Mkhitaryan strikes just in time to deny slick Wolves
It is increasingly clear that Arsenal cannot continue to start games slowly and hope they have enough quality to turn them around in the dying stages. Sooner or later, their early sluggishness is going to be punished, and Unai Emery is going to be stung.
For so long here against a Wolves side who Arsenal could not match for long spells, it looked certain that they would finally be undone. Trailing to an Ivan Cavaleiro goal that was almost entirely of Arsenal’s own making, Emery watched his players toil in vain as the afternoon drifted out of their control.
Except there is a strange mood around the Emirates this season, and a belief that no cause is lost. It was evident in last weekend’s spirited draw with Liverpool, and it was apparent here, when Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s cross floated through a bundle of bodies and nestled in the far corner of Rui Patricio’s net. Arsenal had produced another escape, and this was perhaps their most dramatic yet.
Even at the end when Emery’s side were desperate for a winner, they went perilously close to throwing the game away again. The electric Adama Traore, surely the most explosive substitute in the Premier League, twice screeched towards the Arsenal goal in stoppage time, and the home side were left indebted to both their goalkeeper, Bernd Leno, and their crossbar, which denied 18-year-old Morgan Gibbs-white a last-minute winner.
When the whistle finally blew for full time, it was hard to know who should have been the most relieved. Arsenal were pushing for a deciding goal, but Wolves were so close to sealing a deserved three points. They will know those missed opportunities had cost them a first victory against Arsenal since 1979, but they will also take belief from another commanding showing against a top side. Nuno Espirito Santo’s team have now taken points off Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal this season.
“To come to such a beautiful sta- and to be able to say we could compete against a very good team like Arsenal says a lot of what we want, of how we are working, how we want to play, how we want to do things,” said Nuno, who added that he “almost prayed” that Gibbswhite’s shot had crossed the line rather than bouncing away from goal. “I am very proud. Let’s enjoy this moment and happiness.”
Even though Arsenal have now gone 16 games unbeaten, Emery will be concerned at how easily Wolves sliced through his defence at times, but he should be praised for again changing the match with his substitutions. Alex Iwobi was hooked at half-time as Emery switched the shape, and the Spaniard then removed Mesut Ozil when Arsenal were chasing the game.
“I think the team played with character,” said Emery, who also confirmed that striker Danny Welbeck, badly injured in the Europa League last week, has had an operation on a broken ankle and is expected to be out for a “long time”.
Yesterday’s match was a tactical battle between Emery and Nuno, who was quick to plant seeds of doubt in Arsenal minds. Hector Bellerin, the Arsenal right-back, turned to Emery on the touchline for guidance after just a few mindium utes, when he was caught between two Wolves players from a goalkick, unsure whether to stay or go.
But, for all Nuno’s structural planning, it needed an inexplicable error for the first goal to be scored. With the ball rolling across the Arsenal midfield, Granit Xhaka simply let it bobble past him. Cavaleiro
quickly snatched it up, exchanged passes with Raul Jimenez and swept home a clinical finish.
This was Wolves at their slickest, but they also had to be sturdy.
Alexandre Lacazette’s shot was blocked by Conor Coady, then Lucas Torreira went close with a longrange effort shortly after half-time. At the other end, the weaving Helder Costa was causing no end of problems for the Arsenal rearguard.
As time wore on, the Arsenal pressure became harder for Wolves to bear. Xhaka picked out Bellerin, who blasted over, and then Pierreemerick Aubameyang somehow hit the outside of a post without a Wolves player in sight. Yet while Arsenal pushed, Wolves continued to threaten. Diogo Jota was denied by Leno, who then celebrated from afar as Mkhitaryan’s left-wing cross bounced all the way into the Wolves net with only four minutes left. There was still time for more Wolves pressure, though, thanks to the devastating speed of Traore.
The substitute twice torched past Rob Holding, who looked traumatised by the raw speed of it all, but he was first denied by Leno and then watched as Gibbs-white’s curled strike hit the crossbar, bounced on to the line and, to Arsenal’s relief, spun away from goal.