By Tony Attwood
Wolverhampton v Arsenal
- The strange case of the referees
- Wolverhampton v Arsenal. The team that can tackle and foul without fear
- Wolverhampton v Arsenal – home, away and discipline
Arsenal have historically had much the better of Wolverhampton winning 63 of the games, while losing fractionally over half that number (32) and drawing 28.
Matches between the two clubs go back 120 years, with Arsenal winning the first game 2-0 on 21 September 1904.
Since then Wolverhampton Wanderers have won the league three times – all in the 1950s, and the FA Cup four times – the last in 1960. Indeed leaving aside their two wins of the League Cup, the club has been without a trophy since.
But they have been notable for some ups and downs. For example in 1974 they won the League Cup, but two years on were relegated. They came straight back up the next season and three years on from relegation won the League Cup for the second time. Two years later they were relegated and by 1986 they were in Division Four.
Indeed if I may throw in a personal note here, my late father lived in Devon at the time and we would occasionally go to watch Torquay together, including I recall the Torquay United v Wolverhampton Wanderers league match. Torquay are now in administration, the chairman has resigned, they are playing in the National League South, and have had significant points docked for their financial woes.
Meanwhile Wolverhampton, have travelled in the opposite direction and since their last promotion from the Championship in 2018 they have finished between seventh and 13th each season. Indeed they currently sit 11th, four points behind Chelsea.
However Wolverhampton have only managed to score 46 goals this season, the same number as Luton Town. But they do have a better defence than attack reducing their goal difference to minus 5.
This makes for an interesting comparison with Arsenal. Arsenal have scored 29 goals more than Wolverhampton (almost one a game) and conceded 25 goals fewer, (slightly under one a game). That gives a goal difference between the two clubs of 54.
But we should not take it that Arsenal are always easily able to overcome Wolverhampton as between 2011 and 2021 the clubs played each other eight times in the league (some seasons of course Wolverhampton were in the second division) and in those eight games Arsenal won just two games (both away from home) drew three, and lost two (one home and one away).
Since then however, results have improved and across the five Premier League games from 10 February 2022 to 2 December 2023 Arsenal have won all five, scoring 12 and conceding three.
Worse for Wolverhampton, in the last seven games in League and Cup they have won just one game (beating Fulham 2-1) and drawn one (away to Burnley) while losing to Newcastle, Coventry (in the FA Cup), Aston Villa and West Ham. They have also drawn with Nottingham Forest.
Of course Arsenal are now the despair of many supporters who find it acceptable to walk out on the club part way through a match. But in fact a draw and a defeat to Bayern Munich in the first return to the Champions League since 2017 is not, in my book, an utter disaster.
A defeat after five straight wins in the league against this team now lying 28 points behind Arsenal however would indeed be very disappointing, but I don’t think it will come to that.
The latest reports suggest that Matheus Cunha (their top scorer) will miss the game because of a calf problem, Nelson Semedo is out with a muscle issue, Craig Dawson is out following groin surgery, Rayan Ait-Nouri is doubtful and Hwang Hee-chan (their second top scorer) is only fit enough to play half the match.
We shall see.
Up next, the Arsenal situation.
