I’d love to tell you what Mikel Arteta has to say about all of that, but BT Sport have long since turned their attention to Old Trafford, and nobody else is going to interview him for me. Therefore I’m left with little option but to log off. Here’s Barry’s Manchester United v Southampton liveblog. Bye!
Nick Ames has filed his match report from Molineux:
When confidence is shot, a leg-up can change everything. That was the case for Wolves, who were being overrun by Arsenal before seeing events swing dramatically in their favour just before half-time. They were behind to Nicolas Pépé’s 32nd-minute goal and lucky not to be in even greater distress, but then came the decision that enabled their first win in nine league games. Rúben Neves’ penalty was perfectly justifiable but the red card David Luiz received for its concession will dominate the analysis.
Wolves promptly took the points with a glorious long-range screamer from João Moutinho and Arsenal despaired further when Bernd Leno was also dismissed 18 minutes from time. It became the worst of nights for Mikel Arteta when, for half of the game, his team had shown fresh evidence that their improvement is no fluke.
Much more here:
Other stories worth your attention from the world of football today:
Still want more? Barry Glendenning is poised to sprinkle his magic all over Manchester United v Southampton:
Rio Ferdinand on the David Luiz sending-off: “What we’ve learned is that you’re better off going in and just smashing the striker, and you’ll probably get a booking.” We should put this to bed, I think. I do think it should have been a penalty, I think it’s unacceptable that it was also a red card, and that people should be making this kind of inference as a result. Some fresh guidance to the officials is probably in order.
Final score: Wolves 2-1 Arsenal
90+6 mins: Boly wins the header, the ball is thumped back upfield, and the referee blows his whistle! Wolves, outplayed for most of the first half, snaffle the points!
Updated
90+6 mins: Arsenal win a free-kick, 15 yards into the Wolves half. The keeper comes up to take it ...
90+4 mins: Chance for a third! Silva’s run draws a couple of defenders and Neto passes to the unmarked Vitinha to his left, but he shoots wide of the near post.
90+2 mins: FINAL SCORE! Sheffield United 2-1 West Brom! The Blades pocket three massive points. They’re still a long old way from safety, but they’ve now won three out of five and who knows?
90+1 mins: There will be five minutes of stoppage time. Wolves take off Willian Jose, who has had a reasonable game and of course made the excellent run that led to the match-transforming penalty/red card thing, and bring on Fabio Silva.
90 mins: Arsenal have a chance! Bellerin pulls back to Aubameyang, whose shot hits Boly. It rebounds to Saka, whose shot hits Coady, and Wolves clear.
Updated
88 mins: Wolves are keeping the ball for another while. They’re in absolutely no hurry, have a two-man advantage, and should pretty much be able to pass away the five minutes or so standing between them and victory.
87 mins: The game in Sheffield is a couple of minutes ahead of this one, and just entering stoppage time. There’ll be three minutes of it, and Sheffield United are on their way to three massive points.
85 mins: Traore crosses from the right, and in the middle Jose miscues his header and the ball bounces harmlessly wide.
83 mins: Wolves keep the ball for a while. And then another while. “So ... just to recap ... Arsenal’s hit the post twice, scored a beauty, had a disallowed goal, conceded two goals, and had two people sent off,” writes Chuck. “Is that right? I’ve kind of lost track.” That’s just about it (actually they hit the post once, and the bar once).
79 mins: “A player will be sent off soon, show dissent against the decision, be recalled on review by VAR but get a yellow for the foul, and then get a second yellow for the earlier dissent,” predicts Gary Naylor. Just as long as I’m watching when it happens. Vitinha dances through the area before trying to catch Runarsson out at the near post, and failing.
77 mins: Runar son of Runar is tested for the first time by Neto’s drive from an unpromising angle, and saves well enough.
74 mins: That’s a really odd moment. Leno got to the ball well before Traore. He had time. Unless the ball hit something on the pitch and suddenly turned left, it’s hard to explain. Arsenal bring their substitute goalkeeper, the fabulously named Runar Runarsson, on for Partey.
Red cards since Mikel Arteta was appointed
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) February 2, 2021
9 Arsenal
3 Norwich
3 Fulham
3 Everton
3 Brighton
3 WBA
3 Leicester
3 Man City
3 Palace
3 Sheff Utd
Another red card for Arsenal! Leno has been sent off!
72 mins: Leno races from his area to intercept Nelson Semedo’s through-ball before Traore can reach it, but instead of heading it, or kicking it, or using any other part of his body to dispose of it, he misjudges the bounce, it hits his right arm, and he’s off!
Updated
71 mins: GOAL! Sheffield United 2-1 West Brom! A cross from the right hits a defender and drops to Billy Sharp, eight yards from goal, who gobbles up the chance!
