Arsenal 2-1 Wolves: Late joy but considerable worry overall

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction

The game kicked off late, ended later, and the post-match discussions/drinks went even later than that again. So, this might well be a less informed blog than usual. I haven’t really seen any replays, and I haven’t had a chance to look at big moments again, so if I get something wrong, or miss something out, please give me some leeway.

My gut feeling this morning is a bit double-edged. I’m delighted to have won that, because it really looked as if we’d thrown it away, but that also comes with a side-helping of concern and worry about how difficult we made it. The team selection was interesting, with William Saliba and Jurrien Timber returning at the back and Piero Hincapie at left-back ahead of Myles Lewis-Skelly who I had expected to start in place of the suspended Riccardo Calafiori. Eberechi Eze played ahead of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi, while the front three wasn’t a surprise at all.

Wolves came and sat deep with a low block, often kryptonite to Mikel Arteta’s teams, but that would not have been anything we weren’t expecting. I’m sure that’s exactly what we prepared for. There were moments in the first half, Timber heading a good chance over, Gabriel Martinelli not making the most of a back post header, and maybe about half an hour in I was on my feet about to celebrate when Bukayo Saka put in a great ball from the right. From my viewpoint, it was there for Viktor Gyokeres to put it home from close range but that didn’t happen.

I asked those with the benefit of replays about that chance, and the consensus was that he was caught on his heels a bit, but I need to see it again myself. If that is the case, it’s not the the first time of late he hasn’t been as sharp as we need him to be in the opposition box. His all-round play in that first half wasn’t great, but I also think it’s true that the collective performance was sub par too. We lacked the kind of intensity and intelligence you need to open up a team who have come to play for a 0-0.

It wasn’t long into the second half when Arteta made a triple change with Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino and Martin Odegaard coming on for Eze, Martinelli and Martin Zubimendi, who looked quite unhappy as he trudged off around the pitch. The captain shot into the side netting after good work from Saka, Trossard was a bit more lively on the left than Martinelli, but it was still a struggle.

Then, as is often the case with Arsenal, a set-piece goal put us ahead. Saka’s delivery to back post was excellent, the ball rebounded off the keeper and in to make it 1-0. In my mind, that should have taken the pressure off. With Wolves now having to open up, we ought to have made the most of that, but it was like we gained zero confidence from going ahead. Instead it became a game we were afraid to lose rather than one we feel sure we could go on and win.

From having 75% possession, it became much more even as we allowed Wolves not only to have the ball, but have it in our half. It wasn’t like they were doing much with it, but in this league, you leave yourself open to something going wrong, and that’s exactly what happened with a couple of minutes of the 90 to go. We let them have territory, we didn’t clear our lines properly, and when a shot/cross came in, their lad headed home a goal that probably should have won them a point.

The reaction in the ground was a kind of disbelief, especially after what had happened late against Villa. Some people around me just got up and left. On the touchline, I watched Arteta gesture frantically at his players to get up and get going again, because there was still time. He was right, because ultimately we did find a way to win it, and as with the first goal it was down to excellent delivery from Saka. He won’t get credited with two assists, but he should – by some distance our best player yesterday. It was given initially to Gabriel Jesus who had come on to replace Gyokeres, but it turned out to be another own goal.

From there, we saw out the rest of the injury time, and won the game. Celebrations, yes. Enjoyment, not so much, because this was one where I feel we got away with a pretty dismal performance overall. There was this pre-game expectation that we’d just roll over a team who have yet to win this season, but as I alluded to in yesterday’s blog, I thought this might be trickier than people think. It was a combination of Wolves doing something which we often find quite hard to deal with, and an Arsenal performance that really was not at the right level at all.

Afterwards, the manager said:

We had a period of two or three minutes in deep, totally passive, with horrible defensive habits, that is nowhere near the level that is required against a team that hasn’t had a single shot. The first time that they had the opportunity to do it, they scored the goal and this is the Premier League. Unfortunately, we are relieved because we managed to score a goal at the end and go and win it, but we need to improve in that sense for sure.

I knew that wasn’t going to be an easy game at all, but we made it even harder with what we did in the manner that we conceded the goal and that’s unacceptable.

He spoke more about his team being wasteful in the first half, and for me that’s really the bigger issue than how poor the goal we conceded was. I don’t think we have any given right to just roll over any team, regardless of where they sit in the table, and the reality is we just didn’t cause them enough problems. That’s where I think the focus ought to be, not on the goal we let in regardless of how poor it was, and how we invited that pressure onto ourselves.

When it’s just 1-0 in the 86th minute, you leave the door open for that to happen, and that’s the ‘problem’ the manager has to solve. As I said, I need to see it again to make a real judgement, but my gut feeling this morning is that this is a game that will likely elicit some kind of change from Arteta around his team’s structures and maybe one or two individuals. Quite what that is, it’s too hard to say, but I suspect a little while from now, we’ll look back at this performance and say ‘Since Wolves … etc etc’, and frankly I think that needs to be the case.

This was not good at all, and it could easily have cost us points. We needed two own goals to beat the team that’s propping up the Premier League, and if we don’t take lessons from that and strive to improve on the basis of that performance, we won’t win this league. Nevertheless, those points are very welcome, extending our lead at the top, and let’s see what happens today. In the end though, this felt a bit lucky, and that really only goes so far.

Right, I’ll leave it there for now, as I’m heading back to Dublin this morning. You can join me and James tomorrow for an Arsecast Extra when I’ll have had a chance to see things again.

Until then, have a great Sunday.