Mikel Arteta criticised aspects of Arsenal’s performance against Wolves as “unacceptable”, condemning what he called “passive” play and “horrible defensive habits” after his side allowed the visitors to level late on.
The Gunners eventually won 2-1 thanks to a second Wolves own goal of the night, stretching their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points. But the finish was nervy against the division’s bottom club after Tolu Arokodare headed Wolves level in the 90th minute, before a Yerson Mosquera own goal in the 94th minute settled the contest. Arsenal had earlier benefited from the ball rebounding off goalkeeper Sam Johnstone for the opening second-half goal.
Arteta said the focus was on the team’s lack of intensity in the moments before Wolves equalised. “We had a period of two or three minutes in deep [block], totally passive with horrible defensive habits,” he said. “That’s nowhere near the required level against a team that hasn’t had a single shot. The first time they had the opportunity to do it, they scored a goal. [Wolves’ goal was their third shot.]
“We’re 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. I don’t put it down to ‘yeah, the resilience [is good]’. We should have stopped the source before. That’s on us.”
He added that while dropping deep is acceptable against a team that commits players forward, the activity and aggression within that block must be higher. “We can defend deep because they commit a lot of players. There is the moment you cannot press them. That’s fine. But the level of activity in that block has to be very different to the one that we had.”
Arteta was also frustrated by Arsenal’s inability to convert promising positions in the first half, when they did not register a single shot on target. Gabriel Martinelli squandered a gilt-edged header from close range, and Arteta noted the team “struggled once we arrived into the danger zones to pick out red shirts in the box. We had many situations like that. And then we didn’t generate many clear chances. In the second half we did that a bit better and then scored the goal.”
The manager’s concerns extended to fitness issues after Ben White limped off in the first half with what Arteta described as a hamstring problem that will be assessed in the coming days. Arsenal are already without Gabriel Magalhaes and Cristhian Mosquera, though William Saliba completed 90 minutes on his return from injury.
“We had to risk Willy,” Arteta said. “It probably wasn’t the best call to play 90 minutes because we were buying tickets for another injury. But we don’t have anybody else. That’s dangerous, for sure.”
