Wolverhampton Wanderers Away Preview

MOLINEUX-LOOK ARSENAL

ARSENAL WILL LOOK to continue their recent upturn in fortunes when they visit in-form Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Wednesday night’s 4-0 victory over Norwich City was the third win in a week for Mikel Arteta’s resurgent side which has thrust them right back into the chase for European qualification.

Saturday’s match at Molineux is set to be a top six shoot out with Nuno Espirito Santos’ side who currently sit in sixth place, six points ahead of Arsenal.

Wolves are the only team to have won all three of their matches since the restart, although with a relatively small squad the heavy schedule may soon start to catch up with them.

Santos has already rotated the dangerous Adama Traore to great effect in recent matches and his battle with Kieran Tierney on Saturday looks set to be a fascinating duel. Keeping the Spanish winger quite will be key to our chances of success.

Prior to last April’s 3-1 loss at Molineux, Arsenal had enjoyed a run of six consecutive wins away at Wolves, going back to 1982, and in fact that defeat last season was the only one we have suffered against them in the last 22 meetings in all competitions.

The reverse fixture at the Emirates in November finished in a 1-1 draw, with Raul Jimenez equalising a first half strike from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, although this was in the final days of Unai Emery’s reign and Arsenal has seen many improvements since then.

But make no mistake about it, this will be a difficult game.

Wolves has developed into a great side under Santos and I have become a big fan of his since the Midlanders returned to the Premier League in 2018. So much so that I was really hoping he would become Emery’s replacement back in December.

The Portuguese usually favours a 3-5-2 system, often pairing Jimenez with Diogo Jota up front, while Pedro Neto and Traore attack from wide areas. 

The back three of Conor Cody, Willy Boly and Romain Siass are strong and well organised, and with wing backs, Matt Doherty and Jonny tucking in to make a five-man midfield, this will be another key area.

Arteta has favoured a similar formation in recent matches so I am looking forward to seeing how he counters the threat of this Wolves side who have lost just six times in the Premier League this season, less than Manchester City, Leicester City, Chelsea and Manchester United. 

In fact, only champions Liverpool have lost fewer matches this season so they will be a very tough team to beat.

On top of that they also play some extremely attractive football. 

Traore has received rave reviews this season and rightly so. The muscular wide man has been in incredible form and has added end product to his strength and pace. In fact, I would go as far as to say he has been the most exciting player in the league this season.

Meanwhile Arteta has slowly set about improving what he has at Arsenal.

The good form of the previously maligned Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi, and David Luiz shows the respect the experienced players have for the coach, and the faith he has shown in the exciting crop of young players has been a pleasure to watch.

Unfortunately, this new approach has not come without its casualties. 

Mesut Ozil has yet to feature since the restart and it is looking increasingly likely that the German has played his last game for the club. 

Quite how we get rid of a player on a contract worth £350,000 a week remains to be seen and we may have to cut our loses and pay off his remaining year.

Matteo Guendouzi is another who looks to be on his way out. When asked about the young Frenchman following his omission from the match day squad against Norwich, the third match in a row in which he has not been selected, Arteta was scathing in his comments:

“Some things have to change, and nothing has changed.”

Perhaps Guendouzi just needs to grow up.

But these are minor problems. Arteta has improved the defensive side of the team, conceding 14 goals in his 14 league matches in charge after we had let in 28 in the previous 17 before his arrival. Six clean sheets have been kept in the last 12 matches.

This has been largely down to the work of the midfield who now offer far more protection to those behind them. Gone are the days when teams would literally run through the middle virtually unopposed and fire shot after shot at our goal.

Going forward has seen an evolution in style too. We are now using the width of the pitch far more, often switching the play from side to side, and many more crosses are going into the opposition box. 

The accurate long balls from David Luiz has also been a feature, often picking out the runs of Aubameyang and Eddie Nketiah.

We are still not scoring enough goals, only 47 in 32 league matches far, but that will come once we settle into the new formation and new defensive stability.

With all that in mind and the recent good results I am not expecting too many changes from Arteta for the trip to the Black Country so here is my predicted line-up:

Martinez – Holding, David Luiz, Kolasinac – Soares, Ceballos, Xhaka, Tierney, Pepe, Aubameyang – Nketiah.

I expect Cedric Soares to get his first start after his exceptional cameo in midweek while I also think Nketiah and Nicolas Pepe could return after being rested for the Norwich match. 

The only slight tweak to that may see Tierney moved into the back three with Bukayo Saka coming in at left wing-back, baring in mind the threat Traore will pose down our left flank.

This match will be a great test to see exactly how far we have progressed under Arteta. 

We really need to start competing better in these types of games away from home so this will give us the perfect opportunity to assess exactly where we are and what still needs to be improved.

A win would send out a real message that we can be competitive again and put us right back into the race for the European spots, just three points behind Wolves. 

Defeat on the other hand will all but end our chances of a top six finish and all our European eggs will end up in the FA Cup basket.

Between them this season Arsenal and Wolves have drawn 26 matches, 13 each, so that seems the most likely outcome and in all honestly that would not be a disaster by any means. But we really need to win.

So, buoyed by recent results and other positive news from the club this week I am going to be optimistic and predict a 2-1 success. After all we do have a 100% league record in the month of July.