Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

Bukayo Saka scored his first Premier League goal as Arsenal maintained their upward momentum at the expense of Wolves

7.43pm BST

Paul Doyle was at Molineux to see Arsenal continue their late dash for European qualification. Here’s his report. Click and enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Stay healthy, everyone.

Related: Bukayo Saka hooks home to reel in Wolves and cast new hope for Arsenal

7.41pm BST

Nuno Espirito Santo is philosophical in defeat. “The first half was balanced, there were not too many chances, with the exception of one moment when we lost a bit of focus and Arsenal scored. In the second half we started better, with more pressing, creating chances. But as the game goes by, Arsenal became dangerous on the counter attack. It was not one of our best games, but the work was there, and let’s go for the next one. Mistakes happen, we have to solve it. We have to bounce back and reinvent ourselves. Back to our clean sheet and our process!”

7.37pm BST

Bukayo Saka, who so calmly steered home a fine goal today, talks to Sky. “It’s very big. We know how good Wolves are. We knew it was going to be tough and we fought for everything. We’re just so delighted to get the win and build some momentum. You can see what the manager’s building, we’re really delighted with the results we’re getting and that I can tie down my future here. It’s been a great week! We fought for each other, together, it feels like we’re more together. I’m 18, this is my dream, and anywhere the boss wants to put me, I’ll play!”

7.32pm BST

Arsenal move up to seventh (49pts) as a result of that victory. They’re still three points behind Wolves (52pts) who remain in sixth. Wolves can have no complaints about that result. They were ground down by the Gunners, who were initially resolute then increasingly attack-minded, an impressive all-round display. It’s slowly coming together under Mikel Arteta. The tussle between Leicester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Wolves and Arsenal for the remaining two (maybe three) Champions League spots on offer promises to be quite the show.

7.24pm BST

That was ultimately a very impressive performance by improving Arsenal, who went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league and deservedly won. They scored two fine goals, and their dream of Champions League football remains alive.

7.21pm BST

90 min +4: Arsenal ping it around as the world turns. Textbook clock management.

7.19pm BST

90 min +2: Xhaka is booked for a late lunge on Jota. Then Kolasinac knocks Jimenez over near the right-hand corner flag, with the Wolves striker going nowhere. The defender is very relieved that Neto’s delivery is useless. Wolves need to do some work on their dead-ball delivery; it’s been truly shocking today.

7.18pm BST

90 min: There will be five added minutes. Still enough time for Wolves to salvage something, but they’ll need to score very soon.

7.17pm BST

89 min: Moutinho is replaced by Gibbs-White. Arsenal win a corner. Torreira makes a big deal of doing nothing and is booked for timewasting. Nothing comes of the corner.

7.16pm BST

88 min: Arsenal come close to a third, Wolves looking utterly deflated. Aubameyang drives towards the box and is within his right to shoot, but the Golden Boot contender selflessly tees up Willock to his right. Willock beats Rui Patricio, but not Neves on the line.

7.15pm BST

The subs combine to secure all three points for Arsenal! Lacazette, his back to goal 30 yards out, rolls a pass wide right for Willock, who glides down the flank before firing a low cross into the box. Lacazette takes a touch on the edge of the six-yard box, moving right and away from Coady, before spinning and steering a lovely shot into the bottom left.

7.13pm BST

85 min: Bellerin gets on the end of a long free kick and nearly bustles free, to the right of goal, ten yards out. But he can’t quite work enough space to shoot. Arsenal are doing a fine job of keeping Wolves up the wrong end of the pitch.

7.11pm BST

84 min: Lacazette is bowled over by Coady, and that’s another name in the referee’s notebook.

7.10pm BST

83 min: More changes by Arsenal. Lacazette and Torreira come on for Nketiah and Ceballos.

7.08pm BST

81 min: Neto gives the ball away in the centre circle, allowing Arsenal to flood forward. Ceballos lines one up, 25 yards from goal, but takes too long and the chance is gone.

