Pre-match postbag. “I was curious about whether St Totteringham’s Day could arrive tonight, or maybe had already passed and no-one noticed. Turns out that IF Arsenal were to win tonight AND beat Spurs on Sunday it would be a new record for the earliest ever. Dang!” – Ike Proud
“Wolves’ season has largely gone to the dogs but they might find inspiration in the wolfdog who crossed the cross-country skiing finish line at the Winter Olympics. Everyone loves to see the underdog get over the line!” – Peter Oh
This match was originally scheduled for Saturday 21 March, but has been moved forward due to Arsenal’s participation in the League Cup final on Sunday 22 March. Their opponents at Wembley that day, Manchester City, weren’t able to bring their game that weekend, at home to Crystal Palace, similarly forward to this fallow midweek, on account of Palace’s involvement in Conference League play-off action at Zrinjski Mostar tomorrow. So that fixture will stay in City’s back pocket for now. A big chance for Arsenal to crank up some scoreboard pressure tonight.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 26 | 32 | 57 |
| 2 | Man City | 26 | 30 | 53 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 26 | 10 | 50 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 26 | 10 | 45 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 26 | 17 | 44 |
The top-versus-bottom thing isn’t the only historical shadow looming over Wolves tonight. They’ve lost their last nine Premier League matches against Arsenal on the bounce. You have to go back to February 2021 for their last win over the Gunners; in fact they did the double over Mikel Arteta’s side that season. (Trigger warning: both matches were played behind closed doors for obvious reasons, so you may not want to go back.)
In the interests of balance, here’s what happened in this fixture last season. Revisit the fume!
Wolves make three changes to the team that started the goalless draw at Nottingham Forest last Wednesday. André, Jean‐Ricner Bellegarde and Jackson Tchatchoua come in for Rodrigo Gomes, João Gomes and Tolu Arokodare, who all drop to the bench.
Arsenal make four changes to the XI that began the 1-1 draw at Brentford last Thursday. Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli are back; Eberechi Eze,
Leandro Trossard and Cristhian Mosquera step down.
The teams
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa, Mosquera, Santiago Bueno, Krejci, Tchatchoua, Angel Gomes, Andre, Hugo Bueno, Mane, Bellegarde, Armstrong.
Subs: Johnstone, Doherty, Wolfe, Joao Gomes, Arokodare, Pedro Lima, Rodrigo Gomes, Rawlings, Edozie.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Madueke, Saka, Martinelli, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, White, Gabriel Jesus, Eze, Norgaard, Trossard, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly.
Referee: Paul Tierney
VAR: Michael Salisbury
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Preamble
The preamble from the reverse fixture two months ago bears repeating. Because, I mean, c’mon …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 26 | 32 | 57 |
| 2 | Man City | 26 | 30 | 53 |
| 19 | Burnley | 26 | -23 | 18 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 26 | -32 | 9 |
… yet while this will be the 42nd 43rd time the Premier League leaders have played the side propping up the entire table - winning 30 out of 41 31 out of 42, with seven draws – who are responsible for two of the four historical shocks? Why, Wolverhampton Wanderers, that’s who! Click below to reminisce, my old MBM pals. So while Mikel Arteta will surely be anticipating another three points, Rob Edwards must know that long shots sometimes find the target, and you never know. They nearly pulled off a shock at the Emirates back in December, after all. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
(The other two bottom-beats-top victories in the Premier League era are Oldham’s 1-0 win over Manchester United in March 1993, and Tottenham Hotspur – yeah, this one sounds a bit weird - defeating Liverpool in November 2008. We don’t have a link to the former pre-internet match, but here’s one to the latter, which features an in-no-way-doctored photo of Harry Redknapp flooring it in a Ford Cortina.)
