Not a good day in the office for Arsenal, drawing 1-1 with Wolves at home in the Premier League. A lacklustre performance which showed little to no creativity from the home side, saw us score our only goal at the hands of a cross by Mkhitaryan that found its way into the net on the 86th minute to equalise and grab us a fortunate point.
Running with the theme of nearly all of our fixtures this season, we started slow and had a poor first half, it almost reeked of complacency, as this Arsenal side was not the same team that stormed out of the gates last week against Liverpool with passion and a point to prove. Poor performances all over the pitch saw us fail to create any clear chances in the first half and have 0 shots on target. Wolves took the lead relatively early on with the Wolves attacker latching onto a pass mistakenly left by our own Granit Xhaka, and starting a move which resulted in Cavaleiro finding the net for the visitors 1-0. The rest of the half saw more opportunities on the counter attack from Wolves, and Bernd Leno doing his absolute best to keep us alive in the game. Half time saw Emery make the substitution of Guendouzi on for Iwobi, which seemed surprising as Iwobi looked probably our liveliest and most direct player going forward thus far.
It seemed to work somewhat however as we did pick things up in the second half, not without our defence still looking vulnerable to many counter attacks, in which Leno's heroics dug us out again and again. But we were creating a few more chances, and we all thought we had got the goal we needed when Bellerin played in a great cross only for Aubameyang to miss an absolute sitter, hitting the post. It became attack vs defence for a while with Arsenal amassing double digits for corners in the game but not using them wisely. The equaliser finally came on the 86th minute with Mkhitaryan sending in a good cross which found its way into the net without touching anyone. Immediately Wolves sprung to life after this goal and were unlucky to hit the crossbar a few minutes from full time. Game ends 1-1 and a lucky point to take our unbeaten run to 16, but that does not feel like a positive after sitting through a match like todays.
Player Ratings:
Bernd Leno: 9
My man of the match today, there is nothing to say but the fact that we would not have got anything from todays game without his heroics, showed bravery and good awareness and positioning to make many vital saves.
Hector Bellerin: 6
Probably the best of the defence, still liable on the counter but got forward well, created the chance of the game which should have seen us go 1-1.
Shkodran Mustafi: 5.5
Relatively poor showing, looked off the pace whenever we faced counter attacks, also as the most experienced head in the backline I believe he should be doing more to keep our shape and show some leadership.
Rob Holding: 6
Was exposed by Adama Traore late in the game but held his ground ok up until then, looked comfortable on the ball but still not one of his better days.
Sead Kolasinac: 4.5
Was a bit all over the place at the back, very often caught out of position. Shows promise on attacks but then cannot recover if he loses possession or we are caught on the counter.
Lucas Torreira: 7
Most definitely our best outfield player today, was making a nuisance of himself in the middle for the Wolves attackers and trying to tick things over with his passing. Also had a good effort denied by Rui Patricio in the second half.
Granit Xhaka: 5.5
Extremely poor and complacent in his mistake for the first goal and that is hard to forgive, however was one of our better players in the second half, and probably our most creative late on trying to get balls into the box.
Mesut Ozil: 5
From memory he only created one chance of note in the first half of the game. Did not make much of an impression on the game and came very deep to receive the ball limiting his creativity, often seen around the halfway line for large parts of the match.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 4
I wouldn't have even known he was on the pitch for most of the game, struggled to involve himself and missed a sitter of a chance when he was called upon, shocker.
Alex Iwobi: 6
Not much came of for him in the first half and he did not have a great deal of end product, however was willing to drive the team forward and run at players, this ambition was pleasing to see at the least.
Alexandre Lacazette: 5
Saw a fair bit of the ball and tried to get involved as always, but was quite sloppy in possession and never managed to test the Wolves keeper throughout the game.
Substitutes:
Matteo Guendouzi: 6
Sprung a bit of life into the side off the bench and was looking to go forward most of the time.
Aaron Ramsey: 6
Almost found the net with a chance late in the second half and added a little bit going forward off the bench.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 6.5
Honestly looked pretty poor and wasteful coming off the bench in the second half, but what the heck, he got us the point at the end of the day and apart from Leno his contribution is one of the only things that kept our unbeaten streak alive.
