Arsenal’s Premier League revival was stopped by a 2-1 loss by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday at a rain-swept Molineux.
A spectacular long-range effort by Joao Moutinho shortly after the break ended an eight-game streak without Wolves winning the league.
In the opening 10 minutes, Bukayo Saka should have had a hat-trick. After playing with Thomas Partey’s pass, he hit the post in the first two minutes. Then forced a fine save from Rui Patricio with a sharp shot on the turn.
After Alexandre Lacazette’s cut back, Saka beat Patricio in the 10th minute with a brilliant finish. But Lacazette was correctly ruled offside after a VAR check. With Max Kilman going over from a corner, Wolves had their moments. But when Arsenal went in front, it was no surprise. As they totally outplayed Wolves in the first half before everything changed in a moment.
The Londoners led by Nicolas Pepe’s superb 32nd-minute goal. Arsenal defender David Luiz was sent off seconds before the break. He unintentionally brought down Wolves striker Willian Jose and the penalty was converted by Ruben Neves.
At half-time, French forward Lacazette was sacrificed by Arsenal, putting on defender Gabriel. But they were shocked in the 49th minute when veteran Moutinho looked up 30 meters from the goal. Moutinho’s piledriver flew past Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno four minutes into the second half.
And the visitors’ night went from bad to worse as the German was later red-carded for rashly handling the ball outside his position. It meant that Arsenal had played with nine players for the last 20 minutes. They barely seemed to bother a Wolves side who could hardly believe their good fortune.
Defeat left Mikel Arteta’s side in 10th spot with 31 points from 22 games, five points ahead of Wolves in 13th.
