You can imagine the feeling of indescribable relief that must be going through the Arsenal team and of course the Arsenal faithful after the nerve wrecking final minutes of the game against Wolves.
Arsenal left it late to come back from a goal down to win 2-1 against a very compact Wolves who have proven to be very stingy at the back, condemning Wolves to their first loss in a match where they have scored first since November 2018. It's no wonder only Manchester City have conceded lesser (17 goals) than Lage's men, who have only conceded 20 gaols8, same as Liverpool.
A horrendous mishap at the back had led to Wolves going in front in the 10th minute. Arsenal struggled to break down Wolves until the final 10 minutes when substitute Nicolas Pepe pulled one back and Alexandre Lacazette seeing his effort deflected into goal for the winner in the 95th minute.
Arsenal would have been expected to name a similar team from their last game against Brentford, but Mikel Arteta named the same side that started against Wolves in the reverse fixture last week Thursday after Emile Smith missed out due to illness and Gabriel Martinelli who was sent off in the fixture replaced him. Arteta still looks to be taking it slow with returning Takehiro Tomiyasu to the team as the Japanese was also not included in the team.
Bruno Lage wanted to make his team more compact and get more bodies in the mix as he dropped Leander Dendoncker to the bench in favour of Hwang Hee-Chan as Wolves reverted to a back three.
It was a bit of a shaky start for Arsenal at the back and Gabriel Maghaeles in particular. The Brazilian was culprit for the Wolves goal as his back pass to Aaron Ramsdale was intercepted by Hwang Hee-Chan, who took a step round the goalkeeper and slotted into an empty net from a tight angle. This came just few minutes after Roman Saiis had seen a goal disallowed for offside.
I was very much worried when Gabriel was caught napping about two or three times by the Wolves attack before that goal. My fear was confirmed with the goal. That error was somehow too basic for a player his class. Maybe his youthfulness played a part, but I believe it's one of the basics of defending that must have been learnt. Playing the ball to your goalkeeper "blindly" is the wrongest thing to do.
In such situations, he had other alternatives, one of which was to kick the ball out of play. Let's agree that he wanted to keep the ball in play and play it to his goalkeeper, then, he should be passing it towards the byline near the corner, not across the face of his own goal. He must be one of the most relieved persons on earth right now.
Perhaps, if Raul Jimenez had scored in the 13th minute, it may have been harder for Arsenal to come back. Daniel Podence unlocked the Arsenal defence with a pass that released Jimenez, who should be scoring but his effort went just wide.
Arsenal continued to find their rhythm as the game wore on and a string of attacks didn't result into goals for them, like when Bukayo Saka teed up Martin Odegaard, whose shot was saved on the goal line by Saiis.
Jose Sá also misjudged a cross from Cedric Soares that Kieran Tierney picked up on the left side to set up Lacazette, who's snap shot was blocked by Max Kilman. The French man also failed to get power behind his shot in the 33rd minute as Sá made a comfortable save.
It was almost level at the brink of half time when Odegaard released Gabriel Martinelli with a lobbed ball over the Wolves defence, which the Brazilian tried to lob Sa with, but the goalkeeper parried and gathered on the second attempt.
Maybe there was something about Arsenal not being settled on time at the start of the match as Wolves went close to grabbing a second just two minutes after the restart when Hee-Chan went face-to-face with Ramsdale, but the goalkeeper got enough touch to take the ball out of play.
Such moments like the above happened one time too many on the night, where Wolves easily cut open the Arsenal defence, but the Gunners found it difficult to do same to their visitors.
Nelson Semedo had been a menace on the left of Arsenal defence and it was a huge blow when he pulled up with what looked like his hamstring and was replaced by Jonny Otto on the hour mark. Otto had not played in over a year due to injury.
Nicolas Pepe and Eddie Nketiah came on five minutes apart to replace Martinelli and Soares as Arteta threw in all his guns to at least salvage a point. The duo would then combine in the 82nd minute to pull one back.
A good run into the right inside channel by Nketiah culminated in him pulling the ball back almost off balance and Pepe controlled with his right and hit the shot on the turn past Sa sending fans inside the Emirates stadium into joy.
The Gunners were not looking to sit on the draw as they ran back to the centre circle to restart things, throwing everything they had at it. They were almost caught napping again when Rayan Ait-Nouri foraged down the left side, leaving Pepe to the dump and easily getting into the Arsenal area, but his cut back to Pedro Neto failed to hit the target.
While Arsenal were searching for the goal, Lage had other ideas and looked to make a defensive change to shore up his defence. This erupted into a drama that left Jimenez yellow-carded.
The substitution that was initially announced and even the commentators rang out was that Jimenez was to come off for Dendoncker, however, the Mexican refused to leave the pitch as it looked like a different number had been brought up on the board. The Arsenal players and referee Martin Atkinson tried to push him out and his reluctance led to his booking. Unfortunately, it was Podence who finally went out for Dendoncker. It remains to be seen if it would be rescinded.
Moments later, Odegaard saw his effort come off the top of the bar. The Norwegian was scintillating on the night and it is now looking like Arsenal may have gotten him for a bargain price at £30 million. Perhaps, Real Madrid may have reconsidered selling him looking at how aged their midfield currently is but, it's Arsenal love story now.
Just as the game was looking like another draw in bag, both teams knew what the three points would do for their ambitions, but it was Arsenal who looked more uncontented with a draw while their hosts were happy to sit back.
The comeback was complete in the fifth minute of additional time. Pepe was involved again as he played Lacazette in on the right inside channel. The Frenchman smothered his effort, but it had enough power to lift it off the ground and Sa while trying to save, parried into his own net as the Emirates erupted.
Pepe looks rejuvenated since his departure to the African Cup of Nations and looks to have brought back the same form. The Ivorian who was Arsenal's highest goalscorer in all competitions last season only scored his first goal of this season with that equalizer. It showed how much he has underperformed coupled with Arteta freezing him out due to poor form.
Three points for Arsenal takes them into fifth position, one point behind Manchester United who have played two games more.
Wolves' ambition for European football still remains on course in their current 7th position, although they sit one point above Tottenham who lost to Burnley on Wednesday and have one game in hand over Lage's men.
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