Result: Wolves 0-2 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 12 November 2022
Venue: Molineux Stadium
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka, Ødegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus.
Subs: Turner, Tierney, Cedric, Holding, Elneny, Vieira, Marquinhos, Nelson, Nketiah.
Two goals from Martin Ødegaard secured an ultimately comfortable win in the midlands. A true captains performance sent Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premier League for the World Cup break.
PRE-MATCH
Mikel Arteta named his strongest XI for the trip to Wolves, the same side as faced Chelsea last week. A notable return to the bench for Matt Turner, who had missed a few weeks due to injury.
A win would send Arsenal five points clear at the top of the table, thanks to Brentford’s win at Manchester City earlier in the day. But whatever the result, it will be the Gunners atop the tree at christmas.
FIRST HALF
Two minutes into the game and a worrying sight as Granit Xhaka needed treatment from the medical staff. He didn’t appear to pick up a knock, so it could’ve been a case of feeling unwell. But the Switzerland captain felt ok to continue.
Gabriel Jesus had the ball in the net after a majestic first touch and emphatic finish, but the flag went up straight away. Jesus rubbed his head in frustration as his wait for a goal continues.
Xhaka didn’t last much longer as he was replaced by Fabio Vieira on 15 minutes. Hopefully it was nothing more than sickness, with the World Cup fast approaching.
Arsenal were practicing patience with the build-up play, but struggling to really find a cutting edge. And Adama Traore looked threatening on the counter attack as he drove at Arsenal’s defence. It was Jesus who popped up in the defensive midfield role to brilliantly disposes the Spaniard.
Jesus was proving a menace all over the pitch, as he was in the thick of the action again – heading an effort just wide after a great cross from Zinchenko.
Benjamin White got a talking to from the referee, for giving the assistant an earful after he didn’t award Arsenal what looked like a corner. ‘You could fucking hear it!’ White exclaimed, before casually tossing the ball at the linesman.
Ten minutes before half time and Jesus had another chance. This time the Brazilian chopped in from the left and hit the crossbar with thunderous effort. It looked offside anyway.
Arsenal continued to look frustrated in the dying embers of the first half, under par by their high standards. Perhaps a kick up the arse at half-time was needed to induce one last 45 minutes of energy before the World cup break.
SECOND HALF
Wolves had the first chance of the second period through another counter attacking move. Guedes tried to pick out Traore, who was steaming toward Arsenal’s goal, but Ramsdale got their first and hung on – sending Traore tumbling.
The home side began to grow in confidence and Arsenal continued to labour. But it was the Gunners who broke the deadlock in the 55th minute. Ødegaard tapped the ball home after a wonderful team move. But it was Fabio Vieira who stole the show with a cheeky, naughty, and downright silly little dinked prod into the goal mouth, which his captain duly tucked away. 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Gabriel received a booking on the hour mark, after he brought down Traore just outside the penalty area. The resulting free kick was struck low by Guedes, but Ramsdale was equal to it.
The Arsenal number one was in the wars ten minutes later as he once again beat Traore to the ball, bravely going in at knee level. He did well to recover because Traore is no stick insect…
Ødegaard truly was leading by example and he doubled his tally with 15 minutes to go. An effort from Martinelli was parried out by Sa, but Martin was on hand to take a touch and rifle home. 2-0 Arsenal.
Podence tried the spectacular in the 85th minute as he flicked the ball up for himself and attempted a bicycle kick. It ended up being much closer than Ramsdale anticipated, who stuck his tongue out in relief after it fizzed wide.
Ramsdale made a brilliant save near the end of the 90, after Podence again threatened – this time with a powerful effort from the middle of the box.
Full time and Arsenal go five points clear at the top of the Premier League. What a way to end the first period of the season. Until Boxing day…
Brilliant Arsenal! The only good thing about a winter World Cup break is that we’ll be top at Christmas.
Incredible start to the season, best ever with one of the youngest teams in the PL. 2.65 points per match. Hope the team comes back fit and well after the World Cup and we can see what we can do. COYR!
#Standard
Easy this football thing, hey?
Welcome to the first team Fabio 🌈
If the injury gods are kind, we can win the league.
When we return, January will be a tough month, more so than October I feel. Brighton (A), Newcastle (H), Sp*rs (A), United (H) and possibly the Man City reschedule. Get anything north of 10 pts from those games (and not losing to City) and I will personally start dreaming about the league.
Ooh to be a Gooner!!!!
Looks pretty easy to me?
The Everton reschedule is more likely as we both got knocked out of the League Cup so there’s a midweek date available.
I’m sure Brighton is last game of December, but I get the point being made. Can add FA cup to that too
Even just 9pts from the next 6 games still leaves us on 2.3pts per game! I would take that after 20 games Now who to add to the squad in January? For me it’d be a clinical finisher to challenge Jesus, that then allows the option of using Jesus wide if Nelson doesn’t take his chance and Saka is unavailable ESR should return by then to bolster options too. If we pick up >1 player? Then: A better 2nd choice goalie is there’s an old one going cheap. A ready made Party backup (who that is though I have no… Read more »
All those Teams are below us in the League, so should be easy wins?
