Wenger defiant in face of facts

CHRISTMAS was meant to be the time when the greatest title race in Premier League history sprung to life but now it seems, with the mince pies still warm and cold turkey still wilting on the buffet, there have already been at least three fallers.

Just 24 hours after Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas ruled his side out of title contention following a frustrating home draw against Fulham — and after Liverpool’s slim chances were similarly ended by dogged Blackburn — Arsenal joined the collective collapse by failing to beat 10-man Wolves in a ferocious, pulsating but ultimately frustrating match at the Emirates.

Arsene Wenger’s side went ahead through Gervinho, dominated all 96 minutes of the game and pummelled the visitors’ goal, especially in the second half, only to be denied by a freak equaliser from Steven Fletcher, by increasingly desperate defending and by a quite astonishing performance from Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

Even after Nenad Milijas was harshly sent off by referee Stuart Attwell in the 75th minute the Gunners couldn’t find a winner and as a result wasted an excellent chance to move above Chelsea into the top four; leaving themselves 12 points behind leaders Manchester City.

Their lack of firepower on a day when Robin van Persie somehow failed to score was obvious and proves any talk of Wenger’s side coming from deep to compete for the championship is wildly over-optimistc.

Wenger, however, was refusing to completely rule his side out.

“There are going to be a lot of twists and turns,” he insisted. “But unfortunately we could not take advantage of that, which is the real frustrating thing today. When you have the luck of the results yesterday and you play today, you can take advantage; that is where the worrying thing is because in the season you have to take your opportunities.

“We missed a great opportunity but we just have to keep going and take the positives out of the game today.”

The positives were that Arsenal started well enough; scoring after only eight minutes with a wonderfully-worked goal on the break and that they dominated possession, creating maybe a dozen chances.

But how did they manage to miss so many of them?

The goal they did score began way back in the Arsenal area when Matt Jarvis’ cross was cleared and Tomas Rosicky collected the ball with a superb touch on the edge of his box and broke forward.

The midfielder’s pass inside found Yossi Benayoun and his slide-rule through-ball beat Wolves’ fragile offside trap, setting Gervinho free; there was still work to do but the winger turned to face goal, stepped inside his marker and calmly beat Hennessey.

Most people inside the Emirates were expecting an Arsenal landslide after that, especially when Van Persie was superbly denied by Hennessey as Arsenal poured forward; but after 38 minutes Wolves somehow found an equaliser.

Arsenal failed to clear properly and when the ball fell to Stephen Hunt on the edge of the area his miss-hit shot cannoned off Thomas Vermaelen straight onto the head of Fletcher, who almost inadvertently headed home.

Wolves defended defiantly and bravely after that and manager Mick McCarthy was right to pleased with his team’s effort, saying: “I’m delighted and proud. It was a difficult place to come and play. But judging by our performance defensively and Wayne Hennessey’s performance in goal we earned a point deservedly so.”

In the second half Arsenal shouted for a penalty when Laurent Koscielny blasted a cross against Christophe Berra’s arm but it wasn’t until Van Persie’s free-kick was superbly tipped over by Hennessey after 73 minutes that things really got serious. The visiting goalkeeper produced another stunning stop from a Per Mertesacker header and the longer the match went on the more frantic and desperate Wolves’ defending became — and the more ferocious the tackling from both sides.

Referee Attwell struggled to deal with it; making a string of strange decisions culminating in a red card for Milijas for a wayward but honest challenge on Mikel Arteta after 75 minutes.

“I’ll be appealing,” said McCarthy, who when asked if the tackle deserved a red card replied characteristically: “Not while there’s a hole in my bum.”

Arsenal piled on the pressure in search of a winner at the death and Wolves threw themselves in front of everything. What his defenders couldn’t block, Hennessey did.

ARSENAL: Szczesny 6, Djourou 5 (Chamakh 85), Mertesacker 6, Koscielny 8, Vermaelen 7, Song 6 (Ramsey 71; 6), Arteta 6, Rosicky 5, Benayoun 7 (Arshavin 63; 5), Gervinho 7, van Persie 7.

WOLVES: Hennessey 9, Zubar 6 (Stearman 50; 7), Johnson 8, Berra 8, Ward 7, Jarvis 7, Henry 7, Forde 6 (Guedioura 71), Hunt 6 (Doyle 85), Milijas 6, Fletcher 7.

Referee: Stuart Attwell.