Arsenal finish with a flourish for vital victory
LATE DRAMA: Wolves keeper Jose Sa can only deflect Alexandre Lacazette’s shot into the net for Arsenal’s winning goal at the Emirates Stadium. Picture: PA
Mikel Arteta celebrated a deserved injury-time comeback win that sparked scenes of delirious celebration in the red half of North London on Thursday night.
Arsenal captain Alex Lacazette epitomised the will of his team as he followed up substitute Nicolas Pepe's late equaliser to seemingly score five minutes into time on after Mikel Arteta's side had trailed to an early Hwang Hee-Chan goal.
Lacazette's strike was later awarded as an own goal to Wolves keeper Jose Sa, even though it first appeared no more than an unsuccessful save, but that did not stop Arsenal manager Arteta dancing with joy pitchside.
The win, 24 hours after the shock defeat of local and top four rivals Tottenham at Burnley, propels Arsenal to within a point of fourth-placed Manchester United, with two games in hand.
But it was the nature of this dramatic victory that had players and supporters united in breathless joy.
In truth, there was hardly a pause for breath from start to finish between these two rivals for a Champions League place.
High stakes made for a high tempo start with Arsenal having a strong penalty appeal turned down after a minute as Gabriel Martinelli tangled with Nelson Semedo in the act of shooting.
Replays were inconclusive, but appeared sufficient to make referee Martin Atkinson take a second look. We have all 'seen them given.'
This fixture came just two weeks after the sides met at Molineux and Arsenal secured their first win of 2022 away to Wolves, with a Gabriel goal, when they also had Gabriel Martinelli sent off.
The Brazil forward returned to the starting line-up, although his place would have been less certain had Emile Smith Rowe not been unavailable through illness.
And it was Gabriel who gifted Wolves an opening goal inside the tenth minute. He under hit a back pass and Hwang was alive to the opportunity. The fit-again forward, back from a hamstring injury, easily beat Aaron Ramsdale to the ball and then finished superbly into an empty net from a tight angle.
Wolves had already had a Romain Sais effort disallowed for offside and Raul Jimenez then missed the target with a good chance to double his side's shock lead.
Arsenal so nearly hit back through chances for Lacazette and Martin Odegaard but this Wolves defence is one of the best in the business.
Maybe the Arsenal fans would have been less exuberant had they been aware of the killer stat that their opponents had not lost any of the previous 45 Premier League matches in which they had taken the lead. That is a run that dates back to a defeat by Cardiff back in 2018.
Perhaps, despite it being so early in the game, the best Arsenal could hope for now was a draw.
Either way, the atmosphere was crackling in a near-packed Arsenal stadium as both sets of supporters found good reason to make a noise.
Chances, some better than others but nothing clear cut, came and went as the clock counted down to half-time, but Arsenal looked increasingly anxious and Wolves ever emboldened with every cleared attack.
Jimenez, playing for the first time at the ground where he suffered a fractured skull in November 2020, had the real peach of an opportunity but his glancing header span inches wide of a post.
The second half start was a mirror of the first with Arsenal going straight on to the attack with Martinelli and Wolves then having a great chance to score. This time, Hwang was superbly put through by Daniel Podence and the South Korean's close range shot went behind off the finger tips of Ramsdale.
The Arsenal fans got behind their team like rarely before in recent times and Wolves were soon penned into their own half of the pitch.
Wolves did not panic, though, and a lengthy injury break to tend to a Semedo hamstring problem also served to slow Arsenal's momentum.
Arteta made his move with 20 minutes to go when he sent on Nicolas Pepe for Martinelli. Seconds later and Jose Sa was making a great save from Lacazette and Arsenal had hope again.
Bruno Lage tried to counter the switch by sending on Pedro Neto for the final 15 minutes, just as Arteta went all-in by sending on striker Eddie Nketiah for right-back Soares.
And it was the Arsenal manager who came out on tops as his two replacements combined to get his side back into the match with only eight minutes to go.
A brilliant pass from Odegaard sprung Nketiah and the young English forward pulled the ball back for his Ivorian team-mate who turned and scored in a movement of balletic beauty.
Wolves' time-wasting tactics were exposed when six minutes of added time were announced at the end.
That allowed Lacazette the opportunity to play a one-two with Pepe and Sa could only turn his effort into his own net. A fitting end to a captain's performance.
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