Arsenal: Raya, Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Trossard, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus
Subs: Ramsdale, White, Cedric, Kiwior, Jorginho, Elneny, Nelson, Havertz, Nketiah
Arsenal put themselves four points clear atop of the Premier League after beating Wolves 2-1 at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
Mikel Arteta made one changes to the side that beat Lens on Wednesday with Leandro Trossard coming in to replace Kai Havertz.
Repeating their midweek antics, Arsenal were ahead early on through Saka who showed great feet in a crowded penalty box before finishing past Jose Sa after nice work from Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu. 1-0.
The Gunners doubled their lead minutes later and this move would have had Arsène Wenger smiling from wherever he was, when sensational one-touch play between Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko cut Wolves open before the Ukrainian crossed for Odegaard to slot home from 12 yards – the Ø Zone – breaking the game open. 2-0.
Wolves were completely overwhelmed by Arsenal in the opening half hour and despite their attempts to double up on Saka and Martinelli, had no way out of their defensive third with William Saliba, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard constantly recovering the ball.
There were further opportunities for the hosts, with Trossard ghosting into the penalty area and pulling down a Martin Odegaard cross brilliantly, only for Jose Sa to rush out and save his close range effort.
Gabriel Martinelli was then denied by the woodwork after a clinical counter attack involving Saka, before Jesus was played through again by Odegaard only to curl a weak effort into the body of first half substitute Daniel Bentley.
Although looking back the Brazilian probably should have squared to Declan Rice who was better placed in the middle.
There was one nervous moment in first half injury time when a miscommunication between Oleksandr Zinchenko and Saliba led to Hwang breaking through on goal, but thankfully David Raya was out quickly to smother the Korean.
Arsenal started the second half quickly and Jesus was inches away from making it three after Tomiyasu broke forward well again, although replays showed Max Kilman was lucky to avoid conceding a penalty after tugging at the hand of the Brazilian.
Following their midweek exploits and with a busy schedule in mind, Arteta’s men were happy to control the game and slowed the game down considerably having initially raced into the lead.
Half chances did follow for Rice – who shot wide from the edge of the area – and Saka who was inches away from adding another sensational goal to his catalogue but curled inches over from distance.
Despite Wolves offering little offensively all afternoon, they were gifted a route back into the game when Zinchenko was caught on the ball again which allowed Matheus Cunha to curl past Raya from the edge of the box. 2-1.
That late goal set up a nervous finish but Eddie Nketiah could have secured the victory seconds later after being played through by Odegaard, only to strike the inside of the post with his teammates ready to wheel off in celebration.
Surprisingly, nearly nine minutes of added time were played but some speculative handball appeals aside – Wolves created very little which meant Arsenal secured a crucial three points and their third win in a week.
Ref took his sweet fucking time, didn’t he? Jesus Christ.
Happy with the 3 points.
Disappointed we conceded like that. And Eddie why don’t you just score?
Because it wasn’t Sheffield United
Jesus wasn’t on the pitch anymore, maybe that’s why
Love Jesus but he didn’t play well today
Just appalling referring again. Clear pen on Jesus, tippy happy fouls one way, nothing ever called the other. I mean the yellow for Saliba was what their defenders were doing to Jesus ALL GAME!
Stinky almost costing us again….time Arteta plays him in midfield. Guy can’t defend at all
Wow. Some of our fans don’t deserve to support this club.
It’s on Arteta, Zinny has some iffy moments on his defensive duties today, should be subbed.
who would you have subbed for him?
But he is indeed a better midfielder than a defender and once we have Timber fit I hope Arteta would experiment him in the left 8 position. That would be the clincher for this team.
You have to balance what Alex gives up offensively and we wouldn’t have been 2 up without him!
not that I’m against this idea but you realise midfielders need to defend too right? so either way he needs to work on his defending, which I’m sure he is doing… that said he also orchestrated and assisted what ended up the winning goal so maybe he’s not so bad after all
*in that position
The downvotes are for calling one of our players the kind of names we only reserve for that lot from across town. I share your other sentiment.
Its a Jekyll & Hyde situation. Zinky is a good footballer. His brother Stinky is an iffy one. Can’t be sure which one turns up in a half.
No-one currently available offers as much to the team offensively as Zinchenko in that position. He has very good (and much-improved from last season) defensive numbers, but sometimes he will get dribbled past which is the caveat to increased midfield security. Compare when Kiwior played there earlier in the season and you will see what he brings to a team that is currently, uh, top of the table. If you want people to take your opinion seriously which I tried to do then calling him Stinky really isn’t the way forward. You’re fucking yourself in the arse by turning a… Read more »
It’s not the technical mistakes while defending that bother me as much as the lapses in concentration he suffers periodically. Don’t see why these can’t be cut out.
Classless to call our own players nicknames that aren’t even funny and don’t even make comedic sense. Zinchenko may need to work on some aspects of his defending but he adds something to the team when he plays. He’s also gifted with an immense technique.
