Paul Doyle was at Molineux to see Arsenal continue their late dash for European qualification. Here’s his report. Click and enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Stay healthy, everyone.
Nuno Espirito Santo is philosophical in defeat. “The first half was balanced, there were not too many chances, with the exception of one moment when we lost a bit of focus and Arsenal scored. In the second half we started better, with more pressing, creating chances. But as the game goes by, Arsenal became dangerous on the counter attack. It was not one of our best games, but the work was there, and let’s go for the next one. Mistakes happen, we have to solve it. We have to bounce back and reinvent ourselves. Back to our clean sheet and our process!”
Bukayo Saka, who so calmly steered home a fine goal today, talks to Sky. “It’s very big. We know how good Wolves are. We knew it was going to be tough and we fought for everything. We’re just so delighted to get the win and build some momentum. You can see what the manager’s building, we’re really delighted with the results we’re getting and that I can tie down my future here. It’s been a great week! We fought for each other, together, it feels like we’re more together. I’m 18, this is my dream, and anywhere the boss wants to put me, I’ll play!”
Arsenal move up to seventh (49pts) as a result of that victory. They’re still three points behind Wolves (52pts) who remain in sixth. Wolves can have no complaints about that result. They were ground down by the Gunners, who were initially resolute then increasingly attack-minded, an impressive all-round display. It’s slowly coming together under Mikel Arteta. The tussle between Leicester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Wolves and Arsenal for the remaining two (maybe three) Champions League spots on offer promises to be quite the show.
FULL TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Arsenal
That was ultimately a very impressive performance by improving Arsenal, who went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league and deservedly won. They scored two fine goals, and their dream of Champions League football remains alive.
90 min +4: Arsenal ping it around as the world turns. Textbook clock management.
90 min +2: Xhaka is booked for a late lunge on Jota. Then Kolasinac knocks Jimenez over near the right-hand corner flag, with the Wolves striker going nowhere. The defender is very relieved that Neto’s delivery is useless. Wolves need to do some work on their dead-ball delivery; it’s been truly shocking today.
90 min: There will be five added minutes. Still enough time for Wolves to salvage something, but they’ll need to score very soon.
89 min: Moutinho is replaced by Gibbs-White. Arsenal win a corner. Torreira makes a big deal of doing nothing and is booked for timewasting. Nothing comes of the corner.
88 min: Arsenal come close to a third, Wolves looking utterly deflated. Aubameyang drives towards the box and is within his right to shoot, but the Golden Boot contender selflessly tees up Willock to his right. Willock beats Rui Patricio, but not Neves on the line.
GOAL! Wolves 0-2 Arsenal (Lacazette 86)
The subs combine to secure all three points for Arsenal! Lacazette, his back to goal 30 yards out, rolls a pass wide right for Willock, who glides down the flank before firing a low cross into the box. Lacazette takes a touch on the edge of the six-yard box, moving right and away from Coady, before spinning and steering a lovely shot into the bottom left.
Updated
85 min: Bellerin gets on the end of a long free kick and nearly bustles free, to the right of goal, ten yards out. But he can’t quite work enough space to shoot. Arsenal are doing a fine job of keeping Wolves up the wrong end of the pitch.
84 min: Lacazette is bowled over by Coady, and that’s another name in the referee’s notebook.
83 min: More changes by Arsenal. Lacazette and Torreira come on for Nketiah and Ceballos.
81 min: Neto gives the ball away in the centre circle, allowing Arsenal to flood forward. Ceballos lines one up, 25 yards from goal, but takes too long and the chance is gone.
79 min: Maitland-Niles comes scything through the back of Moutinho. A yellow. On another day, both Saiss and Maitland-Niles could have seen red for the challenges that led to their booking. Michael Oliver’s in a generous mood.
78 min: Another decent chance for Nketiah, who steals the ball from Jota but hesitates fatally when considering a shot from the edge of the box.
77 min: Saiss wants to watch himself here, because now he’s barged into the back of Nketiah. Just a free kick, no second yellow. Nketiah gets on the end of the set piece himself, heading over from six yards. That was a decent chance.
76 min: Before the free kick can be taken, Arsenal make a double swap, sending on Willock and Bellerin for Saka and Cedric. The free kick’s then launched long, but Aubameyang can’t sort his feet out at the far post.
Updated
75 min: Saiss is booked for crudely clipping Aubameyang from behind. That was needlessly aggressive, and it’s going to be a free kick out on the right for Arsenal.
