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24 min: Gyokeres busies himself down the right and wins Arsenal their first corner of the evening. Saka wanders over to take it.
23 min: Hugo Bueno catches Saka on the left boot. Saka goes down hollering. Not even a free kick. The referee playing things laissez-faire tonight. There wasn’t a whole lot in that, though, and Saka is back up again quickly enough.
22 min: Angel Gomes is replaced by Arokodare, who Rob Edwards really wanted to give a rest this evening. It’s been far from an ideal start for the hosts.
21 min: Angel Gomes is down again, this time getting treatment for a sore back. Not sure he’ll be able to continue.
19 min: … so having said that, Wolves complete their very first pass in the Arsenal final third. (Arsenal have made 26 in Wolves’ final third, by way of comparison.) It’s made by Andre to Mane on the left. Mane’s cross fails to beat the first man. Small acorns, all that.
18 min: That early Arsenal goal has done a good job of settling the Molineux faithful. The fact that Wolves can barely get out of their final third, never mind their own half, isn’t helping in that regard.
17 min: … and to further illustrate that, Madueke picks up Gyokeres’s cutback on the right-hand corner of the Wolves box. He aims for the bottom left. Sa spills, but Martinelli can’t tuck away the rebound. Sa redeems himself by making himself big enough to stop a second goal.
16 min: Madueke drops a shoulder to get past Hugo Bueno on the right touchline. He crosses long. Gyokeres challenges at the far stick, but Sa claims confidently. Madueke looks up for this once again at a ground he very much likes visiting, whatever his initial observations were.
14 min: After some careful checking, Angel Gomes is cleared to continue.
12 min: Saka battles for a loose ball with Angel Gomes. He catches the Wolves man on the ear. More slap of forearm than point of elbow, but that will have hurt. Not enough force for a booking … and yet you have seen them given, and Saka may not get another free hit.
10 min: Arsenal have flown out of the blocks, just like Mikel Arteta promised they would. Martinelli crosses from the left. Madueke sends one in from the right. Wolves just about hold out, whacking both clear. The Gunners looking to get this game done and dusted with Novocastrian haste.
8 min: Rice struts down the middle and whips a low curler inches wide of the bottom right. Not sure Sa was getting to that.
7 min: Saka celebrates by miming the signing of a contract. Then Arsenal nearly celebrate a second goal in short order, Timber creaming a mid-height cross through the Wolves six-yard box from the right. Had Gyokeres looked lively, he’d have trundled that home.
GOAL! Wolves 0-1 Arsenal (Saka 5)
Saka celebrates his new bumper contract with a goal! Rice curls an easy cross in from the left. Saka, unmarked six yards out, stoops to guide a header past Sa, who had no chance. Saka couldn’t miss. Not sure what the Wolves defenders were up to, other than standing still.
4 min: A first touch for Madueke down the right. The Wolves fans welcome him pretty much as you’d expect. Pantomime fun.
3 min: Bellegarde puts himself about down the Wolves right. He looks to have nicked the ball away from a snoozing Zzzzzubimendi, but a whistle that’s generous to Arsenal blows. The visitors counter through Martinelli down the left, but his cross is easily snaffled by Sa.
2 min: It’s not a pleasant evening weather-wise. It’s raining in the West Midlands, and that rain could turn to sleet or snow later. Slapstick entertainment not yet off the menu.
Wolves get the ball rolling. “A quiet night is wanted, I think, from all parties, at least in the sense of avoiding the ghastly shenanigans on view in the notorious match last night,” begins Charles Antaki, who speaks for us all. “Raucous is good, animated is fine, full bloodedness welcome, but none of the other stuff, please. British football has been pretty free of it these last years, for which we should all be grateful.”
The teams are out! Wolves in old gold, Arsenal in red and white, a grand look all round. A fine atmosphere at Molineux ahead of what the kids are calling the Billy Wright derby (490 appearances for Wolves between 1939 and 1959, managed Arsenal from 1962 to 1966). We’ll be off in a minute!
