Alex Lacazette was delighted his efforts helped Arsenal snatch a late 2-1 win against a stubborn Wolves although he admits he’s sad his stoppage-time strike has gone down as an own goal by keeper Jose Sa.
Wolves took an early lead when Hwang Hee-Chan took advantage of Gabriel’s poor back pass on 10 minutes and the visitors went on to miss several good chances to kill the game off on the break. They were made to pay for their profligacy as substitute Nicolas Pepe made a match-winning contribution.
The Ivorian produced a clinical finish to draw the game level with eight minutes remaining and then slid in Lacazette for the scuffed finish that sealed the points in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
On a night when Emirates Stadium produced a febrile atmosphere, Lacazette recognised the importance of the three points.
“I feel really happy, it is amazing to win this kind of game in the last minute,” he told Amazon Prime Video.
“We really wanted this win because we know it is important to be at the top of the table.”
On his role in the winner, he added: “I knew it was the end of the game and Nicolas Pepe gave me a good ball. It went in and we are happy with the three points. A bit sad it has not gone down for me, I want to score but most important is to win.
“We had a difficult January but we are coming back better in February.”
Kieran Tierney was similarly enthused by the nature of the win, which was celebrated with gusto at full time.
“There are no better games in football,” he said. “They are the kind of games you watch as a wee guy and to be a part of that is brilliant.”
The win sees Arsenal climb up to fifth in the Premier League standings and closes the gap on Manchester United to just a single point. With two games in hand on the Red Devils, the Gunners are well placed to achieve a first top four finish since 2017.
“We need to[push for it],} said Tierney. “I don’t see why not. We need to aim as high as possible. Results like this builds momentum and team mentality and that is what you want.”
Arsenal face yet another lengthy break before the next game. We travel to Vicarage Road in 10 days time.
I feel really happy for Laca especially because I really think a lot of the fanbase would’ve been on him if we hadn’t picked up three points. But he is really playing pretty well I think. Against Brentford he played a massive part in both goals and tonight he played a huge part in the winner. Ok, he isn’t a 30 goal a season guy. But neither is Firmino or Lukaku (this season) or Jesus. We need to remember that the role of a CF has changed dramatically in the last few years. They aren’t expected to be talismanic strikers… Read more »
Agree that Lacazette does more for us than just score goals, but he would not be heartened by those comparisons. All 3 of those strikers have either already been dropped or are on the edge of being dropped, and that’s for teams that can source more goals around their squads than we can anyway. Lukaku’s struggles at Chelsea have been well documented, and have put him under serious scrutiny, even being dropped for their CL tie. Jesus is out of the team at City in favour of not playing with a striker at all. Firmino can somewhat get away with… Read more »
I totally get you. But take fantasy football as an example. Those are the CF’s for the top three clubs. And not many people are picking them. It says as much about the modern role of a CF as it does about Laca being an incapable CF. The fact that players like Jota are getting games as CF’s, for me, kinda proves that the role is about far more than scoring goals. City play Foden as a CF. Chelsea play Havertz. That surely implies that managers aren’t too fussed if their CF scores or not. Man that was a lot… Read more »
I do understand what you’re saying but tbf, Jota and Foden have 12 and 6 prem goals this season respectively. I don’t think they’d be playing at CF if Klopp and Guardiola didn’t think they could regularly score goals, despite being “false 9s”. Nor do I think it’s a coincidence that Arteta was talking up ESR’s ability to play CF, at a time that he’s scoring goals and Lacazette isn’t.
Yep, you make a really good point. I didn’t realise their individual goal tallies were so high.
I suppose I would counter and say that Liverpool and City have scored 70 and 63 goals respectively whereas we have scored 38.
I feel like I could be on the pitch for City and get a steady 10 a season.
But Jesus saves all those souls.
Only because Dennis impregnated his mum.
Are you talking about the kid from Brazil or the kid from Nazareth? I hear the guy from Nazareth could score at will, yeah, a real miracle worker.
And I will strike thee with great anger
Wasn’t good with crosses though…..
Enough time to recover and execute tactics. Coyg
Shame for Laca he didn’t get the credit fir the goal.
He did scuff the shot somewhat hilariously but it was his pure mojo mind tricks Jedi power Laca-Fu that drove the ball into the net so he deserves the goal!
Looked like a cross tbh but YEAAAHHHH take that you time wasting wankers.
Us Gooners will always remember, especially if we get top four.
Rewind only a few short months, if we were 1-0 down with 10 mins left on the clock, Emirates would’ve been half empty.
While so-called fans are heading for the exits there’s no way our boys would’ve been able to produce this comeback. They need us as much as we need them.
As an American without the means to attend in person, I can say the energy and support are felt through the TV, so they’re damn sure felt by the players as well. To those of you lucky enough to be there in person on a regular basis, KEEP IT UP!!!! You’re a huge factor.
Massive win and massive performance in the end. I’m hopeful Laca will soon find his striking boots, but regardless is a very important player in the current team. Can’t wait to see what Ruben Neves thinks of this celebration. Off topic, is it possible (and where) to find statistics on shots being blocked by players? I feel like Saka is leading the poll in that category by a large margin. Not sure what is it, seems he’s been read rather easily lately and is lacking a bit decisiveness. Hopefully, he’ll work through it quickly as he is one of our… Read more »
Interesting point, would be good to see those stats, though intuitively I feel Saka has been more easily read lately because he tends to be marked by 2 if not 3 players at a time, cutting off most options and being forced into certain plays. That he still manages to generally push play forward despite the over-marking and rotational fouling is a testament to his skill and tenacity in my opinion! And equally shows how threatening all opposition regard him, rightly so (though I really wish they would leave his knees and ankles alone). Those times when he manages to… Read more »
Don’t know about stats for the season but in this match Saka had 3 of his 5 shots blocked, with 1 on target (according to Opta).
https://optaplayerstats.statsperform.com/en_GB/soccer/premier-league-2021-2022/8l3o9v8n8tva0bb2cds2dhatw/match/arsenal-vs-wolverhampton-wanderers/ebvn56r49cr4r7jd2fe07m49g/match-summary
I agree with this..feels like he’s too hasty with taking the shots and could be calmer and more precise..I hope the coaching crew sees that… he’s 20 and has made monumental strides….hard to ask for a lot more…
Bless these long breaks. Lets get Tomi and ESR back.
We need a proper goalscorer next season…I wonder how lacazette topped the scorers chats year in year out while playing in France….he fluffed his lines horribly last night and was saved by that winner…seeing the type of goals vlahovic scores now for juventus makes me appreciate how good our recruitment has been lately….we created more than enough last night..
Good attitude today. A great feeling of belief palpable as we grafted to the end and got rewarded. Hopefully the team will continue to feed off these successes and keep pushing. The more parlous selection available to Arteta (combined with less competitions left) has helped the team garner more fluency and intuition with each other through a more stable selection. The fear is on options but we seem to be with another late season Pepe flourish and the stable partnership of Xhaka/Partey developing will provide hopefully enough as some of the pretenders (Spurts) begin to falter and we have change… Read more »