Another win and some glimpses of great football. A mark of the surety of this team is that I don’t find it as terrifying at the end of these types of games. A few years back I’d be really scared of us conceding, but those worries are fading. COYG!
Was clenching my ass so hard I think my asshole disappeared
TMI
What an arrogant display. Too many players taking liberties, like Zinchenko. He made several poor decisions at the back today and one costly one. I thought the subs were also poor today and made too early. Nketiah doesn’t get involved like Jesus does and when Trossard switched over to left when Martinelli went off we had no outlet. We made a meal of what should have been a routine win. Second half performance was bordering on awful and Arteta needs to address this.
Perhaps you should look up the meaning of the word “arrogant”? Looked like the team tired to me, never arrogant.
Ah stop lad will ya
For when top of the table isn’t enough for some.
Even if we’d hammered them he’s the type of person who’d moan about it being too easy and boring. What miserable git
By 4 points!
Arteta should address what really? This team bar Trossard started a game less than 72 hours ago. These guys are not machines!
“My diamonds aren’t shiny enough!” We won and we’re top of the league dude.
What an arrogant comment.
Errrr….come on you Spurs? 😂
Never.
0-0 draw would be nice, though.
With lots of red cards please.
Like, four to each team.
Nope, but when. the neighbours come up against one our rivals you hope both lose. As that isn’t possible; hope for as draw.
Well I’d hope for a draw, six sendings off, a good punch-up, both keepers hospitalised with broken fists from fighting eacother, and a 10 point deduction for each team when the on-field violence turned into the crowd joining in and ripping out all of the seats leaving the stadium unusable for weeks so their games have to be played in France or Spain with no TV coverage.
Spoken like a true Gunner 😂😂😂
I’m with Alex, reluctantly. Are Arsenal more likely to win the league if Man City draw or if they lose? Unless you believe Spurs are a genuine threat to finish ahead of Arsenal (which is the only situation where a draw would be helpful) that’s the obvious conclusion. Because City are indeed a genuine threat to finish ahead of us, in first, and so every point they drop is critical.
its basically a win win for us no matter the result!
I don’t live in London, so, no. I understand and respect the rivalry, and it’s really fun taking the poss out of Sp*rs, but four points ahead of City is more important than laughing at Spurs. They’ll mess it up eventually. That’s inevitable.
Never get this irrationality among sports fans; we need to know what’s good for us (it’s almost as if people are embarrassed to want their enemies to win even if it’ll win them a competition). I always perversely enjoy my two opportunities a year to cheer on Spurs against the even more despised United, and frankly more power to the wonderful 🐓🏀 today for their manful perseverance. I have always admired their excellence. 😉
(I am myself embarrassed for feeling obliged to play it safe and add a wink emoji, but such are the times)
Three points. We move.
Luton midweek, hopefully some guys can get some rest.
Looked tired in the second half. Zinny can’t play more than sixty minutes without losing concentration. Good, hard fought win in the end, pity about the clean sheet.
Hard fought victory in the end. 2 -0 is nvr a comfortable position. Zinny lost a few possession today. Against better team, it may punish us. Happy w 3 points, will be a difficult game nx against villa.
We have Luton away on Tuesday night I believe
Hope Tomi is alright
With Eddie it’s not so much the missed chance, its every time he comes on our press from the front approach goes out the window. It does my head in how he walks about having just come on. He’s young and fresh so I see no reason he isn’t tearing around like Jesus hassling their defenders.
Maybe under Arteta’s instruction?
If you are saying that Nketiah is not as good as Gabriel Jesus at the thing where Gabriel Jesus is possibly the best player in the world, I agree. That doesn’t mean Eddie doesn’t press or doesn’t work hard.
I’m an Eddie fan, but truthfully his pressing is criminal at times. He walks about after having come on, it just makes me mad. Its his only flaw really, a little more running and hustling goes a long way.
think the issue is him not being great at it and his teammates not having the energy to help him out. when he starts the press as a whole is better.
He’s only flaw 😂😂😂😂
Not saying he needs to press as well as Jesus but he should at least press as well as the rest of the team. Even the attempt of a press at times would be nice. Next time he comes on watch how he presses.
Exactly this, it does my head in. Jogs around like he’s above that sort of thing.
When did FIFA sneak in that rule that says you can’t simply boot the ball out of danger?
That’ll do pig. That’ll do
KILL THE FUCKING GAME!!!
A deserved win with excellent goals. But we didn’t take the easy goals , besides Trossard/Eddie misses we had some golden opportunities for tap-ins. And Zinky give me heart attacks in each match. When we need to control the game either White/Tomi or Kiwior
A win is a win but we need to take our chances and kill games off.
at premier league level you are punished if you don’t concentrate for the whole game 😔
Yeah. I feel like I’ve seen this game before. Play great, have a nice lead, then relax and the game gets tense.
Is it me or does Zinchenko have at least one brain fart per game?
We go into a sort of training mode in 2nd halves when we’ve had a good first, problem is other team scores and we find it hard to click out of it properly