7.07pm BST

79 min: Maitland-Niles comes scything through the back of Moutinho. A yellow. On another day, both Saiss and Maitland-Niles could have seen red for the challenges that led to their booking. Michael Oliver’s in a generous mood.

7.06pm BST

78 min: Another decent chance for Nketiah, who steals the ball from Jota but hesitates fatally when considering a shot from the edge of the box.

7.05pm BST

77 min: Saiss wants to watch himself here, because now he’s barged into the back of Nketiah. Just a free kick, no second yellow. Nketiah gets on the end of the set piece himself, heading over from six yards. That was a decent chance.

7.04pm BST

76 min: Before the free kick can be taken, Arsenal make a double swap, sending on Willock and Bellerin for Saka and Cedric. The free kick’s then launched long, but Aubameyang can’t sort his feet out at the far post.

7.03pm BST

75 min: Saiss is booked for crudely clipping Aubameyang from behind. That was needlessly aggressive, and it’s going to be a free kick out on the right for Arsenal.

7.02pm BST

74 min: Moutinho floats this one into the mixer, forcing Xhaka to concede a corner out on the right. Moutinho takes it short, allowing Neto to attack at pace down the flank. He sends a vicious cross into the middle, but Martinez claims it spectacularly. Great hands. Safe hands.

7.00pm BST

73 min: A free kick for Wolves out on the left. Moutinho tries to release Jota with a disguised low fizz down the channel. Wolves’ set pieces have been beyond abysmal this evening. But they’ll get another chance, because Cedric almost immediately clatters Jonny.

6.59pm BST

71 min: Wolves replace Doherty with Neto, and the game restarts.

6.57pm BST

70 min: Time for isotonic beverages and tactical pep-talks.

6.56pm BST

69 min: Not for the first time today, Wolves waste their set piece by faffing around. Moutinho and Neves are the people at fault this time.

6.56pm BST

68 min: Xhaka clumsily clatters Jota to the ground as the Wolves sub slaloms down the middle. This is a free kick in a dangerous central position, 25 yards out.

6.55pm BST

66 min: There’s a long-distance back and forth between Luiz and Aubameyang as the former claims the latter isn’t making a run, holding his arms out in annoyance. He gets something back after attempting but failing to find the striker with a clunker of a pass. Arsenal haven’t really got going at all today, yet look at the scoreline. What are the words of that old song again?

6.52pm BST

64 min: Wolves have regained that aforementioned momentum, then. Jota slips Traore into acres down the inside-right channel. Traore draws Martinez, but clanks his chip over the bar. That really should have been the equaliser.

6.51pm BST

63 min: Jota sashays at great speed down the centre of the park. Arsenal seem intent on forming a guard of honour for him, and he reaches the edge of the box without being challenged at all. But just as he shoots, Luiz arrives on the scene to block. Marvellous defending by the much-maligned Brazilian.

6.49pm BST

61 min: A lull. Arsenal will be happy with the way they’ve quelled Wolves’ early second-half momentum.

6.48pm BST

59 min: Nketiah looks to burst into space down the left and is barged over by Boly. No free kick, which causes Mikel Arteta to blow a fuse. It did look a strange non-decision.

6.44pm BST

57 min: Arsenal respond with their first change. Tierney goes off, Maitland-Niles comes on.

6.44pm BST

56 min: Wolves make their first sub, sending Jota on. Eyebrows pop up all around Molineux as Traore’s number goes up. But it’s a mistake by the fourth official, and it’s Dendoncker who makes way.

6.43pm BST

54 min: Traore, with a blend of determination and great skill, brushes off a couple of Arsenal challenges in the centre of the park before spotting Doherty in space on the right. Doherty’s cross leads to a corner that’s wasted, but what a well-rounded player Traore is.

6.39pm BST

52 min: Traore tears down the right and whips towards Jimenez at the far post. Jimenez sends a diving header wide left, and claims to have been impeded by Cedric, but the referee isn’t in the least bit interested.

