Arsenal moved back to the top of the Premier League with a narrow but important 2-0 win over Wolves.
After consecutive defeats posed a serious threat to their season, nothing but a win was likely to be enough at Molineux on Saturday night.
With the hosts suffering from a large number of injuries, the Gunners would have hoped to make early progress but a combination of determined defending and inefficient finishing prevented Mikel Arteta’s team from getting the early goal they desired.
Indeed, it was Wolves who came closest to scoring in the early stages when Joao Gomes stole the ball from Jakub Kiwior, but his powerful shot from a difficult angle was deflected onto the woodwork by David Raya.
That save was to prove crucial when, just before half time, Leandro Torssard put his team in the lead with a somewhat lucky goal after taking a quick shot at the ball and it curved into the top corner.
Arsenal mainly kept Wolves at a distance in the second half and secured the points in injury time when Martin Odegaard calmly scored after his initial pass was blocked.
Club legend Ian Wright was particularly impressed with the performances of three Arsenal players including Raya, who kept a club record of six consecutive clean sheets away from home.
‘Job done!’ Wright tweeted after the game. ‘Analysis can come tomorrow ! Important three points, result all that mattered. Declan, Raya, Ødegaard.’
‘Huge win for us, it was a tough week for us,’ confessed captain Odegaard afterwards, meanwhile.
‘I think a few tough results and hard emotionally but we had to keep going. Today was all about bouncing back and getting the win and we did that so I’m happy.
‘It was tough, a big disappointment, obviously we wanted to go further in the Champions League, the game before [against Aston Villa].
‘It is hard but the good thing in football is that you always get another chance and still a long way to go and still tight in the race so today was all about getting back to business and we did.’
He added: ‘It’s always a bit tricky when you’re 1-0 up. We wanted to get the second one earlier but again it’s a good team and we have to give them credit as well but I don’t think it was our best performance.
‘Today was all about the three points and we got them. Three points was the key, that was the main thing.’
