A first half goal by Kai Havertz from a Bukayo Saka cross, followed by a second half goal from Saka after a Havertz pass, gave Arsenal a clean sheet and three points on the opening day of the new Premier League season.
There were elements of rustiness in the overall performance, and things that Mikel Arteta will want to improve ahead of next weekend, but you can’t argue with the result. A nice way to kick off the new campaign.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Read the Arsenal 2-0 Wolves match report and see the goal here
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Partey’s dummy shot was arguably the most intentional thing he’s ever done.
Well you nailed it on the ‘arguably’ part
The Partey is shite narrative is getting tired and very predictable. Did he have a barn burner of a game? No, but other than a few giveaways, only one of which resulted in a legitimate scoring opportunity for Wolves, he was perfectly fine for the first game of the season. Saliba was far more careless as was Timber in terms of losing the ball in more dangerous positions. Even Kai gave away the ball that led to Raya’s spectacular save. Yet most of negative comments and player ratings especially focus on Partey flaws, which strikes me as more anticipated or… Read more »
I always knew he had a thunderbolt of a left foot.
What a ridiculous post!
Was screaming at the TV for a few of those giveaways. Timber looked sensational when he wasn’t trying to do too much. Arteta will have a word with him about ball security in our third. Jesus looked very sharp to me, but maybe too eager to impress. The score was an accurate reflection on the game. Both teams could have put more in the net.
Indecision at the back was a problem today, perhaps caused by a lack of concentration or even fitness- mikel should bring back the pickpockets
Partey seemed to skip the pickpocket session
Thomas P seemed to skip the p*ickpockt lesson
Partey is partey careless
Timber looked fast very
Players were drinking a lot of water so thought it must hot 72 degrees? I know I know different climate
hope someone puts a finger up Mosquera’s bum next game. See how he likes it
Under moderation but 37 games to go. 37! One Game at a time. Come on you gooners
Jarred Gillet with Paul Tierney on VAR. Worst combo a man can ever ge.
Howard Webb is their boss- it’s cunts all the way down
I’m just thankful it wasn’t Coote on the field with Attwell in the booth. They’re even worse, as hard as that may be to believe on today’s evidence.
I always thought Gillett was a temporary exchange referee from Australia and he’d be going back there after a season or two. Fuck knows why the league has kept him. He’s fucking awful.
Well I guess that makes him qualified then…
Cooter is the biggest coward at pgmol, and that’s saying something (also he looks like a member of the mister bean family)
t
0/10 – the Wolves player who sexually assaulted Jesus. Wtf?
Same player who choked Havertz!
that Gillet wasn’t razor sharp today was he…
David Raya man of the match for me. Kept us in it with a couple of outstanding saves, was decisive on crosses and solid with his distribution.
His command and intuition on crosses might be the most underrated part of his game. So many of those could end up in a chance for the opposition and it goes unnoticed because he prevents that situation from unfolding in the first place. Maybe we should call him the Spanish Inquisitor since NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION
Sorry Saka 10/10. Won the game for Arsenal. Great assist for Havertz when Wolves were defending excellently. In the second half when Wolves were pressing and looked likely to equalise Saka finishes the game off with brilliance. Without Saka we would of struggled to win this game so in my mind 10/10
RIP Kevin Campbell. True legend. I loved this guy as a player and everything he did as a fan. What a guy!
Saka and Havertz, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Feel like we could see these two assisting each other a few more times this season, shall we give it a name already? The Sakvertz?
I am with you on this…
A Kaibuk
Sooo… BuKaio?
Wreaking Havaka on opposing defenders
The SaKai?
Already starting with ref are we? He was fine
Hello Mr Webb how are yard this season? Still bald?
No, he was bad. Mosquera should have been sent off for what he did to Havertz, or at least booked, and his grab on Jesus was gross too.
Aus rugby league player got 3 months ban for the bum thing. Bizarre and gross by Mosquera on Gabi J. Assault on Kai was bad enough.
Yeah he misses that one..the Jesus one happens a lot more than you think, it just got caught in 4k… overall the game was well managed, the var was actually quick and not controversial. We really like to just shit on referees no matter the outcome here don’t we?
Agreed. Apart from that one time he let one guy strangle Havertz and maybe that other time grab Jesus’ ass with zero consequences, he was absoutely fine.
