If Arsenal finish in the English Premier League’s top four and return to mix it with Europe’s elite for the first time since the 2016-2017 season they may look back on Thursday’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers as a pivotal moment.
With 82 minutes on the clock they trailed to a 10th-minute goal by Wolves’ South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan, but just when the situation began to look desperate and with Wolves eyeing fifth place, substitute Nicolas Pepe spun on a sixpence to equalize.
In a frantic finale, Pedro Neto shot agonizingly wide for Wolves and Martin Odegaard went close for Arsenal, before skipper Alexandre Lacazette’s shot from close range went in off the arms of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa to send the home crowd wild.
Photo: Reuters
Arsenal’s third successive league win lifted them above West Ham United into fifth place with 45 points, one behind Manchester United, but having played two fewer games.
Wolves remained seventh with 40 points.
No wonder there was a mood of euphoria sweeping around the Emirates Stadium at the end of an absorbing tussle.
Arsenal have not played in the UEFA Champions League since they lost 10-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich in 2017.
They now have their destiny in their own hands, although for a long time on Thursday it seemed they had a fluffed the chance to put real pressure on Manchester United as they were repelled by one of the meanest defenses in the league.
However, their patience finally paid off.
“We don’t know today how important this will be, but we know the importance of winning our matches and certainly at home we know we have to be extremely good,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.
“In May we want to be fighting for those places. The attitude, the spirit, the energy and the quality they put in to win the game was phenomenal,” he said.
Wolves have stealthily climbed the table under manager Bruno Lage with four successive away league wins.
They were gifted the lead when Arsenal defender Gabriel’s back-pass was intercepted by Hwang, who coolly slotted the ball into the empty net from an acute angle.
Raul Jimenez spurned another chance for Wolves before Arsenal began to dominate.
Lacazette and Bukayo Saka had opportunities, but every time Arsenal got a glimpse of a goal a Wolves defender appeared to snuff out the threat.
Arsenal ramped up the pressure, but Wolves defended like trojans and even when the hosts did get a sighter, Sa was there to save his side, as he did with a great low stop from Lacazette.
Manager Mikel Arteta sent on Eddie Nketiah and Pepe to beef up Arsenal’s attack and it paid off.
Nketiah’s pull back from the byline picked out Pepe, who span 180 degrees to shoot past Sa.
The crowd roared Arsenal forward and Lacazette’s shot, Arsenal’s 26th attempt at goal, squirmed its way in.
“We didn’t deserve to win to be honest,” Lage said. “When you don’t have the ball against these kind of teams you will suffer. This was an important game for us and for the league, but this is the Premier League and everyone will drop points.”
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS