England,
Saturday, 21 April, 2024
Arsenal put a painful week behind them by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Molineux to lift them to the top of the Premier League table – keeping a club record sixth consecutive away league clean sheet in the process.
The visitors – looking to respond after suffering a first league defeat of the calendar year before being dumped out of Europe – started quickly, as Kai Havertz hooked the ball towards goal in the opening seconds, but Jose Sa made a comfortable save.
Bukayo Saka also tested the goalkeeper early on with a header, while Gabriel Jesus scuffed wide from range.
Declan Rice had a couple of efforts from the edge of the box, but Wolves grew in confidence midway through the first half, as Joao Gomes got the better of Jakub Kiwior before firing towards goal, only for David Raya to brilliantly palm onto the post.
The game looked set to be level at the breal, but Leandro Trossard had other ideas, as the Belgian beautifully sliced his ninth league goal into the top corner from Jesus’ lay-off to put Arsenal ahead – making it his best scoring season in the league.
The Gunners were now brimming with confidence as Havertz tried a volley early in the second half, but Sa held well, before Ben White skewed wide from distance.
Wolves were on the back foot for the opening 25 minutes following the restart, but substitute Mario Lemina showed how dangerous a 1-0 scoreline can be when he cut inside Gabriel Magalhaes before his shot was saved by Raya.
Mikel Arteta’s side had a one-goal lead to hang onto in the final stages, and decided to drop back and absorb Wolves pressure in order to try and protect their slight advantage.
After surviving some nervy moments, the Gunners had chances of their own to kill the game off, and Martin Odegaard did just that, slotting home at the near post to secure a sixth consecutive H2H victory for Arsenal.
In contrast, the hosts are now winless in five matches, as Gary O’Neil’s team stay in 11th and without much left to play for this season.