Arsenal vs Wolves: Five things we learned as Unai Emery’s side labour to draw
The Gunners dropped more points as their top-four prospects drift further away
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Your support makes all the difference.1. Aubameyang rescues Arsenal momentarily
Arsenal emerged for the first half like a wounded animal, except one with little fight remaining after a torrid week. Unai Emery’s side sat back and absorbed pressure on home territory as Ruben Neves almost launched a signature pot-shot into the top corner. But, once again, it was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who hauled his side from a threatening abyss, combining with Alexandre Lacazette and guiding a left-footed shot into the top corner for his ninth goal of the season.
Wearing the captain’s armband in place of the absent Granit Xhaka, Aubameyang has become so pivotal to Arsenal’s rescue missions, offering those single moments of incision in a side that can otherwise often feel so toothless. But today, relying on him alone wasn’t enough, as points and top-four prospects fell further down that well and Arsenal were left with even more wounds to lick.
2. Ozil orchestrates on league return
It only took a vociferous fan protest and a PR campaign waged against the club, but Emery finally relented and reinstated Mesut Ozil into his starting line-up. It was up to Ozil, then, to live up to the crowd’s desires and, in a first-half Arsenal grew to command, he was the undisputed orchestrator, holding the ball longer than any other player, dictating play, drifting across the midfield in that languid floating role that he turns to magic or marmite.
However, after Raul Jimenez equalised for Wolves in the latter stages, the expendability came to the fore unavoidably as the playmaker was forced to drop deep and saw his influence on the match diminish. Ozil offers something no other player in Arsenal’s squad can and a level of creativity and invention few other players in the Premier League can muster, but when the game is being fought for every last tooth and nail, the cute edges would be better served by a razor.
3. Leno grows in stature
There were lingering doubts about Bernd Leno. The goalkeeper had inherited a fragile No 1 position from Petr Cech, but this season he’s grown in stature – no mean feat as the last stick of a relentlessly leaky dam. This season, Leno has made more saves than any other keeper and, as Arsenal’s defence inevitably gave way, it was his intervention that prevented the match from spiralling in another direction as he made a brilliant reflex save to deny Matt Doherty on the stroke of half time.
He could do little to prevent the equaliser and, although the gloss will always be tinged by such a misshapen unit ahead of him, nobody is pinpointing the goalkeeper as a point of weakness anymore.
4. Jimenez stands up again
The pressure had been mounting. The nerves palpably seeping from a porous Emirates crowd. And, just as Arsenal have become so reliant on Aubameyang, it was Jimenez who outleapt all those around him to head Joao Moutinho’s cross into the corner.
Last season, the Mexican scored six goals against top-six sides and so, just moments after spurning a golden opportunity, it was no surprise to see him shoulder the pressure just like his opposite number has done.
Wolves’ away form remains imperious, they have lost just twice in 11 games this season, and remain poised to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League. As Arsenal continue to writhe in confusion, Nuno Espirito Santo’s continue to soar on one steady trajectory.
5. Emery has no shield this time
Against Crystal Palace, Emery could hide behind the human shield of his combusted captain. This time, with Ozil playing well and clearly in favour with the crowd, there is no other marker for blame.
With the match still in a precarious position at 1-0, he withdrew Torreira, one of Arsenal’s few biting defensive forces, introduced 18-year-old Gabriel Martinelli and later Bukayo Saka before the equaliser was conceded. Of course, he was chasing the elusive cushion. But Wolves’ pressure had been building and when the seemingly inevitable struck, Arsenal were left lopsided with a lack of experience and two lightweight playmakers. That was a tactical error that can only lie at the manager’s feet and there’ll be nobody to take the gloss off that this week as Arsenal dropped points for the third match in a row.
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