Arsenal earned a commanding 2-0 victory against Wolves this afternoon to start their season with a win.
It was a new term, but Arsenal continued their effective form from the outset, piling pressure on Wolves almost immediately.
The hosts quickly demonstrated their seriousness about the fixture, with Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Martinelli all looking dangerous in front of the Wolves’ goal.
Arsenal dominated in their search for an early goal, but they had to wait until the 25th minute to take the lead. Havertz connected well with a Saka cross to open the scoring.
Wolves hardly threatened the Gunners for much of the first half, making it relatively easy for Mikel Arteta’s side. However, they remained only one goal ahead until Jorgen Strand Larsen forced a fantastic save from David Raya.
Martinelli and Saka both had chances to double Arsenal’s lead, with Martin Ødegaard looking sharp in midfield, but at halftime, the score was 1-0.
Wolves enjoyed a period of sustained pressure in the second half as they grew into the game, but Arsenal held firm, despite William Saliba gifting the visitors a great chance.
Failing to capitalise on that opportunity eventually cost Wolves, as Saka took Arsenal’s next big chance to extend their lead.
The Gunners demonstrated their superiority with those two goals.
Arteta’s England contingent, who had limited pre-season training, were substituted late on, with Saka and Declan Rice coming off, likely to avoid any fitness issues.
Nevertheless, Arsenal had already secured the win by that point, and despite a few late chances for Wolves, they did not need to do much more to seal the victory.
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Havertz scored an excellent goal with his header, but he lost the ball too much for my liking and his best opportunity in the penalty box might’ve been used better by Jesus. But we’ll need his aerial ability again for the upcoming tough away matches at Villa Park
nah, Jesus would probably dance around in the box before getting his shot blocked… or more likely he will retreat the ball out of the box. Havertz was excellent against a very tough Wolves.
Partey struck some nerves but I’ll say his overall performance today was great. Just need to brush off the errors.
The only player that I feel has zero impact and deserves the attention is Martinelli. So predictable. Looks fast but outpaced by defenders. Has been like this for over a year now.
Partey’s playmaking skills were good, but he needs to be more aware of his surroundings
Martinelli would’ve gotten an assist if Havertz used his opportunity better in the penalty box
I’m sure Martinelli will become less predictable in the next games and he could be more impactful if he comes in as a substitute
So you’re basing Havertz performance of the fact one of your favourite players didn’t get an assist? Scored the first was involved in the second and won the ball back countless times with his hard work and pressing!!
Havertz’s high-press and aerial duels were instrumental to our win
But he still needs to improve his technical skills and composure, to make him more press-resistant
Havertz scored a great goal but he wasn’t excellent as you mentioned. I supported the other speaker who said he loses the ball so often. Havertz should work on his physical strength. He was bullied many times by wolf defener. Havertz doesn’t appear like a German, he’s too flexible.
@Gai let’s be real, imo Havertz did his best today and if we watched the same game I think he was seriously targeted today. There isn’t any guarantee Jesus will do anything spectacular against well organized Wolves team. The Boys generally werent at their fluid best but they got the job done. They will certainly get better with games.
Arteta and The Boys seem to have learnt the art of winning Epl games, Sometimes it’s just about getting 3 points. Wolves toil and labour without any outcome.
The next match will be at the Villa Park, so they shouldn’t get sloppy there
From Havertz interview after match he assured that based on their experience of loses with Vila last season, they will be prepared for them next Saturday.
I guess that match will be a war.and Arsenal will need to be combertive and also clinical to win the match.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.😁
Job done, great start! Well done to all the boys that played today. Let’s start as we mean to go on. 💪 Come on Arsenal! ❤️🤍
Good solid win
Saka MoTM followed by Havertz ,great display by Raya
Not so good ,Partey ,looks a shadow of himself
Martinelli,needs to up
His game else he will be dropped again .
Onto the next
We need fire
Brilliant team performance, unto the next!
We did look rusty. But good win all the same…
A good win, but not a good performance. We certainly need something if we are going to win the EPL. Definitely a striker like Viktor Gyokeres if we want to kill teams off.
@Sean Williams
Real Talk…👍🏾
Probably the best performance I’ve seen from Raya.
Nice 3 points, good start.
Partey and Saliba sloppy at times, Raya’s best game in an Arsenal shirt.
Martinelli looked lively, defended well, but needs to find some end product. Martinelli looking like Jesus too much for my liking.
We stale and predictable starting the 2nd half, good substitutions by Arteta.
Timber and Trossard freshened us up and we looked dangerous again.
No one was bad today; just need to tighten up awareness and cut out sloppiness. It’s 1st game so no worries.
We got the points but we really struggled in the 2nd half. I don’t like Rice plauing 8 and Martinelli was pants. Trossard MUST start next match.
Zinchenko was great in the first half but outrocious in the second.
Martinelli puts his head and face in the ground and runs forward with zero end product.
Timber was solid but a little over confidence.
Partey solid in first sloppy in second.
3 pts
2 goals
Onward and forward.
Coyg.
Partey in the second half was a scare each time the ball went to him and he became a target at some point. I think it’s time arsenal moves on from him and let him leave for an upgrade. As for Martinelli, I think it’s high time he sits out some game, maybe he will rediscover himself. I was wandering why he was on the pitch till the end of the match.
Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus are bench players. For the team to improve a winger of Sakas Calibre should be acquired to play on the left flank.
