Arsenal Beat Wolves 2:1, Alexandre Lacazette Leaves It Late to Fire the Gunners Into 5th Place in the League

Arsenal Beat Wolves 2:1, Alexandre Lacazette Leaves It Late to Fire the Gunners Into 5th Place in the League

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:56 PM
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  • Arsenal came from behind to claim a dramatic victory over visitors Wolves in the English Premier League
  • Hwang Hee-Chan gave Wolves an early lead, but it was clawed back by Nicolas Pépé and a José Sá own goal
  • The Gunners moved up to 5th place, just a point behind Manchester United, with two games in hand

Arsenal climbed up to fifth on the English Premier League table with a 2-1 win over Wolves at the Emirates.

Alexandre Lacazette left it late but was instrumental in the winning goal in the 95th minute of the game.

Arsenal, Wolves, Alexandre Lacazette, The Gunners, English Premier League, Soccer, Football
Arsenal came from behind to beat Wolves in the English Premier League and move up to fifth on the league table. Image: Shaun Botterill/ Stuart MacFarlane
Source: Getty Images

The encounter between the sides promised to be an entertaining one and fans got exactly that from the get-go. Arsenal would have felt hard done by not to get a penalty in the opening seconds of the game.

Nélson Semedo clumsily brought down Gabriel Martinelli in the box before he could get away a shot but referee Martin Atkinson found nothing wrong with it. The Video Assistant Referee also checked the decision but found nothing wrong with it.

After that, it was all Wolves for the next 15 minutes, as the visitors put non-stop pressure on the Gunners. In the sixth minute, Romain Saiss scored for Wolves but the decision was chalked off for offside. Four minutes later, Hwang Hee-Chan scored for Wolves and this time Arsenal would not be bailed out by a referee’s whistle.

Gabriel was the guilty party as he passed the ball back towards Aaron Ramsdale. Hwang pounced on the poor pass and rounded Ramsdale before finishing from a tight angle. Raúl Jiménez should have made it two just minutes later but he dragged his shot way off target.

With only one goal separating the teams, Arsenal mounted an offensive with Alexandre Lacazette and Bukayo Saka linking well to create chances. Unfortunately for Arsenal, every time Lacazette tried to get a shot away, a Wolves player would get in the way.

Martin Ødegaard And Martinelli also had the same frustration of having a yellow wall appear every time they got a shot off. The second half was an end-to-end affair like the first half was. Both teams pushed forward and no matter how hard Arsenal tried, they couldn’t seem to find an equalizer.

In the 71st minute, Nicolas Pépé for Martinelli and it took him just over ten minutes to make a difference. Ødegaard found Eddie Nketiah in the box and the striker found Pépé in the box. Pépé spun neatly and fired home into the back of the net, giving Arsenal a deserved equalizer. At the time of the goal, Arsenal had 23 shots, but only four of them were on target.

The remaining minutes also proved to be action-packed as both teams sought a winner.

With six minutes of stoppage time added on, it was still anyone’s game. With time ticking down, the game looked destined for a draw until Lacazette broke Wolves hearts. The Frenchman scored in the 95th minute to give Arsenal the win. Wolves keeper, José Sá, was crushed by the goal. Lacazette attempted to either cross or shoot but the ball clipped off José Sá's gloves and into the back of the net.

After the game, the goal was credited as a José Sá own goal, but Lacazette will still feel as if it was his.

Arsenal didn’t have to hang on for long for the final whistle, and once it sounded, jubilant celebrations were seen among fans and players. Arsenal climbed up to fifth place, a point behind Manchester United and with two games in hand.

Arsenal vs Wolves: A place in the Top 5 of the English Premier League awaits the winner of the crunch encounter

A place in the top five of the English Premier League awaits the winner of the clash between Arsenal and Wolves later today. Arsenal won the previous encounter at the Molineux by a single goal, beating Wolves 1-0 on 10 February.

The Gunners will now host Wolves at the Emirates Stadium, but Arsenal hasn’t had the best track record against their visitors at home. The teams have met 51 times in London, with Arsenal winning 21 games and Wolves winning 19. There have been 11 draws as well.

Sports Brief reported that away from home, Arsenal has a much better record against Wolves. 51 games have been played at Molineux, with Arsenal winning 26 games and Wolves only winning 9, EuroRivals confirmed.

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Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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