Arsenal 1 Wolves 0

Ten-man Wolves went within a minute of added time of halting title-chasing Arsenal for a superb point.

Substitute Nicklas Bendtner got ahead of Ronald Zubar to head the winner from Bacary Sagna's cross in the fourth minute of injury time, after Wolves had withstood unrelenting pressure for 94 minutes.

They were close to making history by extending their unbeaten run to a record five Premier League games on their first trip to the Emirates.

All after being forced to play the last 24 minutes with 10 men, after captain Karl Henry was sent off for a late tackle on Tomas Rosicky.

It was a harsh decision as the midfielder won the ball when a booking would surely have sufficed, and referee Andre Marriner's decision put Wolves under even more pressure.

But goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann made several fine saves, while Michael Mancienne was superb making tackle after tackle in front of the defence, which was rock solid throughout.

Wolves, who gave midifelder David Edwards a 20-minute comeback as substitute, were virtually camped inside their own half in the second-half.

But they almost shocked the hosts when Rosicky headed off the line, after Thomas Vermaelen headed Matt Jarvis's corner goalwards in the 79th minute.

Arsenal made seven changes to the line-up that forced a draw with Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The fresh legs showed as they took the game to a Wolves side unchanged for a third successive game.

Predictably, Theo Walcott was the Gunners' chief threat and Hahnemann's reflexes were tested as early as the sixth minute, sticking out a left hand to divert Eduardo's close range effort wide, after a typically high speed run by the former Southampton youngster.

But although Wolves replied with a decent Michael Mancienne effort that flew just wide from 20 yards, the home side returned to the attack immediately when Eduardo finished poorly from 10 yards from Tomas Rosicky's centre, after another run from Walcott.

Only Hahnemann's legs prevented a certain goal in the 13th minute, somehow diverting away Bacary Sagna's goalbound effort after Walcott's run and pass split the defence.

Everything seemed to come down the right hand side and Sagna was involved again, this time in a worrying collision with Hahnemann which left both players needing treatment before continuing.

Arsenal continued to dominate and centre-back Thomas Vermaelen was next to try his luck, with a rising drive that sailed over before Walcott's shot was blocked by George Elokobi.

Walcott then forced Hahnemann to spring to his left to catch his fierce 25-yard drive, before Denilson was wide with a similar effort.

The recalled Mikael Silvestre then fired straight at Hahnemann from Rosicky's cross.

But Wolves remained in the game and forced three corners at the end of the first-half, two of which had to be punched away by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Arsenal started the second -alf as they finished the first – on the attack.

But they were careless at times with their final pass, allowing Wolves the chance to clear their lines.

They did find a way through in the 54th minute but, after winning the header from Sagna's cross, his attempted volley came off his shin and went safely wide.

Five minutes later, Hahnemann was called into action again and managed to hold on to Rosicky's fierce angled drive.

Wolves responded with their most sustained spell of attacking as Kevin Foley, Matt Jarvis and Kevin Doyle all got forward to run at the home defence without testing Almunia.

But their best period of play was halted with the sending off of Henry, which left the visitors with an uphill battle.

Manager Mick McCarthy also incurred the wrath of the home crowd in applauding Henry off, as if to condone the challenge.

Within two minutes of Henry's dismissal, Hahnemann saved Rosicky's point blank effort before leaping to catch substitute Nicklas Bendtner's looping header.

Substitute Stephen Ward also blocked from fellow sub Samir Nasri as the pressure continued.

Bendtner's winner finally rewarded the Gunners' domination with that last-gasp header, and the Emirates Stadium celebrated as if they had won the league.