Arsenal vs. Wolves
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Kick off: 8:15PM
Arsenal will be aiming to get their Premier League campaign back on track when they welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Emirates Stadium this evening.
The Gunners have won just one of their last five top-flight matches and enter the weekend’s fixtures down in 12th, one point behind opponents Wolves.
Arsenal may be struggling domestically, but they continued their impressive form in the Europa League on Thursday with a convincing 3-0 victory away at Norwegian side Molde.
Nicolas Pepe was among the scorers for the Gunners, four days on from being heavily criticised by his manager for his sending-off in the goalless league draw with Leeds United.
That was the second league match running that Arsenal had failed to score, having also fired a blank in their shock 3-0 home loss to Aston Villa before the international break.
Indeed, Mikel Arteta’s side have scored only one goal in their last five Premier League matches in what has been a poor run, the only victory coming away to Newcastle United.
Arteta was always going to be given time to put his spin on things at the Emirates Stadium, but performances and results have simply not been good enough over the past six weeks.
While this visit of Wolves is not quite in must-win territory yet for the Gunners, the pressure is certainly on if they are to keep pace with the top six.
Finishing in a European spot is also the aim for Wolves, who have had a rather mixed time of things so far in 2020-21.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have won four, lost three and drawn two of their first nine games, winning back-to-back only once.
Last Monday’s 1-1 draw with Southampton was another mixed bag, Pedro Neto levelling up 15 minutes from time after Theo Walcott had put the Saints ahead at Molineux.
A big positive for Wolves has been their defensive record, with Tottenham Hotspur (9) the only side to have conceded fewer than Wanderers’ 10 so far.
On the flipside, no team in the top half has scored fewer goals (9).
This Sunday’s match is a big one for both sides in many ways, then, with the mood of supporters likely to change depending on the outcome in North London.
Arsenal possible XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Ceballos, Xhaka, Nelson, Willock, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible XI: Patricio, Boly, Coady, Kilman, Semedo, Moutinho, Neves, Ait-Nouri, Neto, Podence, Jimenez.