Updated
69 mins: Partey approaches the area before blasting a shot into Coady’s leg. The ball spins to Saka, who goes past Kilman with joyful ease but then goes down a little over-easily as he approaches the area, and the referee is not convinced.
66 mins: Nelson Semedo plays the ball to Jose and keeps running, Jose backheels it into his path, and at that point a defender gets in the way of what would have been an excellent goal.
64 mins: We should leave the penalty/red card incident behind us, I suppose. Before we do so, a couple of further posers for our referees: “Thinking about the sending off - the rule therefore means that anyone giving away a penalty for holding or tugging a shirt in the box (from a corner for example) has to be sent off as they are not playing the ball,” writes Steve Ditchburn in Malta. Stupid as this is, it’s no more stupid than the actual thing that actually happened in this actual match. I also think this is a reasonable question from Adrian Clarke:
Genuine question - what’s the difference between an accidental handball (being waved away) and this accidental knee clip being a pen & red card? pic.twitter.com/qYVdJAyZRJ
— Adrian Clarke (@adrianjclarke) February 2, 2021
62 mins: Xhaka pushes Podence over, and gets booked. Podence then goes off, with Vitinha coming on. “Bernd Leno wasn’t attempting to play the ball when Willian Jose kicked his own knee and fell over, either,” notes Michael Keegan. “Why wasn’t he sent off too?”
60 mins: Aubameyang has come on, replacing Pepe.
59 mins: Arsenal are still doing some decent attacking, despite their numerical disadvantage. Bellerin’s cross is turned behind, and then Partey knocks Nelson Semedo over on his way to meeting the corner.
54 mins: GOAL! Sheffield United 1-1 West Brom! The ball bounces to Jayden Bogle inside the area and he smashes it in at the near post!
Updated
52 mins: “I am not sure if you’re an Arsenal fan (it’s coming across as such),” writes Ricky Gill. “It is a clear penalty. Luiz gets himself in a terrible position and inadvertently impedes the running motion of Jose. He probably did not intend on making contact there but he doesn’t do himself any favours. After that, the referee doesn’t have a choice but to send him off as he was the last man. Its unlucky but this is far from a bad decision.”
I am by no means an Arsenal fan. My primary issue is with the idea of classifying that completely accidental contact as a straight red card because there was no attempt to play the ball. To my mind it is unacceptable that people who interpret the law in that way exist, let alone that those people are then issued with whistles and told to officiate top-flight matches.
50 mins: There’s no arguing with that. A stunning hit. Phenomenal.
GOAL! Wolves 2-1 Arsenal (Moutinho, 49 mins)
Cowabunga! Joao Moutinho, fully 30 yards out, sends an absolute screamer off the post and into the net!
Updated
47 mins: Neves is booked for bringing Cedric down as Arsenal attempt to break.
46 mins: Both games have restarted. Arsenal have brought Gabriel on for Lacazette to bolster their defence.
“Are you having a laugh?” asks Robert Andrews. “He fouls the man in the box, denies a clear goalscoring opportunity. Straight red. Stonewall Penalty all day, every day. Doesn’t matter a wit his intention.” Laugh? I’m genuinely furious, particularly because watching David Luiz get sent off is normally so much fun.
The purpose of that law is to punish players who cynically and deliberately poleaxe a player before they can score. It’s not to brandish at red cards at people who didn’t do anything deliberate whatsoever. Really, referees, grow the hell up.
Peter Walton, BT Sport’s in-house refereeing expert, says Craig Pawson had no choice but to send David Luiz off, because he wasn’t attempting to play the ball when Willian Jose kicked his knee and fell over. If that is genuinely how referees are reading the laws, it’s absolutely unacceptable and the laws need to be immediately reworded to make it less possible to draw cretinous conclusions from them.
No foul can be given unless a referee considers an offence to have been committed “in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force”. So which was that? We can rule out excessive force and the recklessness. Was it careless? I suppose maybe, at a push, if you’re really picky. I’m not sure, according to the laws of the game, it’s even a penalty.
I don’t understand how that red card is remotely justifiable. There was no challenge. Of course David Luiz didn’t attempt to play the ball, he wasn’t attempting anything, except to catch up with the guy streaking away in front of him.
GOAL! Wolves 1-1 Arsenal (Neves, 45+5 mins)
Ruben Neves crashes his penalty into the top right corner of the net, and having been second best for much of the match Wolves go into the break on level terms and a man up!
Updated
Penalty to Wolves! And David Luiz is sent off!