And missed the obvious pull on saka in the first half which should have been a penalty.
agreed, too much whining. both havertz and jesus had their blame on what happened. you can understand the referee not seeing clearly where mosquera’s hand is in those situations. but good luck convincing arsenal fans it’s not part of a plan the international media, fifa and united nations have set to damage arsenal’s title hopes. refereeing does suck in this country, but the “everyone’s against us” narrative is quite boring…
Yes. Havertz really does have a throttleable throat doesn’t he? Who could resist the chance for a sly strangle ? Ans Jesus’ ass is just too tempting for a digit. Gillet is a terrible ref. No bias. Just bad. Complaints aren’t suggesting he wants Arsenal to lose – just that his incompetence is both unacceptable and a potential hindrance to winning. And sure – maybe gillet can’t see the strangle. But var can. And it’s violent conduct. They can ask the ref to look. But Webb has again snookered himself and the refs by insisting they stay out of it.… Read more »
havertz deliberately puts his arm around mosquera’s neck while falling, which causes mosquera to fall as well. while he’s falling, mosquera puts one of his hands towards the floor as any falling person would do, and wolverhampton would argue it was only by chance that he happened to land on havertz throat. there was no damage done and he had a valid reason to put his hand there, like it or not the VAR can’t intervene. again, he was wrestled to the ground, it’s not like kai’s a victim here.
Players can grapple with each other, but it’s not ok for Mosquera to do what he did in response. It’s pretty simple.
i agree it’s not okay. however, whatever he does while falling can be pinned down as an accident. he could have elbowed havertz face and it could be seen as an involuntary action after being fouled himself. im not defending him or what he did, im just giving arguments as to why VAR didn’t intervene. i don’t see clear violent conduct.
What do you get out of trolling, supporters? You logic your way into some BS to rationalise the Havertz throat grab (as if the Yam-Yam player’s response was equivalent; LoL) but tumbleweeds for the bum grab/finger excursion up Gabby’s bum. Bad faith onanist; SYM.
It’s a contest. Havertz commits the first foul. But then – frustrated – He took the opportunity to “put one on him “ in retaliation. Then tries to make out it’s exactly his you describe it. I’m afraid if you can’t see that then you’ve not played. Infact- you’re no better than the refs.
djourou wasn’t really known for his analytical capabilities.
don’t think I ever heard the word ‘intelligence’ mentioned in the same sentence as Djourou.
so comments as ignorant as that should be expected.
unless you can point out what’s ignorant about my comment or actually come up with a funny joke, please shut the duck up
No the ref was not fine. The fact we won the game obscure your judgment. In a game that was not that dificult to refferee, Gilet was subpar and just poor. No consistency and no clear criteria. Mosquera finished game not cautioned, although he was slaming, choking and grapling as it was an UFC fight and not a football match. Saka on the other hand got booked for something akin to the RVP second yellow card vs Barcelona. I don’t think Gillet was biased against Arsenal but I do think he was plane shite yesterday. Thanks god we’re playing so… Read more »
I make that 17 goal contributions in his last 15 PL games for Havertz (10 goals, 7 assists). And yet we’re still being told that we won’t win anything without a striker
Media narrative to get the tongues wagging and the clicks. That’s all.
And only selected by 10% of Fantasy managers – proving everyone wrong one goal (and assist) at a time.
Fair. But failing to score an open play goal away at pool, city, b
Villa, toon and bayern last season cost us the league and a ECL semi versus Real Madrid. It’s not a havertz thing per se – people will point to that fact and say we need a player that would score in those games but not disrupt the clearly finely tuned team – and be at “our level” immediately.
My issue with that debate is that the player fairly clearly doesn’t exist and yet experts keep calling for us to sign them.
Zinny’s eyes. Wtf.
Between him and Leo 👀
Pashun
we need merino quickly to replace partey. big fan of him but it’s clear now he is past it
Na he always starts sloppy before growing into the season, entering full beast mode around Christmas and then getting crocked
He’s a liability on huge wages, and then he gets injured. Sums him up perfectly.
i hope so about the full beast mode.. i think he should have already been in that mode now considering he got rest and a full preseason
So choking someone is okay? Good job English refs.
Gonna win this league despite the refs. Let’s go!!
If Jesus wants to be a part of this team, then he must be a team players and pass the ball early. Havertz’ keenness to move the ball quickly and simply is one of his best qualities.
Got the three points when all is said and done, but Zinchenko and Partey continue to be “panic accelerators” that are fine for 80 minutes but have 10 minutes worth of madness that make the entire team nervous and on the back foot.