6.39pm BST

51 min: Neves nearly releases Traore down the right, but overcooks the pass to the extent of nearly knocking his team-mate over. Wolves are first to everything right now.

6.37pm BST

49 min: Wolves have clearly been given a good talking to, as they’re playing at an obviously higher tempo. Doherty nearly chests down a long ball inside the Arsenal box, but gives up the fight after accidentally handling. He’s frustrated at his own mistake.

6.35pm BST

48 min: Some space for Traore out on the right. He hooks into the centre but can’t find the advanced Dendoncker.

6.34pm BST

47 min: Saiss looks a wee bit groggy here. The physios take a good long look at him before he’s allowed to get up and continue.

6.34pm BST

Arsenal get the second half underway. The action unfolds for all of 15 seconds before it stops again, Saiss having taken an accidental whack on the noggin in an aerial challenge with Saka.

6.19pm BST

Half-time entertainment.

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6.18pm BST

Arsenal had most of the possession, Wolves looked more dangerous. But it’s Bukayo Saka’s classy finish that makes the difference. With Champions League qualification still a possibility for both clubs, it’s going to be an interesting second half all right.

6.15pm BST

45 min: There will be two added minutes.

6.14pm BST

Aubameyang sends Tierney into space down the left. Tierney’s cross deflects off Doherty, and it’s a little bit behind Saka, 12 yards out. Saka shapes his body wonderfully and steers a fine shot into the top right, giving Rui Patricio no chance! That wasn’t as easy as he made it look. A really assured finish!

6.12pm BST

41 min: Traore dribbles down the inside-right channel and draws a clumsy foul out of Kolasinac. A free kick, just to the right of the D. Wolves over-elaborate, trying to tee up Saiss for a dink, and the chance is gone. Two set-pieces utterly wasted in the space of 60 seconds or so. Decadent behaviour, if nothing else.

6.10pm BST

40 min: Jiminez sends Doherty scampering down the right. The full back wins a corner off Luiz. Moutinho takes, and curls the ball straight out of play for a goal kick. So careless.

6.09pm BST

38 min: That’s given Arsenal succour, and Nketiah works wonders down the right to reach the byline. He pulls back with vigour, but there’s nobody in the middle to take advantage of his good work. Wolves clear.

6.08pm BST

37 min: That was a fine first-time shot by Nketiah, and he very nearly caught Rui Patricio out at his near post. Never a good look for goalkeepers. But Rui Patricio’s strong arm dug him out of bother. Just.

6.06pm BST

35 min: Xhaka dinks the ball down the inside-right channel. It’s not an accurate pass, but Moutinho deflects it into the path of Nketiah, who takes a fierce first-time shot towards the bottom right. Rui Patricio, surprised, instinctively turns the ball onto the right-hand post and out for a corner. Nothing comes from the resulting set piece, but at least Arsenal have finally shown some teeth in attack.

6.04pm BST

33 min: From the resulting free kick, the ball drops to Jonny, just to the left of the D. He attempts to steer a shot across Martinez and into the bottom right, but it’s always heading wide of goal.

6.03pm BST

32 min: Traore revs up on the left wing and threatens to leave Luiz for dust. The defender slides in, and that’s the first booking of the evening. David Luiz with an hour to go on a yellow card, against Adama Traore. Arsenal fans are permitted one long gulp.

6.02pm BST

31 min: Arsenal with more of the sterile possession. They look impressive until they get near the final third. Then, not so much.

6.00pm BST

29 min: Wolves, thoroughly refreshed, come at Arsenal just after the restart. Traore works his way down the right, afforded plenty of space by Tierney, who is clearly concerned about his speed. Traore whips a cross into the middle, where Dendoncker heads harmlessly wide left. He should have done better.

5.58pm BST

27 min: And that’s drinks!

