Arsenal vs Wolves LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight

Relive all the action as the top-four rivals met at the Emirates Stadium

Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale mocks Leicester fans in Chip Inn Fish Bar advert

Arsenal staged a dramatic late comeback to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on Thursday with Nicolas Pepe and Alexander Lacazette scoring the goals to boost their hopes of securing a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Wolves, who began the evening one place behind Arsenal, looked to move into fifth spot as they defended tenaciously to preserve the early lead given to them by Hwang Hee-Chan.

But the home side’s often desperate pressure was finally rewarded in the 82nd minute when Pepe turned well in the box and fired a shot past Wolves keeper Jose Sa.

In a frantic finale, Pedro Neto shot agonisingly wide for Wolves and Martin Odegaard went close for Arsenal before Lacazette scored from close range in the fifth minute of stoppage time to send the home crowd wild.

The win lifted Arsenal into fifth place with 45 points, one behind Manchester United but having played two fewer games.

Relive all the action from the Emirates Stadium below.

Arsenal vs Wolves

• 95’: Lacazette snatches late victory
• 82’: Pepe scores equaliser off the bench
• 10’: Hwang capitalises on Gabriel error
• Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Lacazette
• Wolves XI: Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Ait-Nouri, Podence, Jimenez, Hwang

[24 February 2022 19:03 · Michael Jones]

Mikel Arteta tempted to field youthful four-pronged attack against Wolves

Mikel Arteta admits he is tempted to field a four-pronged forward line formed of his fine young attacking assets.

The Arsenal boss has plenty to ponder in terms of team selection with Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka both in the goals in the weekend win over Brentford.

With Arteta looking to mastermind a return to Champions League football, having such a precocious quartet at his disposal could prove vital.

[24 February 2022 19:00 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Arteta on Smith Rowe

Mikel Arteta spoke about the impressive form of 21-year-old Emile Smith Rowe and how he hopes the youngster will continue to improve at Arsenal. Arteta said:

The numbers should be looking something like this and that’s not a coincidence. He’s practising every day, he is working, he has willingness to do it because he knows he has the qualities and the capacity to do it. That’s what we have to demand from players whether they are 19 or 20 or 35.

"I think it’s [down to] a combination of everything. It’s in his nature, he needs to feel that confidence and that trust around the coaching staff that we are the right people to guide him and to take him to the next level.  

"He needs his team-mates, which are big contributors to what he can do on the pitch. He needs to feel love, he needs to have the right environment around him, his family, girlfriend or whatever next to him, and when that happens, he has got a good chance."

[24 February 2022 18:57 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Head-to-head

Arsenal are winless in four Premier League home matches versus Wolves - including three draws - since a 2-0 victory 11 years ago.

Wolves have won three of the seven Premier League meetings since returning to the top flight in 2018, drawing two and losing two.They can win successive league away games against Arsenal for only the second time after doing so in 1979.

The Gunners have scored in 28 matches in a row versus Wolves in all competitions. They last failed to do so in a 1-0 top-flight defeat at Highbury in February 1979.

[24 February 2022 18:54 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Wolves squad confident under Lage

Bruno Lage says he feels confident that his team can keep progressing but knows that there are a lot of challenges ahead on them this season. Asked about the confidence in the dressing room he said:

I felt that confidence since the first day, I have a good environment here, around the staff and players, so the confidence comes from the work and solid things we’re doing. For me, it’s so important the training, with little things every day you can grow up as a team to be stronger. The challenge every time when we play against teams, every time it’s a big challenge.

“We played against Tottenham, and it was a challenge, top players, against Leicester it was a hard game, a different system and different dynamic, and now Arsenal like we did two weeks ago, they are doing very well.

“A line of four, inside full-backs, wingers wide, a lot of people within the lines, the striker comes to create a diamond with the midfielders, so that’s the thing, good trainings and games, and solving problems from one game to another. After, it’s easier for us to create scenarios to prepare for the next game. Here, when you are playing against these teams, every team has big players, threats, systems, it’s a massive challenge for my career and staff and players.”

