Izuchukwu Okosi
Arsenal held on to secure a priceless 2-1 win at home over an injury-ravaged Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Gunners followed their emphatic 6-0 win over RC Lens in the UEFA Champions League with an excellent first-half performance with their two goals scored in the first stanza by Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelSaka needed less than six minutes to put the home side ahead in what was his 10th goal involvement in the season and the team’s fastest goal of the Premier League season so far.
Arsenal soon made it 2-0 when Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus created the opening with a clever one-two before the Ukrainian spotted Martin Odegaard in the box.
The Arsenal captain fired the ball to the bottom right corner to extend their lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Wolves, with goalkeeper Jose Sa forced off through injury in the 22nd minute – with the shotstopper replaced by ex-Southend, Brentford, and Bristol City ‘keeper Dan Bentley.
The tempo went down for Mikel Arteta’s side in the second half as Wolves created a few good moments and ultimately found their way around a stout Arsenal defence.
Brazilian forward Matheus Cunha profited from a ponderous Oleksandr Zinchenko clearance to whip the ball beyond the reach of a hitherto impressive David Raya.
Arsenal could have scored a lot more goals in the game with Gabriel Martinelli hitting the post with a curling effort while second-half substitute Eddie Nketiah sliced the ball past Bentley but saw the ball roll agonizingly past the goalpost.
The win takes the league leaders four points adrift of second-placed Manchester City who play Tottenham Hotspur in unarguably the biggest league fixture this weekend in England on Sunday.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