We could have been, anyway!
5 points lead just before the wolrd cup, its awesome!!
You mean the weird cup?
I agree, fantastic stuff!
There are rumours that Arteta may be super and he knows exactly what we need ❤
Great win! Coyg
Dös a cero
Good win. 5 points clear. Only issue for me is Arteta still slow to make subs. Those changes I think could have been made the moment the 2nd goal goes in
then you concede one and suddenly it’s panic stations. i thought it was good game management.
True. But Id argue Nelson has shown enough to be trusted when Saka was looking tired, and Elneny is a solid, if unspectacular player who I’d trust to hold the ball. Cedric could have waited.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted with the win, and Super Mik Arteta is doing an amazing job. I just have this one niggling thing that he is a little too hesitant to bring on fresh legs. IMHO
If that’s your gripe then you need to realize Arteta readied them by 82-ish mins. I count 3 instances when the ball went out of play but the ref didn’t allow the change. If anything you should be fuming at the ref?
Sure, they were waiting a while. Ref didn’t allow or manager held, not wanting to change ahead of a corner?
Cool and competent, these Gunners, forging their own way through criticisms, bad wishes of pundits, through doubts, through obstacles, through…
Yep! The elephant is STILL in the tree :).
5 clear…wow! We could not have dreamed of this scenario.
Honestly, never saw that one coming– and I think I speak for an overwhelming majority of Arsenal fans
You do!
First half of the season done and we sit top of the league by five points. Beautiful!
I wish we were half way through! But we’ve only played 14, there’s still 24 to go.
Unfortunately, it’s only a third
Having such momentum and having to stop because of this horribly artificial world cup sucks. The world cup this time is going to suck donkey balls.
Top. Of. The. League.
Adama Traore is absolutely terrifying. But also, luckily, quite rubbish. Anyone else getting frustrated by Saka tonight?
Nope.
here comes the flood of downvotes, but even though i think he’s a very good player, for me this season saka hasn’t lived up to the “best of the world” title most arsenal fans around here have put above his head. like i said, he’s a good player and he’ll surely become much better, but so far this season he’s been quite standard for me. he didn’t have a single good play against bueno tonight. still love him tho
Were you expecting Bueno to be Kinder?
Saka has the second most assists in the EPL, behind only DeBruyne.
He has also scored one more goal than DeBruyne.
Because we’re expecting him to hit the Mane/Salah levels this season, and not appreciating him for what he is, a young footballer learning the top level
He’s playing a different role than these Liverpool forwards do/did. He’s playing outside in, like an old school right footed winger. And he can cross with his right, but he’s even better cutting in. Sala does that brilliantly and he’s an outstanding finisher, but Saka is more versatile. Actually, Mane is the better comparison.
I wonder if Traore has ever tried rugby? Or professional wrestling.
😄😄😄
He oiled his muscles at half time. What a prick. If he would spend less time at the gym and more time actually practicing football, he might become half decent.
But it’s much easier to beef up a talented footballer like Vieira than teaching a sprinter oaf like Traore football intelligence.
I think maybe Saka was suffering from the same thing that brought Xhaka off. It would have been no shame to sub him off early, and Nelson looked ready to go.
This team has resilience!
Congrats to the lads!
It was a weird match though we had a really slow tempo and it looked like it was instructions. Any clue why so?
Wolves were at home and had everyone behind the ball. Although I got frustrated in first half, we were actually patient and professional and it paid off.
Keeping possesion is the goal
Remind me again how we got Odegaard for thirty million??
Not a clue. i was just discussing that with a friend. How we got him at all…..
They could put a camera just on his feet for 90mins and I’d still watch it
They could put camera in front of him while he’s reading a book and I would still watch it.
Gods took pity on us after we bought Pepe for 70m
We paid 70m for a 30m player (at best) and 30m for a 70m player (at least) so all’s well in the end.
Because Real Madrid is a strange club. He was the bright, sparkly new wonder kid at 16 when they signed him. They seemed to, basically, get bored of him. Their loss is our gain.
⬆️🎄🤯
wow we got lucky not conceding that penalty. would’ve changed the whole complexion of the game.
Nah, this is a very new Arsenal…
Ramsdale would have saved it.
you must have watched a different game because i didn’t see a penalty, just some caretaker manager mad that his side didn’t get one
But for KDB cheating last week.. Ahh to imagine!
Exactly! And we should never have lost to Man U! Maybe, just maybe, we are the real deal? 🙂
I’m staying cautiously optimistic. We are a very good team and I’d still be happy with and Champions League position come the end of the season. We have a World Cup now where no doubt rival team players are going to be going after some of ours with dirty challenges. If we come out of it with Saliba, Partey, Saka and Xhaka all in good shape as well as at least one of Tomi and White, then we give ourselves a good chance. I don’t include Ramsdale there because we all know how much Southgate loves Pickford. This break also… Read more »
Of course, the two Gabriels must stay fit too but I’m not sure how often they’ll feature given the strength of Brazil’s forwards and the likely favouritism towards Neymar and Raphinha (just because he plays for Barcelona)
They certainly tried it again today, but even with the home crowd they couldn’t get a sniff of var
That and if Spuds had lost today. Fucking Kulusevski is just too good. I hope he’s not a Spuds player next season.