5.56pm BST

26 min: ... there’s a bit of a scramble in the six-yard box. The ball breaks to Aubameyang, who flicks a shot towards the bottom right that’s easily grabbed by Rui Patricio.

5.55pm BST

25 min: Tierney works his way down the left and feeds Aubameyang, who wins a corner off Doherty. And from that set piece ...

5.53pm BST

23 min: Mustafi tries to release Nketiah down the inside-right channel, but Coady glides across to usher the striker away from the danger zone with gentle power.

5.51pm BST

21 min: It’s not sticking up front for Arsenal at all. They’ve had 73 percent of possession in the last ten minutes, as well, but almost none of it in Wolves’ final third.

5.50pm BST

19 min: Doherty flings a long throw into the Arsenal box from the right. It nearly drops to Jimenez, with both Kolasinac and Tierney faffing about, but Arsenal eventually clear. Coady immediately reapplies pressure with a long pass down the right; Traore nearly brings it under control but Tierney sticks to him like glue and forces the Wolves man to run it out for a goal kick.

5.48pm BST

18 min: Saiss rakes a pass down the left to release Jonny. However, Jonny seems in two minds about what to do when he reaches the ball, and it runs out of play before he swings a leg at it. To be fair, there was nobody in the middle to receive a first-time cross. But Arsenal were easily opened up there.

5.46pm BST

16 min: Arsenal slow it down a tad by clipping it around the back. Wolves seem happy enough to let them be about their business.

5.44pm BST

14 min: The first sight of Aubameyang this evening, as Tierney slips a ball down the left wing for him. But he slips under pressure from Doherty, and the chance to race into the box is gone.

5.43pm BST

12 min: Traore tries to release Dendoncker with a sliderule pass down the right channel. There’s not enough space for the ball to fit through, though, and it pinballs off Dendoncker and a couple of defenders before flying through to Martinez. A nice pacy feel to this game, with most of the early pressure being applied by Wolves.

5.41pm BST

10 min: Traore dribbles infield from the right, some superb ball control at warp speed. He reaches the edge of the Arsenal box, but spoils the effect by blazing wildly over. He is such a handful, though, almost unplayable at times.

5.40pm BST

9 min: Tierney offers very little space to Traore out on the right, but the winger still manages to buzz past him in a couple of steps and dig out a cross. Nobody in the centre, but that’s given Tierney, an excellent full back, something to think about.

5.39pm BST

8 min: Saka dwells on the ball out on the Arsenal right, and Jonny is quick to strip him of possession. The counter-attack doesn’t really go anywhere, which is good news for Saka, and a wake-up call as well.

5.37pm BST

6 min: Some space for Cedric down the right. His cross is to nobody in particular, and Wolves clear. Arsenal are enjoying plenty of possession, but they’re not doing a great deal with it yet. Plenty of time to go, of course.

5.35pm BST

4 min: Martinez is required to come to the edge of his box again, this time to gather a long punt that nearly releases Neves. A couple of no-nonsense, searching, direct passes already. This could be a long evening for David Luiz.

5.33pm BST

2 min: After that hectic start, Arsenal settle themselves by stringing a few passes together across the back. “Bugles, eh? If we’re bringing musical instruments into it, then Arsenal have been progressing from kazoo to tin whistle to recorder in the last three matches, so there’s every hope that they might graduate to something orchestral in this one. Not too adventurous - fife or piccolo would do. Of course, there’s an equal or greater likelihood of that old favourite, the swannee whistle.” Charles Antaki busking it, there, a one-man band.

5.32pm BST

1 min: Within the first ten seconds or so, Traore nearly gets on the end of a Jiminez ball down the middle. Martinez does extremely well to block his toe-poke on the edge of the Arsenal box. What a start that would have been!

5.30pm BST

Wolves get the ball rolling. But only after everyone takes a knee of solidarity, respect and love. Black lives matter.

