Morning all.
Arsenal face Wolves this afternoon so unless Matheus Cunha is in the naughty corner for some reason, he’ll be up against a club which is apparently trying to sign him. When asked about the threat the Brazilian poses, Mikel Arteta refused to talk about individuals. Wolves sit one place off the relegation zone but take them lightly at are peril. Not that I can imagine Mikel Arteta allowing that to happen.
Manager Vitor Pereira has only been in place since the 19th December when he replaced Gary O’Neill. His/their best result was a 3-0 win against Leicester away from home. Their last home game, which was earlier this month ended in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest. Their last home victory came on Boxing Day when they defeated Man Utd 2-0, the previous home win was on the 9th November against Southampton.
We’ve already played Wolves this season of course, a game we won 2-0 thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. It was far from being a walkover though and at 1-0, David Raya sprung into action, making a wonder save to deny Wolves. I know you’ll find this hard to believe but we squandered opportunities to seal the three points long before Saka scored in the second half but Mikel Arteta says we’re better these days:
I think we are a much better side than since the start of the season, in every sense because we have evolved a lot as a team. We’ve had some very important experiences and the way we have competed throughout the last six or seven months with everything that has happened, it’s outstanding.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget what we as a club have been up against. Kicking the season off with a small squad is the club/managers fault but I don’t think the same can be said about the decisions which the officials have made or indeed the many injuries we’ve suffered. It’s amazing really that we’re still second in the league, albeit clinging on a bit. Thankfully, our walking wounded are soon to return but we still need a player who can put the ball in the back of the net. Something Arteta was again asked about during his pre match press conference:
My opinion is clear – we lost two very important players in Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, so we lack goals, people and options in the front line, it’s clear. If we can get the right player, that’s what we are actively looking at, but any player – no, we need someone that makes us better and makes an impact on the team, it’s clear that for the period that we have lost them ideally, we need some help because we were short already and we’re even shorter. The team has still coped with that but we have to do what is right for the club.
What’s right in my opinion is to make sure that by the time this transfer window closes, we’re equipped to push long and hard to win the league as well as going a long way in the Champions League. Adding a quality player or two to the squad would certainly help both and possibly help overturn our two goal deficit at St James Park.
But back to today and injuries. Myles Lewis-Skelly and William Saliba are close to returning just probably not today. Ben White is recovering well but Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain out for the foreseeable.
For Wolves, apparently Mario Lemina has been throwing his toys out the pram in attempt to get a move away so he was dropped for their last game and is likely to miss today’s game too. Edson Medina, Yerson Mosquera, Sasa Kalajdzic and Enso Gonzalez are out and both Boubacar Traore and Toti Gomez are doubts. New signing Emmanuel Agbadou could make his home debut.
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke on Wolves:
Pereira likes to use a 3-4-2-1 formation and will frequently settle back into a defensive 5-4-1 out of possession against a side of our quality. Averaging less than 40% of the ball in recent matches against Chelsea and Newcastle United, the pattern is likely to see us trying to break down a low block. When Wolves do have possession and their wing-backs push on high and wide, we must be wary of those pockets of space they create on the inside. These are the areas where they want to get key man Matheus Cunha onto the ball. Only four top-flight players have attempted more shots than him (63) with 29 of those attempts from outside the box, scoring with four of those which makes him the division’s leading scorer from 18+ yards alongside Cole Palmer. Closing him down anywhere inside the final third will be imperative.
Two other dangermen we must contain are left wing-back Rayan Ait-Nouri and striker Jorgen Strand Larsen. Ait-Nouri is skilful and able to produce moments of great imagination, while their centre forward is energetic and keen not to give his markers a moment’s peace. Wolves have been slow to get going this season, letting in nine goals in the opening 15 minutes – the most of any Premier League side. Losing 11 of the 15 matches where they conceded the opening goal, there is plenty of incentive for us to test their defensive capabilities early on.
So it looks like we’ll be up against another defensive setup but we should be used to it by now and we should be able to break through or around it. Speed is of the essence I think but then I always write that. Get at them early as it sounds like that’s when they can be vulnerable but we need to aware of them hitting us on the break. Martin Odegaard’s international teammate Strand Larsen is a big unit up front, one to watch on set-pieces and of course Cunha. Still, if we keep hold of the ball, they can’t hurt us.
Michael Oliver is the referee for this one, now he could hurt us. If we let him..
Catch up in the comments.