Timber, Cali & Tomi address Zinchenko but I’m worried Partey will be too involved again this season.
Timber overplaying in the second half led directly to a shot on goal, zinky just looked gassed after 50 mins.
Why is Zinchenko still in an Arsenal shirt? Calafiori should have played today.
Agreed, but I give Timber the benefit of a doubt, in that it will get coached out of him.
Zinchenko has been here three seasons and he’s still doing it
Little bit surprised Gabriel rated higher than Saliba, thought his decision making was questionable at best. And what’s happened to Partey? Giving the ball away for fun at times.
Mosquera seems to be a bit of a twat.
Zinchenko gave the key pass, to the first goal. At least a 7 for me.
From the downs it looks like his contribution was meaningless. My mistake.
yeah and gave a couple of key passes for wolverhampton as well. i used to see him as one of the top 3 lb in the entire world but he has never been able to get rid of those errors and therefore i would very much like someone else to take his place in the starting xi
Every wolves attack was down our left flank. What a surprise. Not. Play the fkn Italian ffs.
Definitely can tell we were a bit out of sorts, very sloppy at times probably due to physical and mental fatigue from many that played in the Euros and Copa and lack of a full preseason. Luckily thanks to Raya (don’t know what else he would have to do to get a higher rating than an 8) we kept the shutout and got the three points which in the end is most important. Partey, as you said did not have the excuse of a Summer of travel and matches, was way too casual and slow with the ball at times.… Read more »
Merino is not a 6. He’s hardly ever played 6
finally player ratings are back 😃
Could it have anything to do with the fact that players are playing again?
First time I can remember no new signings appeared in our first match (Raya was obviously signed permanently, but he was here last year).
But Timber is like a new signing
Wrong subs wrong start wrong manager.
I think you’re being a bit harsh on Wolves, they did their limited best
Wrong website, get back on your Wolves board.
Generous on Partey Blogs. 8 in the first half. 2 in the second. He really should get two ratings every game. Such a weird player.
Weird? He plays we win. Simple as that.
I was hoping we had already signed a world class midfield partner for Odegaard and Rice. Partey on his good day he is good but in most days he is injured or rusty. Better to start Jorgi at this point in time I think. Also Zinchenko shouldn’t be anywhere near our starting 11 with Timber and Calafiori available.
1st game of the season…everyone is rusty. Agree on Zinchenko though. Disappointed we haven’t sold him, but not surprised either.
Maybe it would take an injury crisis, but I think Timber and Calafiori could do a job as a 6.
Maybe I am alone having issues with Havertz, for a big man he has no strength in his tackle, far too easily shown away from the ball, it was a very good header but the goal was all about the superb cross !
How many times does he try to get through and falls down ? or loses possession?
How things picked up when Timber came on for Zinchenko and ran with strength at Wolves, all our players who had been struggling a bit were visibly lifted .
Havertz is Marmite. Some see amazing contributions, others see a waste of space. There’s no inbetween with him.
I guess from all the downvotes, you are (almost) alone, and the rest of your comment suggest you haven’t watched Havertz much. My impression is that for such a willowy guy, he is surprisingly strong in the tackle.
Also he is not being played for his defensive capabilities, with most fans looking for him to score more goals instead. In any event of all the times he fails, if in only 1 in 10 attempts he gets through and scores; that is successful.
Okay, I agree he looks for the penalty sometimes when he might do better to keep on his feet and fight for the ball. But he’s primarily a player who uses intelligent movement instead of strength, though he’s not small. Arteta likes him because he links up well and does what he’s told to do, and his output justifies that trust. That said, this club never really replaced Giroud as the central striker who wears out defenders and rules the skies. I guess we don’t play that way anymore.
Meant to add that Kai does win the ball a lot for a CF, coming back and poking it away. That’s defense too.
Who is the artist behind the player cartoons in the ratings?
I think it’s @poorlydrawnarsenal
It is
Thanks!
Like the new Zinchenko and Trossard pics.
Good win very average second half but a wonderful 3 points. But how can Arteta risk the game with Partey he was Wolves most dnagerous player! And he left him on for the whole game don’t be stubborn Mikel. Also Zinchenko is past his prime needs to be assigned to the bench.
At times I wonder if you even watch the game?
Saliba had a nightmare and Zinchenko and Partey both played well.