Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Arsenal; Premier League
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Arsenal. Premier League.
MolineuxAttendance31,436.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3
- R Neves (28th minute)
- M Doherty (37th minute)
- D Jota (47th minute)
Arsenal 1
- S Papastathopoulos (80th minute)
Wolves vs Arsenal preview: Sokratis Papastathopoulos returns from ban
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Thursday 25 April 2019 07:31, UK
Arsenal welcome Sokratis Papastathopoulos back from suspension as they continue their top-four challenge with a trip to Wolves on Wednesday.
The centre-back has missed Arsenal's last two Premier League matches; a 1-0 win at Watford and a 3-2 defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Arsenal are a point behind fourth-placed Chelsea and have a game in hand, so will make the top four if they win their remaining four matches.
They have only won six of their 16 away matches this season, but head coach Unai Emery is confident they will secure a Champions League place.
"Yes. It depends on other teams, but it is in our hands if we win. We want to be intelligent...We will prepare to win but we can win, draw or lose. The first situation for us is in our hands."
Arsenal could be catching Wolves at a good time as they have not won since their dramatic FA Cup semi-final defeat to Watford.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side have lost to Southampton and drawn with Brighton in their last two matches.
Team news
Wolves have no injury concerns but Leander Dendoncker could return after missing out against Brighton on Saturday and Ruben Vinagre may also feature from the start after impressing off the bench.
Arsenal will hope to have Granit Xhaka available.
The midfielder has been missing with a hip injury but is in contention. Barcelona loanee Denis Suarez (groin) remains sidelined, as does Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) as well as long-term absentees Danny Welbeck (ankle), Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding (both knee).
Opta stats
- Wolves have never beaten Arsenal in the Premier League in nine previous attempts (D2 L7), the most they have faced an opponent in the competition without victory.
- Arsenal haven't lost against Wolves in any competition since September 1979 in a top-flight clash, winning 16 of the 20 meetings since (D4).
- Arsenal have won all four of their Premier League matches at Molineux; only at the KCOM Stadium (5) do they have a better 100 per cent win rate at a particular ground in the competition.
- Wolves have already beaten Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham this season. Only two promoted sides have ever beaten at least four sides to finish that season in the top six in a single Premier League campaign - Sunderland in 1996-97 and Blackburn in 1992-93.
- Wolves have kept a clean sheet in three of their last five Premier League home games, as many as they had in their first 12 at Molineux this season. They've only conceded once in each of the other two games.
- Wolves are unbeaten in their last six Premier League home games (W4 D2). They last had a longer run without defeat in the top-flight between October 2003-January 2004, when Arsenal eventually ended their eight-game unbeaten streak at Molineux.
- Arsenal won 1-0 in their last Premier League away game - they've not won back-to-back league games on the road since October, while they've not kept consecutive away league clean sheets since February 2016.
- All of Arsenal's Premier League defeats this season have come on a Saturday or Sunday - they've won six and drawn two of their eight games played between Monday-Friday under Unai Emery.
Merson's prediction
Crystal Palace went to Arsenal at the weekend and ended up scoring three times. I watched Palace against Manchester City in their previous game and they couldn't get a kick. It was damage limitation. Then they go to Arsenal and they fancy themselves. It shows you the gap between Manchester City and Liverpool and the other teams.
You can talk about Arsenal's team selection against Palace but you can't defend like they did. They could have had Diego Maradona playing up front but you won't win matches if you have defending like that.
Wolves are a good side when teams have a go at them like Arsenal will. Look at the teams that Wolves have dropped points against - Huddersfield have done the double against them, Brighton sat back and got a draw, so did Newcastle. They have lost points against teams outside the top six because they play deep against them and they need to learn how to break that down.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-2