Mikel Arteta has confirmed an injury setback following Arsenal’s dramatic late victory over Wolves. The Gunners were made to toil against the Premier League’s bottom side, who remain in search of their first win of the campaign.
Arsenal broke the deadlock through Sam Johnstone in the 74th minute, only for Tolu Arokodare to restore parity with a clever header on the brink of the 90. However, the Gunners underlined their title credentials by still carving out a path to all three points, with Cristhian Mosquera nodding home a brilliant Bukayo Saka delivery deep into stoppage time.
The win ensures Arsenal’s advantage at the summit cannot be cut any further after it was trimmed to two points last weekend. Arteta’s side now sit five points clear ahead of Manchester City’s challenging encounter with Crystal Palace on Sunday.
It was far from a classic Arsenal display, but it represents another vital three points during a demanding run where results take precedence over performances. There was, though, one significant downside, as Ben White suffered an injury concern which, fortunately, was not linked to the knee problem that has troubled him in recent periods.
”Obviously he hasn’t played a lot of minutes because of the previous knee issue that he had, then the moment he started to get some momentum he had to play a lot because we didn’t have any other solution,” Arteta said after the game. “We had to even risk Wilo today because probably it wasn’t their best call to play 90 minutes because we were buying tickets for another injury, but we don’t have anybody else, but yeah that’s bad news for sure.
“It looks like a hamstring [injury], so we don’t know the extent of that, but probably tomorrow or the day after we’ll know more.”
The injury arrives ahead of a testing run of fixtures that will see Arsenal face Everton away, Crystal Palace at home in the Carabao Cup and Brighton at the Emirates in the league.
Arteta on the Wolves win:
Reflecting on the victory, Arteta said: ”It was a relief, but a very clear understanding that the margin should have been bigger. After not being precise enough in the first half with the amount of situations that we generated inside the opposition box and we didn’t pick the right colour of shirt on so many occasions, we had an overload to do that.
“We had to improve in the second half in relation to that, I think we did it. We generated more chances, scored a goal, but after we had a period of two or three minutes in deep, totally passive, with horrible defensive habits, that is nowhere near the level that is required against a team that hasn’t had a single shot. The first time that they had the opportunity to do it, they scored the goal and this is the Premier League. Unfortunately, we are relieved because we managed to score a goal at the end and go and win it, but we need to improve in that sense for sure.”