Wolves impress as Leno saves misfiring Gunners

The Gunners were fortunate to escape with a point after Mkhitaryan's late equaliser cancelled out Cavaleiro's opener.

Arsenal dominated possession in the early stages, with over 72% of the ball in the first 15 minutes. Their control of the ball was not reflected in the score, as Wolves took the lead through Ivan Cavaleiro.

The Portuguese winger ran onto Raul Jimenez's cutback, and he tucked a tidy finish into the net to put Wolves 1-0 up after 13 minutes.

 

November 11, 2018

Arsenal's best chance of the first half fell to in-form Alexandre Lacazette, whose close-range tunderbolt was well blocked by Connor Coady in the 22nd minute.

Wolves might have doubled their lead when they broke immediately afterwards, but Bernd Leno smothered Jimenez as he was about to pull the trigger.

It wouldn't be the last time that Leno came to the rescue for the Gunners, without whom there is little doubt that Arsenal would have been well beaten.

His opposite number Rui Patricio had almost nothing to do until the turn of the hour, when he tipped a ferocious strike from Lucas Torreira over the bar.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed the best chance of the game for either side in the 73rd minute.

From Hector Bellerin's low cross, which left Aubameyang with the whole goal to aim at, the striker somehow endeavoured to screw the ball off the post and wide.

Arsenal didn't just have bad luck. When Diogo Jota found himself with only Leno to beat in the 84th minute, he was denied by some admittedly excellent goalkeeping.

Finally, in the 86th minute, substitute Henrikh Mkhitaryan found that the way to go through Wolves was to go over them.

The Armenian whipped in a cross from the left wing that appeared to have harmlessly cleared the heads of all inside the box, until it gently nestled in the corner of the net.

 

November 11, 2018

It was a lucky goal, and it did not fairly reflect on a game that Wolves deserved to win.