Wolves 0-1 Arsenal - Report

In a tight first half the hosts were unfortunate to go behind from a Gabriel tap-in following a scramble in the box, but Wolves also struggled to find that killer instinct in front of goal.

Too many sloppy passes crept into Wolves’ game, despite an improvement on their poor display last week.

Wolves saw plenty of the ball in the second half and dominated play, particularly when Gabriel Martinelli was sent off, but Arsenal sat back in their defensive shape and clung on to their slim lead.

The biggest chance for an equaliser came when substitute Chiquinho had a cleared off the line after a sustained spell of pressure saw Wolves flood the Arsenal box and create several chances.

Despite taking captain Conor Coady off with 10 minutes to play, as Wolves threw everything at the game, in the end they failed to find that elusive equaliser that would have given them a huge boost in their Premier League aspirations. The result was their first Premier League loss of 2022.

A win would have seen them leapfrog Arsenal and Spurs into sixth-place but for now Wolves must settle for eighth with a trip to Spurs coming on Sunday.

Despite this blip, Wolves are still six points off West Ham in fourth with two games to spare and their hunt for Europe is still very much alive.

Bruno Lage made five changes from his side’s FA Cup loss to Norwich and switched back to the 3-4-3 formation.

One change was enforced as Joao Moutinho missed out with a calf injury, although the severity of the knock was unknown, while John Ruddy, Toti Gomes, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Fabio Silva all dropped to the bench.

Romain Saiss came in after returning from the African Cup of Nations, alongside Jose Sa, Fernando Marcal, Francisco Trincao and Raul Jimenez.

Wolves were also given a boost on the bench as Jonny Castro Otto returned after a 10-month lay-off, as well as Hwang Hee-chan who has been missing since mid-December.

Mikel Arteta made three changes to his side and returned to the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Their big boost came in midfield as Thomas Partey came back into the team.

Under the Molineux lights the home fans were creating a superb atmosphere and the team was responding with some high-tempo football.

Jimenez got the fans off their seats when he charged down an attempted clearance from Gabriel but after making the block the ball fell kindly to an Arsenal player to clear.

A Ruben Neves cross was then aimed at Leander Dendoncker but Partey came across to intercept. However, the midfielder made a hash of it and lashed the ball onto Dendoncker, who could not bring it down inside the box.

Arsenal came close through a set piece when the ball fell to Ben White on the edge of the box but his strong effort was blocked by Max Kilman. Wolves then broke forward and Jimenez was fouled before taking a quick free-kick from more than 40 yards, looking to catch goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale off-guard, but the goalkeeper was on his toes and easily collected.

With both teams threatening it was the visitors that struck first. A dangerous corner caused a scramble in the box and Alexandre Lacazette beat Sa to the ball to turn it around the corner and allow defender Gabriel to poke home from two yards.

After a period of sloppy play and poor passing Wolves then settled and began to fashion chances. Plenty of crosses came in and the best chance fell to Jimenez who had his header caught by Ramsdale.

Lacazette should have doubled Arsenal’s lead when a superb move between Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard saw the striker have a free shot from 10 yards, but his effort was straight at Sa.

Wolves were unable to force through an equaliser before half-time and entered the break losing 1-0.

The hosts came out with much more intent in the second half and dominated the early proceedings. Several forays into the box did not come to fruition and Dendoncker had the best opportunity with a free header from five yards that he ballooned over the bar.

With Wolves chasing the game and making some attacking substitutions looking for an equaliser, Arsenal were employing some comical time wasting tactics at just the 65th minute. Gabriel won a controversial free-kick in his own half and then hit the floor claiming to be injured, only to quickly find his feet when referee Michael Oliver warned the defender – who had been booked only minutes earlier for time wasting.

Wolves were then handed a boost when Martinelli was given two instant yellow cards. The forward pushed Daniel Podence over when he was taking a throw-in and after advantage was played he dragged down Chiquinho – resulting in referee Oliver handing him two yellow cards. From the resulting free-kick Wolves scored, but it was correctly given offside.

At the other end Lacazette missed a glorious one-on-one chance that he should have buried.

Wolves were still pushing for that equaliser and were flooding the box before youngster Chiquinho saw a diving header cleared off the line after Jimenez had done superbly well to keep the ball alive.

But Wolves could not force through a goal and fell to their first Premier League defeat of 2022.

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Kilman, Coady (Silva, 80), Saiss, Semedo, Neves, Dendoncker, Marcal (Ait-Nouri, 62), Trincao (Chiquinho, 62), Jimenez, Podence.

Subs not used: Ruddy, Hoever, Jonny, Gomes, Cundle, Hwang.

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard (Smith-Rowe, 68), Saka (Holding, 71), Martinelli, Lacazette (Nketiah, 80)

Subs not used: Okonkwo, Awe, Tavares, Elneny, Lokonga, Pepe.