74 min: Moutinho floats this one into the mixer, forcing Xhaka to concede a corner out on the right. Moutinho takes it short, allowing Neto to attack at pace down the flank. He sends a vicious cross into the middle, but Martinez claims it spectacularly. Great hands. Safe hands.
Updated
73 min: A free kick for Wolves out on the left. Moutinho tries to release Jota with a disguised low fizz down the channel. Wolves’ set pieces have been beyond abysmal this evening. But they’ll get another chance, because Cedric almost immediately clatters Jonny.
71 min: Wolves replace Doherty with Neto, and the game restarts.
70 min: Time for isotonic beverages and tactical pep-talks.
69 min: Not for the first time today, Wolves waste their set piece by faffing around. Moutinho and Neves are the people at fault this time.
68 min: Xhaka clumsily clatters Jota to the ground as the Wolves sub slaloms down the middle. This is a free kick in a dangerous central position, 25 yards out.
66 min: There’s a long-distance back and forth between Luiz and Aubameyang as the former claims the latter isn’t making a run, holding his arms out in annoyance. He gets something back after attempting but failing to find the striker with a clunker of a pass. Arsenal haven’t really got going at all today, yet look at the scoreline. What are the words of that old song again?
64 min: Wolves have regained that aforementioned momentum, then. Jota slips Traore into acres down the inside-right channel. Traore draws Martinez, but clanks his chip over the bar. That really should have been the equaliser.
Updated
63 min: Jota sashays at great speed down the centre of the park. Arsenal seem intent on forming a guard of honour for him, and he reaches the edge of the box without being challenged at all. But just as he shoots, Luiz arrives on the scene to block. Marvellous defending by the much-maligned Brazilian.
61 min: A lull. Arsenal will be happy with the way they’ve quelled Wolves’ early second-half momentum.
Updated
59 min: Nketiah looks to burst into space down the left and is barged over by Boly. No free kick, which causes Mikel Arteta to blow a fuse. It did look a strange non-decision.
Updated
57 min: Arsenal respond with their first change. Tierney goes off, Maitland-Niles comes on.
56 min: Wolves make their first sub, sending Jota on. Eyebrows pop up all around Molineux as Traore’s number goes up. But it’s a mistake by the fourth official, and it’s Dendoncker who makes way.
54 min: Traore, with a blend of determination and great skill, brushes off a couple of Arsenal challenges in the centre of the park before spotting Doherty in space on the right. Doherty’s cross leads to a corner that’s wasted, but what a well-rounded player Traore is.
52 min: Traore tears down the right and whips towards Jimenez at the far post. Jimenez sends a diving header wide left, and claims to have been impeded by Cedric, but the referee isn’t in the least bit interested.
51 min: Neves nearly releases Traore down the right, but overcooks the pass to the extent of nearly knocking his team-mate over. Wolves are first to everything right now.
49 min: Wolves have clearly been given a good talking to, as they’re playing at an obviously higher tempo. Doherty nearly chests down a long ball inside the Arsenal box, but gives up the fight after accidentally handling. He’s frustrated at his own mistake.
48 min: Some space for Traore out on the right. He hooks into the centre but can’t find the advanced Dendoncker.
47 min: Saiss looks a wee bit groggy here. The physios take a good long look at him before he’s allowed to get up and continue.
Updated
Arsenal get the second half underway. The action unfolds for all of 15 seconds before it stops again, Saiss having taken an accidental whack on the noggin in an aerial challenge with Saka.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal had most of the possession, Wolves looked more dangerous. But it’s Bukayo Saka’s classy finish that makes the difference. With Champions League qualification still a possibility for both clubs, it’s going to be an interesting second half all right.
45 min: There will be two added minutes.
GOAL! Wolves 0-1 Arsenal (Saka 43)
Aubameyang sends Tierney into space down the left. Tierney’s cross deflects off Doherty, and it’s a little bit behind Saka, 12 yards out. Saka shapes his body wonderfully and steers a fine shot into the top right, giving Rui Patricio no chance! That wasn’t as easy as he made it look. A really assured finish!
Updated
41 min: Traore dribbles down the inside-right channel and draws a clumsy foul out of Kolasinac. A free kick, just to the right of the D. Wolves over-elaborate, trying to tee up Saiss for a dink, and the chance is gone. Two set-pieces utterly wasted in the space of 60 seconds or so. Decadent behaviour, if nothing else.
40 min: Jiminez sends Doherty scampering down the right. The full back wins a corner off Luiz. Moutinho takes, and curls the ball straight out of play for a goal kick. So careless.
38 min: That’s given Arsenal succour, and Nketiah works wonders down the right to reach the byline. He pulls back with vigour, but there’s nobody in the middle to take advantage of his good work. Wolves clear.
