Arsenal suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers as their defence was ripped apart by Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, who won the match by 3-1. Ruben Neves, Matt Doherty and Diogo Jota scored the three goals for their side and sunk the Gunners in their own backyard. Arsenal got one back towards the end of the match via Sokratis, but it was too little too late for them.
Neves opened the scoring for Wolves with a perfect free kick to add to the tally of the wonder goals he has scored for his side so far. Arsenal showed the intent to come back into the match with Lacazette getting into the box with only Rui Patricio in his way. However, he blasted the ball over the crossbar to squander the opportunity.
Meanwhile, the Arsenal defence once again showed their incompetence as they allowed Jonny Castro to play linkup with Joao Moutinho and deliver a pinpoint cross in the box to find Doherty, who headed it past an advancing Leno to double the lead for his side. The final blow for Unai Emery’s side was delivered by Diogo Jota, who slotted the ball past the keeper in the Arsenal net after leaving Mkhitaryan wrong-footed with his sublime skill. The Wolves players scored all their goals in the first half itself, leaving the visitors to play catch-up for the entirety of the second half and dealing a massive blow on their prospects of making it into the top four this season.
Here is how the Arsenal players were rated from their defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Bernd Leno: 6
His position was faulty in case of both the second and the third goals. However, the German custodian made a few good saves as well or else the scoreline could have been even more embarrassing for his side.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 5
Needs to work on his defending as he left significant gaps for the opposition to capitalise on. His speedy runs down the right flank are good, but his backtracking needs to improve.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos: 6
Looked nowhere near the ball in case of any of the goals. Restored some pride for his side with a goal in the dying minutes of the match.
Laurent Koscielny: 6
Could not restrict the opposition players from getting the better of him in the first half. Looked a lot better in the second half though.
Nacho Monreal: 5.5
Gave away an unnecessary foul right on the edge of the box to allow Wolves to get a free kick to open the scoring. Ran up the pitch quite a few times but could not deliver the final product.
Granit Xhaka: 5
Looked completely out of sorts against the Wolves attack. Gave the ball away quite a few times.
Lucas Torreira: 6
Tried his best to break down the opposition attacks in the middle of the pitch with his interceptions. Got booked in the process.
Alex Iwobi: 5
Looked far from convincing with his efforts to get the better of the opposition defenders. Was completely out of sorts against the physicality of Ryan Bennett.
Mesut Ozil: 5
A lazy display from the midfield maestro. Gave away the ball very easily and failed to make a mark on the night.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 6
Looked to attack in the opening half of the match but started to lose out on the ball. Jota’s dribble to bamboozle him ahead of his goal was one of the highlights of the game.
Alexandre Lacazette: 5
Squandered a clear cut chance to get his side back in the match. A disappointing outing to say the least.
Substitutes
Sead Kolasinac: 5
An unimpressive performance from him after he came in for Mkhitaryan.
Matteo Guendouzi: 6
Nothing convincing from the youngster as he was contained by the likes of Leander Dendoncker and Joao Moutinho.
Eddie Nketiah: 6.5
Came close to scoring a goal for his side but could not take the opportunity.