5.27pm BST

The teams are out! Wolves wear their famous old gold, while Arsenal - who played in plain red shirts in the Sixties under Wright, the iconic white sleeves deemed old-fashioned by the groovy folk of swinging London - sport their first-choice colours too. We’ll be off soon! But not before there’s a minute of applause to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS and to honour the selfless work of its heroic staff during this epidemic. So here are some words, ringing down the ages, from the man behind its foundation by Labour, the legendary Aneurin Bevan: “So far as I am concerned [the Conservative Party] are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of people to semi-starvation. I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying. They have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse.” Preach on, brother Nye.

5.20pm BST

Nuno Espirito Santo speaks. “Every game in the Premier League is a very difficult game. Today we have a very difficult opponent in front of us.”

Mikel Arteta adds. “It is better than two weeks ago. Tonight’s game is crucial regarding the future. We come here to win the game. We have no margin for error. We are trying to compete as well as we can.”

5.17pm BST

The pubs are open again, aren’t they, ahead of the second wave of coronavirus. Here’s one in Wolverhampton, named after Billy Wright, the legendary captain of England and Stan Cullis’s three-time champions of the 1950s. See how the fans congregate with a view to raising a glass to the great defender and leader of men. However, Arsenal fans of a certain vintage may not remember Wright with quite so much affection, the Gunners having descended into extreme mediocrity during his stint as manager in the mid-60s. The low point of Wright’s mid-table reign was a match against Leeds, played out in front of a Highbury crowd of 4,554. One of the punters brought in a bugle, and treated everyone to a tinder-dry rendition of The Last Post. Ah well, nobody’s perfect.

5.00pm BST

In today’s 3pms ... Leicester City snapped their miserable sequence with a precious 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, while increasingly impressive Manchester United played out an absurd and highly entertaining 5-2 win over Bournemouth. That puts a wee bit of pressure on Wolves to respond in the chase for a place in next year’s Champions League: Leicester are now six points clear of Wolves in third, while United are up to fourth and three points ahead. Wolves are about to play their game in hand; if they win, they’ll barge Chelsea out of fifth spot, for a couple of hours at least. (Frank Lampard’s side host Watford tonight.)

4.40pm BST

Wolves make one change to the XI that started the 1-0 victory at Aston Villa last weekend. Adama Traore replaces Diogo Jota, who drops to the bench.

Arsenal make three changes to the team that battered Norwich 4-0 midweek. Cedric Soares, Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah take the places of Hector Bellerin, Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson, who are all named as subs. There’s no room in the squad for Mesut Ozil or Matteo Guendouzi, while Nicolas Pepe is missing as his wife has gone into labour.

Related: Mikel Arteta fires warning over bows of Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Özil

4.37pm BST

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rui Patricio, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny, Traore, Jimenez.
Subs: Jordao, Neto, Gibbs-White, Jota, Ruddy, Vinagre, Campana, Kilman, Rasmussen.

Arsenal: Martinez, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac, Cedric, Ceballos, Xhaka, Tierney, Saka, Nketiah, Aubameyang.
Subs: Bellerin, Papastathopoulos, Lacazette, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Nelson, Willock, Macey.

2.41pm BST

Wolverhampton Wanderers have had the better of Arsenal since their return to the big time in 2018. They’ve played the Gunners three times, winning one at Molineux, drawing the other two at the Emirates. This fixture last year saw Nuno Espirito Santo’s excellent side run out easy 3-1 winners; on current form - as the only side with a 100 percent winning record in the league since lockdown was lifted, having gone 405 minutes without letting in a goal - they’re favourites to do something similar again this evening.

Having said all that, Arsenal are beginning to turn their Project Restart world around, after a dismal start that saw them lose to Manchester City and Brighton. They’ve since won three on the bounce, against Southampton and Norwich in the league, and Sheffield United in the cup. A win here today would extend their lead over Tottenham - the upcoming north London derby is going to be a belter - and keep their faint hopes of Champions League football next season alive.

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