[24 February 2022 18:48 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Team changes

Mikel Arteta makes just one change to the Arsenal team that lined up against Brentford last time out. Gabriel Martinelli returns after a suspension as Emile Smith Rowe drops out of the squad.

Bruno Lage also makes one change to his Wolves team. Leander Dendoncker starts on the bench with Hee Chan Hwang brought back into the starting XI.

[24 February 2022 18:46 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Line-ups

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, Cedric Soares, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Lacazette

Wolves XI: Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Ait-Nouri, Hwang, Jimenez, Podence

[24 February 2022 18:41 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves prediction: How will Premier League fixture play out tonight?

Wolves will be hoping to leapfrog Arsenal in the Premier League on Thursday as the pair face off in a fixture.

Bruno Lage’s side have been impressive this season but the manager says the club need the results to translate into tangible success.

“We have done something special in December, January and February,” he said. “The carrot I want for my team now is to step forward to be the big team we want to be.

“We can’t relax. We have 40 points but we want to bring success to this club.”

But how likely are they to beat Arsenal? Here’s all you need to know:

[24 February 2022 18:37 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Lage on what he learned from the previous Arsenal defeat

Wolves travel to the Emirates Stadium tonight to take on Arsenal but the reverse fixture took place just two weeks ago at Molineux where the Gunners left victorious after a 1-0 win.

Wolves manager, Bruno Lage, spoke about that game and what he learned from the defeat. He said:

I talk about the movements they did, and are doing very well, especially the diamond of three midfielders and the striker, and the spaces they can offer when they come to press, and we can have that space to play our game. I think it was a good game and I think we played better against Arsenal than Leicester but lost that game.

“We need to go with the same ambition, personality to play our game against a strong team. They are doing a good season, the last games they were playing well and scoring goals, so we need to understand that also. We know we have two games but every time we talk one game at a time. For now, it’s Arsenal, we played against them two weeks ago, it’s an important game for us, but also Arsenal, maybe the pressure is on Arsenal’s side, not us.

“Here, I make the pressure, and my pressure is very high. I want to go there and think about the way we want to play and try to win the game like we did in the last three or four months – with personality and character.”

[24 February 2022 18:32 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal vs Wolves: Mikel Arteta on race for top four

In a pre-match press conference earlier in the week Mikel Arteta was asked how he thought the race for the Champions League spots would unfold this season as his Arsenal side look to chase down the current fourth placed team, Manchester United. Arteta said:

"I think it will be a bit of a rollercoaster. There will be moments when a team opens up a bit of a gap, then it catches up. You see the fixtures we all have to play and they are extremely tricky. We will see.

"There is going that pressure because mathematically, it is possible but our focus has to be today. Train well today, prepare well today, be mentally ready, physically ready, tactically ready tomorrow to play a really difficult match and show it on the pitch. That should be the only aim.   

"I think [the players] know. They know what every game means for us, we know where we are and that race is going to right until the end.

"There are a lot of clubs involved, you see very different results that you don’t expect and we play at home [against Wolves on Thursday night], the importance of getting the points when we play at home is going to be crucial to get to the destination."

[24 February 2022 18:28 · Michael Jones]

Arsenal and Wolves ready to steal the spotlight as Champions League becomes the reward and the reality

“Bruno Lage’s side haven’t yet taken too much focus in the wider Premier League picture, but perhaps they are about to.”

So wrote these pages one month ago, as Wolverhampton Wanderers prepared to embark on a run of fixtures which could see them marooned in mid-table, or propelled into the mix for a European spot.

Since then: 2-1 win, 2-0 win, 2-1 win – plus a 1-0 reversal into the mix. Low-scoring encounters, keeping with the theme of their season, but far more consistency than most sides in the top eight have managed across the same run.