Podence plays a fine ball through to Willian Jose, who catches David Luiz with his heel as he runs through and goes over. The referee gives the penalty, and David Luiz is sent off for running!
Updated
45+1 mins: We go into stoppage time, and there’ll be two minutes of it in both games.
41 mins: GOAL FOR WEST BROM! A massive moment in the other early evening Premier League game, where Matt Phillips taps in the rebound after Aaron Ramsdale parries Mbaye Diagne’s shot from the rebound after Aaron Ramsdale parries Callum Robinson’s shot! West Brom have now had more shots on target than Sheffield United, but they all came within about two seconds in the build-up to the opener.
Updated
41 mins: Smith-Rowe’s low cross goes across goal but Saka doesn’t anticipate it, and it’s cleared.
39 mins: Neves mishits a shot so completely that it becomes a handy ball out to Neto on the right-hand corner of the penalty area, who goes on to win a corner.
37 mins: After a decent spell from the home team Arsenal break again, Xhaka plays Pepe through, and perhaps with his goal in mind he tries to get the ball past Coady a bit luckily, just pushing it into the defender and hoping for a handy bounce, but he doesn’t get one.
35 mins: Saka tackles Neto, sending the ball behind for a ... you wot ref? ... a throw-in. Wolves complain a bit but the referee insists.
GOAL! Wolves 0-1 Arsenal (Pepe, 32 mins)
The breakthrough! Pepe wins the ball off Semedo in the Wolves half, exchanges passes with Lacazette, gets the ball past Semedo a bit luckily, gets the ball past Neves a bit luckily, and then curls a fine shot across goal and in at the far post!
Updated
30 mins: Arsenal break, the ball is played into the area and Saka races Boly. The ball goes over the goalline, the Arsenal player just goes over, and after a nervy pause the referee gives a corner.
29 mins: Wolves counter down the left, but Neto’s low cross is poor, and goes behind Willian Jose and Adama Traore.
27 mins: Kilman gets booked for raking Saka’s heel, as Arsenal launch repeated forays down the right. Wolves are holding firm, though it’s a disconcertingly wobbly kind of firmness.
25 mins: Pepe hits the bar! Smith Rowe bursts into the area, gets to the byline, spins and lays it back to Pepe, who from un unpromising angle sends in a shot that’s tipped into the woodwork by Rui Patricio!
Updated
23 mins: Nelson Semedo stings Leno’s pass with a vicious low shot from 30 yards. It’s pouring with rain in Wolverhampton this evening and not a pleasant time to be a goalkeeper, and Leno shovels it out just wide of goal, where Holding completes the job.
22 mins: There’s not much to report from the other early evening game, except that West Brom have had barely 30% of possession and no shots on target so far.
18 mins: Surely there is no chance of this game ending goalless. The ball seems to be spending all its time in the two final thirds, and none of its time being shuffled aimlessly between defenders. Wolves do a bit of attacking now, but Podence on the right and Neto on the left both have low crosses blocked.
15 mins: Arsenal come close again, Partey again releasing Saka but his low cross zipping past Lacazette before the Frenchman can react.
13 mins: Moutinho trips Lacazette, and earns the night’s first booking.
12 mins: Bellerin is released down the right by Lacazette, cuts onto his left foot and then ... plays a frankly bizarre crossfield ball past a crowded area to the opposite flank, where no Arsenal player gets anywhere near it.
11 mins: Now Wolves come close! A corner is played short, crossed by Moutinho and headed over the bar by Kilman at the near post!
Updated
9 mins: Goal! But no! A cross from the left is flicked on by Holding to Lacazette, whose first-time pull-back finds Saka who thumps a right-foot shot across goal and in. It’s a beautiful finish, but Lacazette was half a foot offside when the ball was flicked on!
Updated
7 mins: It’s been all Arsenal so far, with Saka involved in everything, either on the right or drifting into the middle.
4 mins: Save! Now Cedric goes on a nice run down the left, tricking his way past Nelson Semedo, before pulling the ball back to nobody very much. Saka gets to it first, though, and his first-time shot on the spin is saved by Rui Patricio, low to his left.
1 min: Arsenal hit the post inside 35 seconds! Saka is played through by Partey’s lofted long ball over the defence and bursts through on the right of the area. Really he should be finishing that, but he hits the inside of the far post and it rebounds to safety!
1 min: Peeeeep! The ball is rolling!
The players are emerging from the tunnel (Wolves) / down the stairs from their first-floor makeshift dressing room. It’s three minutes to football o’clock!
Mikel Arteta says Aubameyang has only had one day’s training since returning from wherever-he-was so wasn’t ready to start, while Martin Odegaard “hasn’t been here long enough and needs a little bit more time”.