Rob Edwards speaks to Sky Sports … “A few lads were feeling the effects of [the FA Cup win over Grimsby] … it was like playing on chocolate gateau … it was tough … João Gomes has had a bit of a hip issue … Tolu [Arokodare] has played four 90s in a row … we need to be able to run tonight … we have to get around the pitch … we have to be connected with and without the ball … a level of security that you have to have first.”
… and so does Mikel Arteta. “We attack the game right from the beginning … like we try to do in every game … [Wolves] have caused a lot of problems recently to a lot of teams … it’s always very tough [at Molineux] so we are very aware of that.”
Pre-match postbag. “I was curious about whether St Totteringham’s Day could arrive tonight, or maybe had already passed and no-one noticed. Turns out that IF Arsenal were to win tonight AND beat Spurs on Sunday it would be a new record for the earliest ever. Dang!” – Ike Proud
“Wolves’ season has largely gone to the dogs but they might find inspiration in the wolfdog who crossed the cross-country skiing finish line at the Winter Olympics. Everyone loves to see the underdog get over the line!” – Peter Oh
This match was originally scheduled for Saturday 21 March, but has been moved forward due to Arsenal’s participation in the League Cup final on Sunday 22 March. Their opponents at Wembley that day, Manchester City, weren’t able to bring their game that weekend, at home to Crystal Palace, similarly forward to this fallow midweek, on account of Palace’s involvement in Conference League play-off action at Zrinjski Mostar tomorrow. So that fixture will stay in City’s back pocket for now. A big chance for Arsenal to crank up some scoreboard pressure tonight.
The top-versus-bottom thing isn’t the only historical shadow looming over Wolves tonight. They’ve lost their last nine Premier League matches against Arsenal on the bounce. You have to go back to February 2021 for their last win over the Gunners; in fact they did the double over Mikel Arteta’s side that season. (Trigger warning: both matches were played behind closed doors for obvious reasons, so you may not want to go back.)
In the interests of balance, here’s what happened in this fixture last season. Revisit the fume!
Wolves make three changes to the team that started the goalless draw at Nottingham Forest last Wednesday. André, Jean‐Ricner Bellegarde and Jackson Tchatchoua come in for Rodrigo Gomes, João Gomes and Tolu Arokodare, who all drop to the bench.
Arsenal make four changes to the XI that began the 1-1 draw at Brentford last Thursday. Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli are back; Eberechi Eze,
Leandro Trossard and Cristhian Mosquera step down.
The teams
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa, Mosquera, Santiago Bueno, Krejci, Tchatchoua, Angel Gomes, Andre, Hugo Bueno, Mane, Bellegarde, Armstrong.
Subs: Johnstone, Doherty, Wolfe, Joao Gomes, Arokodare, Pedro Lima, Rodrigo Gomes, Rawlings, Edozie.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Madueke, Saka, Martinelli, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, White, Gabriel Jesus, Eze, Norgaard, Trossard, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly.
Referee: Paul Tierney
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Preamble
The preamble from the reverse fixture two months ago bears repeating. Because, I mean, c’mon …
… yet while this will be the 42nd 43rd time the Premier League leaders have played the side propping up the entire table - winning 30 out of 41 31 out of 42, with seven draws – who are responsible for two of the four historical shocks? Why, Wolverhampton Wanderers, that’s who! Click below to reminisce, my old MBM pals. So while Mikel Arteta will surely be anticipating another three points, Rob Edwards must know that long shots sometimes find the target, and you never know. They nearly pulled off a shock at the Emirates back in December, after all. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
(The other two bottom-beats-top victories in the Premier League era are Oldham’s 1-0 win over Manchester United in March 1993, and Tottenham Hotspur – yeah, this one sounds a bit weird - defeating Liverpool in November 2008. We don’t have a link to the former pre-internet match, but here’s one to the latter, which features an in-no-way-doctored photo of Harry Redknapp flooring it in a Ford Cortina.)
