Gabriel’s first-half goal gets Gunners Champions League quest back on track. Arteta’s team fought valiantly to win, with Ramsdale’s solid goalkeeping assisting them.
Martinelli’s ridiculous red card put the Gunners under unnecessary pressure, but the Wolves couldn’t muster enough to beat the Arsenal keeper.
Starting Lineup:
WOLVES (3-4-3): Jose Sa;
Maximilian Kilman, Conor Coady (c), Romain Saiss;
Nelson Semedo, Leander Dendoncker, Ruben Neves, Marcal;
Trincao, Raul Jimenez, Daniel Podence.
SUBS: Hwang Hee-Chan, Tote Gomes, Fabio Silva, Chiquinho,
Rayan Ait Nouri, Ki-Jana Hoever, Jonny, John Ruddy, Luke Cundle.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Aaron Ramsdale;
Cedric Soares, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kieran Tierney;
Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka;
Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli;
Alexandre Lacazette (c).
SUBS: Rob Holding, Emile Smith Rowe, Arthur Okonkwo,
Albert Sambi Lokonga, Zach Awe, Eddie Nketiah, Mohamed Elneny,
Nicolas Pepe, Nuno Tavares.
Goals:
Arsenal has broken Wolves’ early resistance! However, the hosts lose the first header from the corner.
And White nods it back into the six-yard box. Lacazette gets to it first, getting taken out by Sa in the process, and Gabriel prods into the empty net.
Arteta on Gabriel’s Red card:
“To be fair, it’s the first time I’ve seen a red card like this in 18 years that I’ve been in this league,” Arteta said.
“I think you have to be pretty willing to give a red card in that situation. But still, it happened. We know that playing with ten men in this league, you’re not going to get enough points that we want, and we have to stop it.
“But to be fair, it’s difficult to find more arguments and more ways to transmit that to the players. Everybody says it’s the most disciplined group they’ve seen in the last 15 years, but still, we are getting red cards for other things.
“If you ask me if I’m happy with the decisions we’ve had this season, I’m not at all. But that’s a conversation I will have privately with the officials.
“We need explanations, we need explanations with what happened in VAR, and I need explanations with what happened today.”
So, where else do Gunners and Wolves go from here?
Arsenal picks up their first win of 2022, then leaves the Wolves to ponder their scarcity of goals.
The impact of this match will determine that European places will be d by the end of the season.
Gunners will be facing Brentford at the Emirates Stadium. Meanwhile, The Wolves will be facing Tottenham Hotspur.
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