37 min: That was a fine first-time shot by Nketiah, and he very nearly caught Rui Patricio out at his near post. Never a good look for goalkeepers. But Rui Patricio’s strong arm dug him out of bother. Just.
35 min: Xhaka dinks the ball down the inside-right channel. It’s not an accurate pass, but Moutinho deflects it into the path of Nketiah, who takes a fierce first-time shot towards the bottom right. Rui Patricio, surprised, instinctively turns the ball onto the right-hand post and out for a corner. Nothing comes from the resulting set piece, but at least Arsenal have finally shown some teeth in attack.
33 min: From the resulting free kick, the ball drops to Jonny, just to the left of the D. He attempts to steer a shot across Martinez and into the bottom right, but it’s always heading wide of goal.
32 min: Traore revs up on the left wing and threatens to leave Luiz for dust. The defender slides in, and that’s the first booking of the evening. David Luiz with an hour to go on a yellow card, against Adama Traore. Arsenal fans are permitted one long gulp.
Updated
31 min: Arsenal with more of the sterile possession. They look impressive until they get near the final third. Then, not so much.
29 min: Wolves, thoroughly refreshed, come at Arsenal just after the restart. Traore works his way down the right, afforded plenty of space by Tierney, who is clearly concerned about his speed. Traore whips a cross into the middle, where Dendoncker heads harmlessly wide left. He should have done better.
27 min: And that’s drinks!
26 min: ... there’s a bit of a scramble in the six-yard box. The ball breaks to Aubameyang, who flicks a shot towards the bottom right that’s easily grabbed by Rui Patricio.
25 min: Tierney works his way down the left and feeds Aubameyang, who wins a corner off Doherty. And from that set piece ...
23 min: Mustafi tries to release Nketiah down the inside-right channel, but Coady glides across to usher the striker away from the danger zone with gentle power.
21 min: It’s not sticking up front for Arsenal at all. They’ve had 73 percent of possession in the last ten minutes, as well, but almost none of it in Wolves’ final third.
Updated
19 min: Doherty flings a long throw into the Arsenal box from the right. It nearly drops to Jimenez, with both Kolasinac and Tierney faffing about, but Arsenal eventually clear. Coady immediately reapplies pressure with a long pass down the right; Traore nearly brings it under control but Tierney sticks to him like glue and forces the Wolves man to run it out for a goal kick.
18 min: Saiss rakes a pass down the left to release Jonny. However, Jonny seems in two minds about what to do when he reaches the ball, and it runs out of play before he swings a leg at it. To be fair, there was nobody in the middle to receive a first-time cross. But Arsenal were easily opened up there.
16 min: Arsenal slow it down a tad by clipping it around the back. Wolves seem happy enough to let them be about their business.
14 min: The first sight of Aubameyang this evening, as Tierney slips a ball down the left wing for him. But he slips under pressure from Doherty, and the chance to race into the box is gone.
12 min: Traore tries to release Dendoncker with a sliderule pass down the right channel. There’s not enough space for the ball to fit through, though, and it pinballs off Dendoncker and a couple of defenders before flying through to Martinez. A nice pacy feel to this game, with most of the early pressure being applied by Wolves.
10 min: Traore dribbles infield from the right, some superb ball control at warp speed. He reaches the edge of the Arsenal box, but spoils the effect by blazing wildly over. He is such a handful, though, almost unplayable at times.
9 min: Tierney offers very little space to Traore out on the right, but the winger still manages to buzz past him in a couple of steps and dig out a cross. Nobody in the centre, but that’s given Tierney, an excellent full back, something to think about.
Updated
8 min: Saka dwells on the ball out on the Arsenal right, and Jonny is quick to strip him of possession. The counter-attack doesn’t really go anywhere, which is good news for Saka, and a wake-up call as well.
6 min: Some space for Cedric down the right. His cross is to nobody in particular, and Wolves clear. Arsenal are enjoying plenty of possession, but they’re not doing a great deal with it yet. Plenty of time to go, of course.
4 min: Martinez is required to come to the edge of his box again, this time to gather a long punt that nearly releases Neves. A couple of no-nonsense, searching, direct passes already. This could be a long evening for David Luiz.
2 min: After that hectic start, Arsenal settle themselves by stringing a few passes together across the back. “Bugles, eh? If we’re bringing musical instruments into it, then Arsenal have been progressing from kazoo to tin whistle to recorder in the last three matches, so there’s every hope that they might graduate to something orchestral in this one. Not too adventurous - fife or piccolo would do. Of course, there’s an equal or greater likelihood of that old favourite, the swannee whistle.” Charles Antaki busking it, there, a one-man band.
