Premier League

ARSENAL 2 (Pepe 82, Sa 90+5 og)
WOLVES 1 (Hwang 10)

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE chasing Arsenal fought back from a goal down to beat high-flying Wolves at an emotional Emirates tonight (Thursday).

A first goal of the season from substitute Nicolas Pepe, and an own-goal by Wolves keeper Jose Sa deep into stoppage-time cancelled out Hwang Hee-Chan’s early opener for the Old Gold.

The last-gasp victory pushes the Gunners to within a point of fourth place Manchester United – and with two games in hand, home fans left the stadium firmly believing Champions League qualification is Arsenal’s for the taking.

The noise and buzz up and down the Holloway Road was palpable, but during the match supporters had been continually frustrated by a well-marshalled Wolves defence and a host of Gunners chances that missed the target.

But there was relief and joy for boss Mikel Arteta after the match. “It was an important win for us,” chimed the Spanish coach.

“The way we won it creates such a belief and togetherness and an atmosphere and cohesion with our fans as well and that’s extremely necessary. This is a really young squad and we need that.

“I said at half-time that if we want to be third or fourth with the big teams we have to come out in the second half and beat them. That was the spirit from half-time and we managed to do it.”

Arteta had been forced into one change from the side which defeated Brentford over the weekend. With leading scorer Emile Smith Rowe on his sickbed with stomach problems, Gabriel Martinelli came back into the starting XI having served a one-match suspension for his sending off at Wolves a fortnight ago.

Arsenal started on the attack, but it was Wolves who thought they had opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Roman Saiss’s flicked goal went to VAR, however, and was correctly ruled out for offside.

No matter, as a mistake minutes later by Gabriel – who scored the winner at Molineux in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory – mistimed a back pass, allowing South Korean Hwang to slot the ball past Aaron Ramsdale from a tight angle.

Raul Jimenez snatched at a chance to double the visitor’s advantage a few moments later, as Wolves threatened to pass their way through a dazed Arsenal midfield. But the miss seemed to weaken their grip on the game as Arsenal recovered to dominate first-half possession.

Mexican striker Jimenez, who fractured his skull at the Emirates in November 2020, had to feed off scant crumbs as Wolves were continually pegged back for the rest of the match.

But to the frustration of the home fans, Arsenal couldn’t find a way through a resilient Wolves wall that stood up to everything during a high-tempo opening 45 minutes.

Hwang had a great chance to bag his second early in the second half, but his deflected effort sailed narrowly wide of the left-hand post.

Arsenal soon resumed where they had left off, with attack after attack – only to be met with block after block from a resolute and well-drilled Wolves defence.

With time running out, Arteta brought on Eddie Nketiah in place of defender Cedric Soares as the Gunners threw everything forward.

The change paid instant dividends as Nketiah laid the ball off for fellow substitute Pepe, who swept home his first goal of the season just as it looked as if Wolves would see out a victory.

Alexandre Lacazette pumped up the crowd as he tussled with Joao Moutinho by the Clock End corner flag – and the fans responded. And so did the Gunners’ captain.

Going into the final seconds of six minutes of stoppage-time, Lacazette seized on a one-two with Pepe to slot the ball into the net off the palms of goalkeeper Sa.

At first it looked like Lacazette’s match-winner, but Sa’s fumbled touch chalked off the Frenchman’s goal. But for the Arsenal fans celebrating this crucial three points, that didn’t matter.

ARSENAL: Ramsdale; Cedric (Nketiah, 77), White, Gabriel, Tierney (Tavares, 90+2); Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli (Pepe, 71); Lacazette
Substitutes not used: Leno, Holding, Lokonga, Elneney, Swanson, Hutchinson

WOLVES: Sa; Kilman, Coady, Saiss; Neves, Moutinho; Samedo (Jonny, 61), Ait-Noun; Hwang (Neto, 74), Podence (Dendoncker, 90); Jimenez
Substitutes not used: Ruddy, Marcal, Trincao, Silva, Toti, Cundle

Attendance: 59,888