The race for the Top Four is getting very congested right now, but Arsenal made a big statement by beating Wolves at Molineux two weeks ago, to put them firmly in the driving seat.
But since then Bruno Lage’s side have beaten other Top Four contenders Tottenham away and Leicester at home, and have had quite a few first-teamers return from injury. They are not lacking in confidence due to our scrappy win, which is their only defeat in their last 8 League games. The Wolves boss believes that he knows how to counter Arteta’s game plan. “I talk about the movements they did, and are doing very well, especially the diamond of three midfielders and the striker, and the spaces they can offer when they come to press, and we can have that space to play our game. I think it was a good game and I think we played better against Arsenal than Leicester but lost that game.” Lage told the official Wolves website.
“We need to go with the same ambition, personality to play our game against a strong team. They are doing a good season, the last games they were playing well and scoring goals, so we need to understand that also. We know we have two games but every time we talk one game at a time. For now, it’s Arsenal, we played against them two weeks ago, it’s an important game for us, but also Arsenal, maybe the pressure is on Arsenal’s side, not us.
“Here, I make the pressure, and my pressure is very high. I want to go there and think about the way we want to play and try to win the game like we did in the last three or four months – with personality and character.”
Obviously with Spurs getting beaten again last night, this is another great chance for Arsenal to pull ahead of our biggest rivals and move even closer to the Top Four.
Conversely, a win for our opponents would see them leapfrog us into 6th place and put the cat back among the pidgeons.
One thing is sure, we have an intriguing contest ahead of us tonight…