We know they are a team that gets good results against the top teams. We want to maintain our form in the Premier League. There’s a balance, we’re really efficient going forward and really solid defending our own goal and when that happens, you pick up a lot of points. You need some experience, but you need some youth, a different energy. To get that balance is not easy and now we’ve got it.
Nuno Espirito Santo says he’ll be playing with a back four, for avoidance of doubt. He’s asked about the clear-the-air meeting his squad had in the build-up to this game:
Now actions. Those were the moments to speak, now we needs to translate those words into actions. It’s the only way to improve. [The injury to Jimenez] will stay forever in our memories but that’s not the focus now. It is over, and we have a big challenge in front of us.
I rarely feel sorry for footballers, but this horribly-lit coach-exiting ambush photograph does seem a little cruel. Not cruel enough to stop me publishing it though.
Meanwhile at Bramall Lane:
Sheff Utd: Ramsdale, Baldock, Basham, Egan, Ampadu, Bogle, Lundstram, Norwood, Fleck, McGoldrick, Sharp. Subs: McBurnie, Lowe, Burke, Jagielka, Foderingham, Brewster, Bryan, Ndiaye, Brunt.
West Brom: Johnstone, O’Shea, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend, Phillips, Livermore, Snodgrass, Matheus Pereira, Diagne, Robinson. Subs: Furlong, Gibbs, Robson-Kanu, Gallagher, Sawyers, Ivanovic, Peltier, Button, Grant.
Referee: Paul Tierney.
Two changes for the Blades. 🔁
— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) February 2, 2021
McGoldrick and Sharp come into the side while Zak Brunt & Iliman Ndiaye earn spots on the bench. #SHUWBA 🔜 pic.twitter.com/ANbvafpPaV
📋 Team news is in at Bramall Lane.
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) February 2, 2021
Conor Townsend and Matt Phillips return to the XI, while Mbaye Diagne is set to make his first @premierleague start. COYB! 🟢🟡@MonsterEnergy | #SHUWBA
Updated
The teams!
Two changes for Wolves, for whom Traore and Neves are back, while Saka replaces Martinelli for Arsenal after passing a late fitness test. The teams in full:
Wolverhampton: Rui Patricio, Nelson Semedo, Coady, Boly, Kilman, Daniel Podence, Neves, Joao Moutinho, Traore, Willian Jose, Pedro Neto. Subs: Hoever, Silva, Gibbs-White, Vitinha, Ruddy, Dendoncker, Richards, Otasowie.
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Cedric, Thomas, Xhaka, Saka, Smith-Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette. Subs: Gabriel, Ceballos, Willian, Runarsson, Aubameyang, Chambers, Elneny, Martinelli, Odegaard.
Referee: Craig Pawson.
Here's how Wolves line-up for this evening's @premierleague fixture against @Arsenal. #WOLARS
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 2, 2021
🐺📋 pic.twitter.com/xIR1oGYaBS
🚨 One change from Saturday
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 2, 2021
➡️ @BukayoSaka87
⬅️ @g_martinelli01
🔄 Auba and Dani in the squad#WOLARS
Hello world!
When these teams met at the Emirates at the end of November Wolves emerged with all three points but for them it was to prove a night of triumph and of trauma. They were seventh in the league, which is as close to home as Wolves get - in seven of the last 23 seasons, a shade over 30%, they have finished seventh in one division or another, including three of the last six. But casting a pall over this was the injury to Raul Jimenez sustained in the early stages of that match, when he fractured his skull in a clash of heads with David Luiz, a cruel blow in every sense. Wolves have taken six of a possible 33 points since that night, the worst record in the division (joint with West Brom), and their desperation to reignite their attack has seen them sign Willian Jose from Spain’s Royal Society, who is still very much in his settling-in period, 10 days after his arrival.
In the build-up to this match, Nuno Espirito Santo called a crisis meeting at which the squad talked through their current issues. “The dialogue was positive and sharing our feelings is positive, but then we have to transform that into action, and that is what we want to do tomorrow, transforming the feelings, the words into actions,” he said. “We have not had much time on the training ground, due to the short turnaround between games, but we addressed the problems, and we are trying to find the solutions to raise our standards and be able to perform again.”
Arsenal meanwhile were 14th after the Wolves defeat, and in their next four games would lose to Spurs, Burnley and Everton and draw at home to Southampton. But they have not lost since, and despite those poor results in a league table of results earned since that Wolves game they are fifth, over the last 10 matches they sit third, over the last eight they are second. Win tonight and they go sixth.
Meanwhile Sheffield United are playing West Bromwich Albion in a match of massive significance at the foot of the table, and we’ll be keeping a pretty close eye on that as well. Welcome!
