Wolves 0 Arsenal 1 (Calafiori 74)
Wolves suffered a narrow defeat at home to Arsenal on Saturday afternoon as their winless Premier League run extended to five games.
Myles Lewis-Skelly’s red card on the stroke of half-time forced the away side to play with 10 men for the second half, before Joao Gomes also saw red in the 70th minute, levelling the playing field.
Substitute Riccardo Calafiori scored the only goal of the game just four minutes after Gomes’ dismissal, neatly finishing off Nelson Semedo’s attempted clearance following a cross.
Despite the loss, Wolves remain above the drop zone on goal difference, though they have now endured a run of four consecutive Premier League losses.
The opening 10 minutes of play looked promising for the Old Gold, as Pereira’s side looked to go toe-to-toe with an Arsenal team who entered the match unbeaten in their last 12 top flight outings.
Wolves’ first chance of the game fell to Pablo Sarabia after Semedo excellently advanced the ball from his own half towards Arsenal’s box. The wing-back then delivered a perfectly weighted ball into Sarabia’s path, but the Spaniard failed to hit the target despite a controlled effort.
The home side followed up that opportunity with a promising spell of possession and momentum. Crosses seemed to be Wolves’ best route to an opening goal; however, none of Matheus Cunha’s or Semedo’s several deliveries connected with a player wearing gold.
Arsenal responded with two good chances within five minutes of each other, both falling to Kai Havertz. First, Leandro Trossard reached the left side of the penalty area and clipped an inviting cross toward Havertz, whose headed effort narrowly missed the target.
Trossard was involved again, finding Havertz just outside the six-yard box and Jose Sa was called into action and parried away the only shot on target of the first half.
The contest experienced a slow period following patchy spells from both sides, until a huge moment on the stroke of half-time reignited the match. Lewis-Skelly received a red card for a professional foul on Matt Doherty, bringing down the Irishman as he attempted to advance up the field after picking up a loose ball from a corner.
The dismissal shifted the momentum back into Wolves’ favour during the seven minutes of added injury time, and the Molineux crowd certainly felt the shift heading into the break.
Half-Time | Wolves 0-0 Arsenal
Arsenal started the second half as the better side despite being down to 10 men, and tested Sa early. Declan Rice advanced into the penalty area before he rifled a strike goalbound, stinging the palms of the Wolves shot stopper who turned the effort over for a corner.
The home side gained a foothold in the game by the hour mark and were creating good chances, with Cunha coming close on two occasions. First, David Raya was forced into a full stretch save to deny Cunha’s curling long-range effort. From the resulting corner the Brazilian narrowly missed the target from close-range.
Momentum shifted once again after another red card, this time for Joao Gomes who received a second yellow card for a foul on Jurrien Timber. With Wolves also down to 10 men, the contest was back on level terms.
But just four minutes after the second dismissal, Arsenal broke the deadlock. Gabriel Martinelli gained a yard on Rayan Ait-Nouri and delivered a cross that connected with Semedo, only for his clearance to fall kindly to Riccardo Calafiori who neatly finished into the far bottom corner.
As the match wore on, it became increasingly evident that both sides were missing a player each as the tempo of a well-fought contest began to decrease approaching the final 10 minutes.
Ait-Nouri managed to chase down Sa’s long kick down the left flank, finding himself one-on-one with Raya after an expert touch set himself nicely, but he was unable to steer his effort round the Arsenal shot stopper.
Time was quickly running out for Wolves as five minutes was announced for injury time, but it was another toothless second half performance that ultimately condemned the hosts to another defeat, meaning their hunt for a first three points in 2025 continues.
Full-Time | Wolves 0-1 Arsenal
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Doherty (Guedes 87), Bueno, Agbadou, Ait-Nouri (R. Gomes 87), J. Gomes, Andre (Doyle 87), Sarabia (Bellegarde 75), Cunha, Strand-Larsen (Hwang 32).
Unused subs | Johnstone, Dawson, R. Gomes, Toti, Lima.
Arsenal | Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Partey, Nwaneri (Calafiori 45), Martinelli (Tierney 87), Havertz, Trossard.
Unused subs | Neto, Porter, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji.
Referee | Michael Oliver
By Callum Greybanks
