Arsenal scrapes to win thanks to Wolves own goals
Arsenal consolidated top spot in the Premier League but needed a huge slice of luck in the shape of two own goals to secure a nervy 2-1 win at home against rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Mikel Arteta's side took the lead with 20 minutes to go when a Bukayo Saka corner bounced off the underside of the crossbar and off the back of unfortunate Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone into the net.
The hosts were not at their ruthless best and thought they had blown their chance when Wolves equalised through Tolu Arokodare with normal time almost up, the substitute scoring with an excellent glancing header.
But Arsenal's blushes were spared when Yerson Mosquera headed the ball into his own net under pressure from Gabriel Jesus in the fourth minute of stoppage-time to rescue victory for the league leader.
It was a quick reboot for the north London side after seeing an 18-game unbeaten run broken last weekend at Aston Villa and leaves it on 36 points, five ahead of Manchester City and six ahead of Aston Villa, which both play on Monday (AEDT).
Wolves, meanwhile, remain winless after 16 Premier League games this season and their two-point haul is a joint-record low after 16 games in top-flight history, level with Sheffield United in 2020-2021.
It was Wolves that had the best chance of the first half when Hwang Hee-chan sprinted into an empty Arsenal half left unmanned except for goalkeeper David Raya, who saved the forward's effort.
After that the chances began to flow for the hosts.
Gabriel Martinelli could, and probably should, have scored when he headed a deep Declan Rice corner back across the goal rather than in, and then volleyed a Wolves clearance from another corner narrowly wide shortly after.
The second half was more one-way traffic. Rice had a free kick tipped over the bar and then saw another edge-of-the-box effort brilliantly saved by Johnstone to prevent it going into the bottom corner.
Arsenal also suffered its latest defensive injury blow as Ben White had to be replaced after half an hour, taking the shine off the return of centre back William Saliba.
Arteta said the level of his side's performance was unacceptable.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” he said.
“We had a lot of situations in the first half that were massive chances. Then we didn't generate that many clear chances in the second half.
“Then we had periods where we spent three minutes too deep, so passive. There were really poor defensive habits, which are not acceptable for our level. We need to improve that and in the end, you rely on an individual action to score the goal and win the game.
“We created lots of situations without picking the right players with the final pass. Regardless of how the game goes, you can always find a solution to win it.
“Now we are going to have a clean week. Then we go again for the Christmas period, we know what happens. But that's it, win the game and go on.”
Wolves boss Rob Edwards showed sympathy towards the travelling fans, who applauded their team from the field just five days on from holding a protest against the club's ownership ahead of a 4-1 home defeat to Manchester United, after the gut-wrenching finish.
“The lads gave everything tonight. The bottom line is we have lost another game of football,” Edwards said.
“The plan did work, the lads carried it out really well. We were very disciplined – we couldn't open up here as it would be asking for trouble.
“The lads worked hard on it, and they believed in it. We showed the courage to get back in it after being 1-0 down.
“I feel for the supporters and a big thank you to them for coming down. I feel for them as it will be hard for them at the moment.”
