Wolverhampton Wobbleyous v Arsenal with the wobbles.

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by Bulldog Drummond

Making Arsenal play again so soon after the Palace match seems a little unfair, but that is how the games come out and so that is the game we must play no matter how much we were wobbling in the game against the almighty Crystal Palace at the weekend.

We know our home record took a bit of a battering at the weekend but here it is the away record that is of concern

Away games only

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Liverpool 18 12 5 1 31 10 21 41
2 Manchester City 16 11 2 3 31 10 21 35
3 Tottenham Hotspur 18 11 0 7 33 22 11 33
4 Manchester United 18 9 2 7 31 28 3 29
5 Chelsea 17 9 1 7 23 26 -3 28
6 Crystal Palace 18 8 2 8 29 28 1 26
7 Leicester City 18 7 4 7 27 27 0 25
8 Watford 18 6 5 7 26 28 -2 23
9 Arsenal 16 6 4 6 27 28 -1 22

So we now have a middle-of-the-road away record, having won as many as we have lost, and within one goal, scored as many as we have conceded.

In terms of home form Wolverhampton are also mid-table, but with more wins than defeats, and slightly fewer goals scored than conceded.

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
7 Everton 18 9 4 5 28 21 7 31
8 Wolverhampton Wanderers 17 8 4 5 24 20 4 28
9 West Ham United 18 8 4 6 29 27 2 28
10 AFC Bournemouth 18 7 5 6 29 25 4 26
11 Watford 16 8 2 6 23 21 2 26

If we want to find something to clutch at then it is the mid-range scoring ability of Wolverhampton that might give us a little encouragement.

And if we wanted a little more to grab hold of, the failure of Wolverhampton to get the better of Watford and thus reach the cup final, might be playing on their minds.   Defeated semi-finalists can have very moderate runs after losing out.

But we really do need to be winning this match, to compensate for the defeat against Palace.  So taking a look at Wolverhampton’s last five games we find…

Date Game Res Score Competition
30 Mar 2019 Burnley v Wolverhampton W L 2-0 Premier League
02 Apr 2019 Wolverhampton W v Manchester Utd W 2-1 Premier League
07 Apr 2019 Watford v Wolverhampton W L 3-2 FA Cup
13 Apr 2019 Southampton v Wolverhampton W L 3-1 Premier League
20 Apr 2019 Wolverhampton W v Brighton and H D 0-0 Premier League

Three defeats in the last five, and just one draw in the last three.  Scored five, conceded nine.  Arsenal’s last five give us six goals scored, four goals conceded.

07 Apr 2019 Everton v Arsenal L 1-0 Premier League
11 Apr 2019 Arsenal v Napoli W 2-0 Europa League
15 Apr 2019 Watford v Arsenal W 0-1 Premier League
18 Apr 2019 Napoli v Arsenal W 0-1 Europa League
21 Apr 2019 Arsenal v Crystal Palace L 2-3 Premier League

All of which suggests that avoiding the pratfalls that happened against Palace could see us through.

But there is a problem.  Because with Palace we noted how rarely they beat us and how long it was since they beat us, and then they go and … well, beat us.  And here we find the same with Wolverhampton

Date Game Res Score Competition
16 May 1980 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 1-2 Division One
06 Dec 1980 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers D 1-1 Division One
25 Apr 1981 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 1-2 Division One
02 Feb 1982 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 2-1 Division One
03 Apr 1982 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal D 1-1 Division One
29 Aug 1983 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 1-2 Division One
24 Mar 1984 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 4-1 Division One
05 Apr 1998 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 1-0 FA Cup
24 Jan 1999 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 1-2 FA Cup
02 Dec 2003 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 5-1 League Cup
26 Dec 2003 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 3-0 Premier League
07 Feb 2004 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 1-3 Premier League
29 Jan 2005 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 2-0 FA Cup
07 Nov 2009 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 1-4 Premier League
03 Apr 2010 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 1-0 Premier League
10 Nov 2010 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 0-2 Premier League
12 Feb 2011 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 2-0 Premier League
27 Dec 2011 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers D 1-1 Premier League
11 Apr 2012 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 0-3 Premier League
11 Nov 2018 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers D 1-1 Premier League

20 games and not a Wolverhampton win in sight.  And a look at their trophy cabinet across the last 30 or so years shows us just why so many matches have been missed out…

Competition Achievement Season
Football League Trophy Winner 1987-88
League Division Four Champion 1987-88
League Division Three Champion 1988-89
League Championship Champion 2008-09
League One Champion 2013-14
League Championship Champion 2017-18

Yes six trophies including winning the fourth division, the third division (twice), and the second division (twice).

But they held us to a draw earlier in the season, and we do need to pick up some points if we are going to make the “not a trophy” position of fourth.

Sportsmole give the team prediction as

Leno

Sokratis Koscielny Monreal

Maitland Niles                               Kolasinac

Xhaka              Torreira

Mkhitaryan                                   Iwobi

Aubameyang

 

If we were to lose it would be the first back-to-back league defeats the opening two fixtures of the season.  And we don’t want that do we?

5 Replies to “Wolverhampton Wobbleyous v Arsenal with the wobbles.”

  1. It’s worth noting that Arsenal have 3rd best attack in the league and 6th best defence. The only issue is, one of those five teams that have better defensive record than ours are Wolves.

    Wolves have been on my black list for the simple reason they have assembled a superb squad for the club of their stature thanks to close connections with Jorge Mendes.

    A draw tonight wouldn’t be a bad result given that we have a superior goal-difference to Chelsea and they are yet to play against Man United away. Of course, that means we would have to get at least seven points from the remaining three games.

    I fear that St Totteringham’s Day will wait for at least one more season though.

  2. The way man U are playing these days, there is every chance for Chelsea to pick up points away to Old Traford. We better pick up all the points we can tonight.

  3. Crunch time this season for the manager. How to deal with the pressure of the fight for the fourth place (not a trophy.)?

    Mr Wenger was a magician who kept pulling rabbits out of the hat until the audience got bored. Now the audience are stuck with a manager who has never had to deal with the intensity of the end-of-season battle for place that gives you something even when it is not a trophy.

    To win something that does not exist as a trophy, that cannot be held in the arms like a trophy? How to motivate players? How to pick a team with the same chance of wining the game as the teams he picks for the European Thursday night?

    My thought the other week was that Wolves would implode after their FA Cup loss. I’m still sticking to that.

  4. Wolves 3 – Arsenal 0. Halftime.

    A shit show sandwich perfectly prepared for the patrons who were bored with twenty years of European football, their taste buds so riddled with entitlement they believed winning the Premiership was the only trophy that mattered, and they had paid for it.

    How many years will it take Mr Emery to learn how to deal with the end of season run in?

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