Gunners win at Wolves and remain top of the tree for Christmas

Wolves 0 Arsenal 2 
Premier League 
Saturday 12th November 2022 7.45pm   

Well, well, well. Arsenal will – thanks to the break for the World Cup – go into Christmas with a five point lead in the Premier League. Manchester City’s earlier defeat at home to Brentford certainly felt like a very early festive gift, a result surely no-one saw coming. The Bees were 16-1 to win the match and even that felt a bit on the mean side. However, football is nothing if not unpredictable. Which of course was the case with the Gunners’ visit to a team that started the match bottom of the table. Given that, if Arsenal are to do something this season, they need to win these kind of matches, and aside from dropping two points against Southampton, they have done exactly that. 

It was no surprise to see the same eleven that beat Chelsea take the field, although Granit Xhaka only lasted a quarter of an hour with what looked like some kind of illness, which later transpired to be a tummy bug. Arteta brought on Vieira to replace him, which as a like for like swap made sense in that the Portuguese new boy plays as an attacking midfielder. A bit of me did wonder if Tierney might have been a better option with Zinchenko pushed forward, but at least it gave Vieira a chance to make his case in a far stronger line up than those he generally plays in. 

Jesus was very busy, twice being caught offside with the ball either in the net or striking the bar, as well as putting wide a couple of very presentable legitimate chances. The goal didn’t come for him, but the team normally won the matches he has played in and his contribution has been obvious. 

Wolves looked dangerous on the counter attack, exploiting Arsenal’s high defensive line, although with five at the back, they seemed more interested in preventing Arsenal scoring. They did a fair job of that, as the visitors failed to get an effort on target before the interval. At times, it seemed like Wolves were eating the clock, even from early in the game.

Their new manager Julen Lopetegui watched from the stands. With the World Cup imminent, my memory went back to the eve of the previous finals in Russia. Lopetegui was the Spain manager, with an excellent record, but it was revealed he would become Real Madrid manager after the tournament, and the Spanish FA decided they wouldn’t wait, sacking him on the eve of the tournament. Four years on and he’s about to start work in the West Midlands, not a million miles from his compatriot at Aston Villa, a certain Unai Emery. From the Costa del Sol to the Costa del Coal? Eight of Wolves’ starting eleven were either Spanish or Portuguese. The Premier League… and the money it offers have certainly changed the landscape of football in this country. 

The second half began and the feeling from this observer was that Arsenal would just have to eke this game out. Before 10 minutes had passed, a breakthrough came. Martinelli made a good run, and got the ball out to Jesus wide left. He fed Vieira cleverly and the ball was delivered for a tap-in. Odegaard beat Saka to the ball. 

Suddenly, a football game broke out with two sides playing to try and score goals with purpose. Arsenal had so much more space to attack with Wolves players venturing out of their own half in number. The consequence was a second goal for the league leaders, with some pinball in the area after Martinelli had won the ball back near the corner flag and set up Zinchenko to put the ball into the middle. After a rebound it fell to Odegaard to score his second, and make life a lot more comfortable – you did feel this second goal was coming, and it released a pressure valve.

Arsenal were at times sloppy yesterday - Zinchenko lost the ball more than once, and at two up, one such error led to a very decent Ramsdale tip over. Generally though, although Wolves did have plenty of attempts, they were mostly high or wide of the target. I don’t know what difference Diego Costa would have made to this aspect of their game, but was suspended.

Three subs came on at the start of injury time and the players saw things safely to the final whistle to increase their lead over Manchester City and be top of the table on Christmas Day – although as it turned out that would have been the case even if they’d lost at Molineux. Normally, by December 25th, about 17 matches would have been played, but of course, this is a unique season. We’re past the one third mark, and in recent weeks, the side has looked a little leggy a couple of times. Things will get intense if they progress in Europe, although I think it’s unlikely we will see a strong enough side in the FA Cup to go very far, which will allow for some breathing space. Injuries will likely be the main factor – and Arteta will hope to remain lucky there. Quality backup for Partey and Jesus does feel like the priority, although if you believe the press the club are looking at a winger. That might help with the goals scored tally, where things have dropped off a little in recent weeks, aside from the Forest home game.

The bottom line is that, for financial reasons, Arsenal’s squad does not run as deep, quality-wise, as the teams that have been winning the major trophies in recent years, and for that reason, most Gooners are realistic about their title chances. They have 24 further matches to play in the league. That’s a lot. Maybe six or seven on top of that in Europe. I think the most encouraging thing about recent weeks is that, in spite of some challenging situations, they’ve continued getting the results. Southampton away was a slight blip, but they recovered. The defeats to PSV and Brighton in the cups really didn’t matter, and were both delivered with weakened teams. 

Nobody can predict the impact of the World Cup. Arsenal have a large chunk of players taking part, but so do the other sides challenging for the top four. What we can do is relax until Boxing Day and then see what transpires, but as far as an opening three months to a season go, you really cannot ask for more than the players have delivered. Long may it continue. 

I will likely write something here during the World Cup, time allowing. One other impact of the decision to broadcast this match on a Saturday evening… will the focus of Arsenal fans on the game last night mean curtains for Tony Adams on Strictly Come Dancing? I have no idea if half time was too late to vote! Even if he progresses, I can’t see the BBC allowing him to win the show. They’ll surely fix it if that begins to look possible. 

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