Nketia,Nelson and Viera should be atleast on loan somewhere else by now and not on the Arsenal bench.
Odegaard was probably our best player throughout, but saka won us the game.
A lot of careless passes and play from our defensive players in the second half, under pressure from wolves. Partey in particular seemed to fade quite badly towards the end.
Rice didn’t look his usual self, but typically still managed to put in a decent performance for the most part. Seems tired and maybe it would have been nice to have merino for this game (I guess he’s just been through the euros as well, but he did play far less).
Havertz did play well in that he made a positive impact with his physical presence, even if you ignore the goal. I’d just be happier if he was able to make the ball stick more often – he’s more of a disruptor of the opposition than a slick attacking threat imo.
Raya was very good throughout and made a brilliant save. Looked confident and I think that helped the defence.
A good win, the most important is 3 very valuable points. A bit rusty but a win. Haverz, Odergaard, Saka and Raya were great. Martinelli was invisible and Zinchenko struggled again.
Arsenal had to win because it’s one of those games, against one of those opponents, that anything less than 3 points would have been a big, big, disappointment even if it is the opening game. Therefore, a “reasonable” win overall in my opinion.
On the display, good first half I thought, shaky opening to the second half but finished well with Saka’s goal sealing it. Very early days but poor Zinchenko didn’t have a particularly good game although the “usual suspects” – Odegaard and Saka, along with Havertz – came through as expected.
In my opinion, Arsenal certainly needs that “killer” striker though, but whether they can get one with time really ticking down now in the transfer window is problematical.
Elsewhere Liverpool also won, so we’ll see what the rest of the potential title contenders manage when they play. Hopefully there will be an early slip-up somewhere.
We need something, I’m not sure but we definitely need something. Without a striker we are scoring goals and winning our games, fantastic. COYG
We need Merino, and calafiori and timber get in sync with the tactics as sson as possible. It hink we’ll see a different Arsenal then.
Indeed, I’m happy with Arsenal and we will continue to progress. In a few years we have moved from mediocre to be one of the best clubs in the World. Our journey has been amazing and I’m very thankful for everything. COYG
Arsenal win 2 nil and still the narrative is ‘new striker’, remember centre forward today scored 1 and assisted 1 then dropped back to midfield to see out the game – and you think there is a realistic upgrade Arsenal must must must have that is guaranteed to do better…what do you want, a hat-trick every game…please do tell…
A striker that’s clinical with his feet in the box would clearly be a huge boost to the team, whether as a plan A or B, why be so stubborn as to think otherwise? Havertz has strengths, especially aerially, Jesus has strengths, mainly in close control, but they also have weaknesses, their finishing percentages are really low for top strikers, if we had a player who could compensate for those weaknesses in certain games it would majorly improve our chances of winning more games.
Haaland is a very good striker but he has definitely weaknesses. The only player in our time almost with weaknesses ‘was Messi’, but he wasn’t meant for defending.
We made 91 league goals last season and a world-class striker might change the tally with
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Think he’s talking about crucial attributes, which for a striker ‘finishing’ is a major one — we don’t have one in that bracket. Reusing last season’s same formula is likely to be as productive in repeat, especially as last season opposition were less clued up on Hävertz as a 9. It’s really pretty basic sense to understand a proper striker would improve our attack.
Well, a club making 91 league goals seems manage very well without your strike, like Man.City did for several years. We have gone from being a mediocre club to be one of the best in the World with our tactics, and I’m sure we will do fine this season also. We will always need something, but I’m not sure how much we need it, because next moment we need something else. COYG
It’s almost definitely the difference with us with finishing 1st and 2nd, look at the past couple seasons. We need a big game finisher in crunch situations fr. Why is 1/2 our fanbase so determined not see this glaring issue…?
Rice is OK as a left sided 8, but he is better as a 6. If we sign Merino I hope Rice plays as the CDM. We need another winger good enough to compete with and back up Martinelli and Saka. I like Trossard but not as a 90 minute starter. I know there is a school of thought that Jesus can play on the wing, and he can at a push, but if Merino comes and we get a top class winger, I think we can go all the way this season. I know everyone is focusing on the need for a striker, but I don’t think that will happen this season unless both Nketiah and Nelson can be sold.
I am not trying to be biased, but Kai being pinned to the group by his neck was not any foul? What was the VAR team smoking?
Yep should have been a straight red card for the Wolves player.
Please just dont let Zinchenko start vs Aston Villa next week. Leon Bailey skins him alive every time.
Surely MA can’t put him there again. Of course he can. He shouldn’t of course but based on the last year of evidence he may very well do so.
In the game, we’re there clear cut chances created that Harvertz didn’t score? The “killer” striker that we keep hammering on will only score when there are chances. Let’s just enjoy the moment and move on to the next. It’s the beginning of the season, it can only get better. COYG
Yep, a killer striker is practically useless in other moments except a goal scoring chance. Haaland is the same. When he doesn’t score, it’s as if he was not playing at all. Even if Havertz didn’t score against wolves, he still did a lot to impact the game.
There is just an agenda against Havertz mate and it’s getting pretty boring. The reason we fell off the in second half was because Partey and Rice weren’t great. The other annoying thing is Martinelli offered practically nothing like all last season yet most would happily play him every game. Our best 3 players yesterday where Saka Havertz Odegard in that order.