Game Week 23 Predictions: Arsenal to beat Wolves

Arsenal aims to bounce back from recent setbacks with a crucial win over struggling Wolves to keep title hopes alive in this Premier League clash.

Arsenal's title bid will suffer if they don't win at Wolves, they have no excuses. (Photo credit: Opta)

 Wolves vs Arsenal

Molineux Stadium

4:00 pm

Arsenal’s recent woes were brushed aside as the Gunners all but confirmed their place in the round of 16 of the Champions League with a dominant 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.

The Gunners will not have to play a two-legged playoff in February and will be off to Dubai to refresh the squad as they won’t be involved in the FA Cup fixtures in a fortnight. Mikel Arteta must be hoping that the Dubai trip works magic like it did last year for the Gunners.

Wolves is in a bad place, and they must start picking points if they don’t want to drop to the Championship League. They lost scandalously to Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, and turned 1-1 at halftime to a 3-1 loss against Chelsea on Monday, leaving them just above the drop zone.

In the reverse fixture, Wolves lost at the Emirates 2-0, to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, and they could fancy their chances with the latter being unavailable due to a long-term injury sustained in Arsenal’s 5-1 success over Crystal Palace in December.

The new manager bounce effect didn’t last long at Wolves. Vitor Pereira won his opening two games, keeping clean sheets, and one of those was an away game at Old Trafford against Manchester United, but since then, it’s been comprehensive losses.

Arsenal must win to keep their title hopes alive, and what happened last weekend, in which they led 2-0 only to drop two valuable points to Aston Villa in a 2-2 draw, must not happen again. Six points off the pace with the Kops having a game in hand is not healthy; they no longer have margins for errors.

How will the two sides line up for this one? One name that will be expected to have an influence on this one is Mattheus Cunha; the Brazilian has been a subject of transfer throughout this current transfer window with the manager suggesting that his head is turned.

Arsenal are one of the clubs aiming to add Cunha to their ranks; however, there are lots of complexities involved in the move. Strand Larsen is another name in the Wolves’ forward line; Arsenal must be wary of his movement in their area.

Kai Havertz has scored in back-to-back games, and you wonder if that will help his confidence; he was piss poor in both cup games Arsenal played before last weekend. Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli are other options on the flanks; will they come good?

Verdict: Arsenal to win.