A last-gasp strike from Alexandre Lacazette handed Arsenal a colossal 2-1 victory against Wolves on Thursday night, giving them a massive boost in their pursuit of Champions League qualification and denying Wolves back-to-back away wins at the Emirates. With the game such an important one in the race for
Champions League qualification, there was a significant urgency from the first whistle. Arsenal came close through Gabriel Martinelli inside the first minute, before Romain Sass got the better of Aaron Ramsdale from a cross after five minutes, only to be adjudged offside.
Wolves pressed high, though, and Raúl Jiménez forced Gabriel into a shoddy back pass after 10 minutes, allowing Hwang to round Ramsdale and put the visitors 1-0 up, breaking a chain of four Premier League games at the Emirates without a goal inside the first 30 minutes. Falling behind against the side who have conceded the second-fewest goals in the Premier League this season gave Arsenal a serious task to turn things around, but they continued to plug away. Martinelli
came close on occasion as passes became sloppy, but they continued to plug away. Martinelli came close on occasion as passes became sloppy, but a few instances of desperate defending ensured Wolves took their lead into HT. Status quo was maintained after the break. Hwang almost doubled Wolves' lead after 47 minutes, firing wide from a similar angle to his opener after latching onto a fine pass from Daniel Podence. Possession wasn't a problem for Arsenal, but they weren't able to stretch Wolves. For all of Lacazette's hard work, a lack of running in behind left him with nobody to find when
dropping deep for the ball.
As Wolves tired, the Gunners rallied. A smart ball over the top resulted in substitute Nicolas Pépé equalising after 82 minutes, finishing from Eddie Nketiah's layoff. Persistence paid dividends, as Lacazette's effort from
a corner forced a late winner in the fifth of six added minutes, moving to within a point of fourth-placed Manchester United, with two games in hand.
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