1 min: Within the first ten seconds or so, Traore nearly gets on the end of a Jiminez ball down the middle. Martinez does extremely well to block his toe-poke on the edge of the Arsenal box. What a start that would have been!
Updated
Wolves get the ball rolling. But only after everyone takes a knee of solidarity, respect and love. Black lives matter.
Updated
The teams are out! Wolves wear their famous old gold, while Arsenal - who played in plain red shirts in the Sixties under Wright, the iconic white sleeves deemed old-fashioned by the groovy folk of swinging London - sport their first-choice colours too. We’ll be off soon! But not before there’s a minute of applause to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS and to honour the selfless work of its heroic staff during this epidemic. So here are some words, ringing down the ages, from the man behind its foundation by Labour, the legendary Aneurin Bevan: “So far as I am concerned [the Conservative Party] are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of people to semi-starvation. I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying. They have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse.” Preach on, brother Nye.
Updated
Nuno Espirito Santo speaks. “Every game in the Premier League is a very difficult game. Today we have a very difficult opponent in front of us.”
Mikel Arteta adds. “It is better than two weeks ago. Tonight’s game is crucial regarding the future. We come here to win the game. We have no margin for error. We are trying to compete as well as we can.”
The pubs are open again, aren’t they, ahead of the second wave of coronavirus. Here’s one in Wolverhampton, named after Billy Wright, the legendary captain of England and Stan Cullis’s three-time champions of the 1950s. See how the fans congregate with a view to raising a glass to the great defender and leader of men. However, Arsenal fans of a certain vintage may not remember Wright with quite so much affection, the Gunners having descended into extreme mediocrity during his stint as manager in the mid-60s. The low point of Wright’s mid-table reign was a match against Leeds, played out in front of a Highbury crowd of 4,554. One of the punters brought in a bugle, and treated everyone to a tinder-dry rendition of The Last Post. Ah well, nobody’s perfect.
In today’s 3pms ... Leicester City snapped their miserable sequence with a precious 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, while increasingly impressive Manchester United played out an absurd and highly entertaining 5-2 win over Bournemouth. That puts a wee bit of pressure on Wolves to respond in the chase for a place in next year’s Champions League: Leicester are now six points clear of Wolves in third, while United are up to fourth and three points ahead. Wolves are about to play their game in hand; if they win, they’ll barge Chelsea out of fifth spot, for a couple of hours at least. (Frank Lampard’s side host Watford tonight.)
Wolves make one change to the XI that started the 1-0 victory at Aston Villa last weekend. Adama Traore replaces Diogo Jota, who drops to the bench.
Arsenal make three changes to the team that battered Norwich 4-0 midweek. Cedric Soares, Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah take the places of Hector Bellerin, Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson, who are all named as subs. There’s no room in the squad for Mesut Ozil or Matteo Guendouzi, while Nicolas Pepe is missing as his wife has gone into labour.
Updated
The teams
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rui Patricio, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny, Traore, Jimenez.
Subs: Jordao, Neto, Gibbs-White, Jota, Ruddy, Vinagre, Campana, Kilman, Rasmussen.
Arsenal: Martinez, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac, Cedric, Ceballos, Xhaka, Tierney, Saka, Nketiah, Aubameyang.
Subs: Bellerin, Papastathopoulos, Lacazette, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Nelson, Willock, Macey.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
Preamble
Wolverhampton Wanderers have had the better of Arsenal since their return to the big time in 2018. They’ve played the Gunners three times, winning one at Molineux, drawing the other two at the Emirates. This fixture last year saw Nuno Espirito Santo’s excellent side run out easy 3-1 winners; on current form - as the only side with a 100 percent winning record in the league since lockdown was lifted, having gone 405 minutes without letting in a goal - they’re favourites to do something similar again this evening.
Having said all that, Arsenal are beginning to turn their Project Restart world around, after a dismal start that saw them lose to Manchester City and Brighton. They’ve since won three on the bounce, against Southampton and Norwich in the league, and Sheffield United in the cup. A win here today would extend their lead over Tottenham - the upcoming north London derby is going to be a belter - and keep their faint hopes of Champions League football next season alive.
But it’s Wolves, realistically, who are much more likely to claim a place at Europe’s top table. A win here would be priceless, as they dream of their first European Cup campaign since 1959-60 and the heady days of Stan Cullis. Much to play for, then, as two of England’s oldest and grandest clubs lock horns. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm.
Updated
