Mikel Arteta says Alexandre Lacazette playing ‘like he wants to stay’ at Arsenal

Nick Ames at the Emirates Stadium

Mikel Arteta said Alexandre Lacazette “behaves like someone who wants to stay with us” after the striker made a vital contribution to Arsenal’s dramatic late victory over Wolves.

Lacazette is unlikely to be awarded the 95th-minute winner, which could be a defining one in Arsenal’s bid to reach the top four, given Wolves’ goalkeeper José Sá appeared to make a crucial diversion with his fingertips. But Arteta was full of praise for the work of his captain, who has appeared likely to leave when his contract expires this summer, and hinted the door is open for the 30-year-old to stay if he will accept a short-term deal.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of the season,” he said. “We don’t have contracts that run for 20 years, it’s part of our job. He behaves like someone who wants to stay with us. I can only praise him and try to help him as much as possible. For me it’s Lacazette’s goal.”

Arteta said he had told his players at the interval that they would have to overcome adversity in order to hit their target of a Champions League place. They trailed to Hwang Hee-chan’s goal and would have been further behind if Raúl Jiménez had not missed a fine chance.

“I said to them at half-time that if you want to be top in May we’re going to have to overcome results three or four times to be there,” he said. “The spirit and energy that the players put in in the second half was phenomenal.”

Wolves lost a top-flight match after going ahead for the first time in 46 games and are now five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more, but Bruno Lage pronounced himself happy with their performance.

“We deserved more than we got but this is football,” he said. We came here to play with our personalities. We know how to control the game with and without the ball. I’m unhappy because we lost but I’m proud of my team and what the players did.” Lage also apologised for a mix-up that saw Arsenal accuse his players of wasting time when Jiménez was mistakenly slated to be substituted instead of Daniel Podence.

Photograph: Tony Obrien/Reuters Alexandre Lacazette’s late effort was later ruled to be an own goal by José Sá but his manager said: ‘For me it’s Lacazette’s goal.’