Jake Wren
@Jakewren14
Running with the theme of nearly all of our fixtures this season, we started slow and had a poor first half, it almost reeked of complacency, as this Arsenal side was not the same team that stormed out of the gates last week against Liverpool with passion and a point to prove. Poor performances all over the pitch saw us fail to create any clear chances in the first half and have 0 shots on target. Wolves took the lead relatively early on with the Wolves attacker latching onto a pass mistakenly left by our own Granit Xhaka, and starting a move which resulted in Cavaleiro finding the net for the visitors 1-0. The rest of the half saw more opportunities on the counter attack from Wolves, and Bernd Leno doing his absolute best to keep us alive in the game. Half time saw Emery make the substitution of Guendouzi on for Iwobi, which seemed surprising as Iwobi looked probably our liveliest and most direct player going forward thus far.
It seemed to work somewhat however as we did pick things up in the second half, not without our defence still looking vulnerable to many counter attacks, in which Leno's heroics dug us out again and again. But we were creating a few more chances, and we all thought we had got the goal we needed when Bellerin played in a great cross only for Aubameyang to miss an absolute sitter, hitting the post. It became attack vs defence for a while with Arsenal amassing double digits for corners in the game but not using them wisely. The equaliser finally came on the 86th minute with Mkhitaryan sending in a good cross which found its way into the net without touching anyone. Immediately Wolves sprung to life after this goal and were unlucky to hit the crossbar a few minutes from full time. Game ends 1-1 and a lucky point to take our unbeaten run to 16, but that does not feel like a positive after sitting through a match like todays.
Player Ratings:
Bernd Leno: 9
My man of the match today, there is nothing to say but the fact that we would not have got anything from todays game without his heroics, showed bravery and good awareness and positioning to make many vital saves.
Hector Bellerin: 6
Probably the best of the defence, still liable on the counter but got forward well, created the chance of the game which should have seen us go 1-1.
Shkodran Mustafi: 5.5
Relatively poor showing, looked off the pace whenever we faced counter attacks, also as the most experienced head in the backline I believe he should be doing more to keep our shape and show some leadership.
Rob Holding: 6
Was exposed by Adama Traore late in the game but held his ground ok up until then, looked comfortable on the ball but still not one of his better days.
Sead Kolasinac: 4.5
Was a bit all over the place at the back, very often caught out of position. Shows promise on attacks but then cannot recover if he loses possession or we are caught on the counter.
Lucas Torreira: 7
Most definitely our best outfield player today, was making a nuisance of himself in the middle for the Wolves attackers and trying to tick things over with his passing. Also had a good effort denied by Rui Patricio in the second half.
Granit Xhaka: 5.5
Extremely poor and complacent in his mistake for the first goal and that is hard to forgive, however was one of our better players in the second half, and probably our most creative late on trying to get balls into the box.
Mesut Ozil: 5
From memory he only created one chance of note in the first half of the game. Did not make much of an impression on the game and came very deep to receive the ball limiting his creativity, often seen around the halfway line for large parts of the match.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 4
I wouldn't have even known he was on the pitch for most of the game, struggled to involve himself and missed a sitter of a chance when he was called upon, shocker.
Alex Iwobi: 6
Not much came of for him in the first half and he did not have a great deal of end product, however was willing to drive the team forward and run at players, this ambition was pleasing to see at the least.
Alexandre Lacazette: 5
Saw a fair bit of the ball and tried to get involved as always, but was quite sloppy in possession and never managed to test the Wolves keeper throughout the game.
Matteo Guendouzi: 6
Sprung a bit of life into the side off the bench and was looking to go forward most of the time.
Aaron Ramsey: 6
Almost found the net with a chance late in the second half and added a little bit going forward off the bench.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 6.5
Honestly looked pretty poor and wasteful coming off the bench in the second half, but what the heck, he got us the point at the end of the day and apart from Leno his contribution is one of the only things that kept our unbeaten streak alive.
Jake Wren
@Jakewren14
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