🔴👊⚪️ COYG
Nice professional win.
We are by far the bed defensive team in the division. Now buy a striker in January and we’ll win the title
If Fatgooner is dreaming, we all can!
A striker and a Partey are musts. A winger will be the icing on the cake. If we do that, the EPL is coming to the Emirates.
I heard Sanogo is available..
It’sa no go
Yaya’s a no-go
why would we buy a striker you numpty? eddie hasn’t put a foot wrong and balogun is the next mbappe if l’equipe match reports are worth anything
This sort of thinking fucking baffles me. 25 man squad I believe. Plenty of room in it for mudryk or similar.
Just to be clear, do you want a new striker as an upgrade on Jesus, or an upgrade on Nketiah?
Both
I’m just grateful for the upgrade on Laca and Auba. I wasn’t an Eddie fan but this season he looks different (in a good way), he’s more direct and I feel like he has purpose that will set up a goal or score one.
Upgrade on nketia for me. Without it we suffer badly if Jesus is injured.
The 1st team looks the business, but backups are where we lack quality.
There are clear gaps in backups for Jesus, Saka, Partey, and Gabriel. In this window I would focus on a striker if possible as I don’t think Eddie cuts it unfortunately. Having said that, January is notoriously complicated so it might just depend on whether the right player is available. I trust the recruitment people.
100% with you on that, Eddie has his uses but he’s not at the required level
I’d be happy to bin Eddie put Jesus on the wing and get a goal scorer?
Excellent result. Bottom against top, what could possibly have gone wrong? Well, you never can tell but we certainly didn’t want to be on the end of the second surprise (shock) of the day, and we weren’t. So, our superb young team end the first part of the season five points clear of the second placed team. Who on earth would have bet on that before the season started? Nobody. The second part of the season will be tougher what with cup competitions and, probably, more injuries etc. There may also be challenges from teams other than City – on… Read more »
Ben White slapping 50 yard pin point passes is my jam.
The movement for the two goals was the only way to break down a resolute Wolves team. Brilliant second half display.
I dreaded a breakaway goal for them when it was still goalless; but immediately the first one went in, I knew we’ll get another if they come out.
Jesus is an obvious revelation along with Saliba but Partey is what we’ve been missing for years
He’s playing his best football since he arrived, phenomenal player when he’s on song must be a nightmare to play against.
Competent & professional & the skipper was just different gravy ! Dare to dream ? I think we can !
I wasn’t comfortable until about 93:47. I love Saka, but he seemed to be (understandably) worried about picking up an injury. He seemed a bit off the pace, and continued to ignore Ben White’s good runs and didn’t really take on his man as much as he could. Maybe he’s still carrying something. I was hoping Reiss would come in for him at about 75′ or earlier and Tierney would come on for Zinchenko at about the same time. Don’t think the latter is 100% and got caught dawdling on the ball a few times. Great win all in all… Read more »
Have we played anyone decent yet?
No we haven’t played any team above us. 😂
There’s no one decent in this league apart from us…
and maybe City.
We still have to play City. But they have to play us!
Twice!
Think the postponement was unlucky for us. If we had to play them next week I would be looking forward to it.
Happy Christmas all. Now let’s enjoy the world cup .
Nah there’s no more football anywhere in the world now until Boxing Day.
Not watching it myself unless there’s an Arsenal interest on show.
My goodness, we can dream can’t we?
No way of knowing the condition of anyone’s squads after the World Cup but on paper we have a couple of games to get the momentum rolling before smashing the spuds. We can very much go into the game against city with the advantage
Fucking excellent.
Glad we can name our first choice 14 games into the season. Hopefully we can do the same on Boxing Day
I haven’t seen the game because of the blackout, but I’m just so damn proud. Thanks, lads. Thanks, boss.
Bloody top of the league, 5 points clear. I need to pinch myself, because this is a factually correct statement about Arsenal FC.
Amazing.
Looking at the bigger picture, there has been a culture change at the club and a standard has been set.
Great win!
Props for Martinelli for pressing the opposition in build-up for 2nd goal!
And starting off the first goal
Great, fucking great. And after the WC we will have ESR back. He will be like a new signing.
Yeah, sometimes I forget how good he has been as we haven’t seen him for so long. Will be a huge bonus having him back. Hopefully he’ll stay fit.
Loved Ramsdale telling Zinchenko to “stop taking the piss” when his mistake forced Ramsdale into a neat save.
Podence played a good game, full of dribbling and threat. Some of that intensity should be a good barometer for Vieira to observe.
And when he is in the left 8 position, he and Ode don’t get in each others way.