By NewsBits
Beating Wolves at the Molineux in a keenly contested game on Saturday, which was the last game before the Qatar World Cup break this November, Arsenal moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League Table. It was the Arsenal Captain, Martin Odegaard’s second-half double that made that possible, of course through impressive teamwork from the Gunners.
The Gunners Captain turned home Fabio Vieira’s low cross from close range 10 minutes after the restart and then drilled in the rebound after Jose Sa had kept out Gabriel Martinelli’s low effort 15 minutes from time.
The only negative for the visitors was the exit of Granit Xhaka in the early stages just over a week before the midfielder is due to begin his World Cup campaign with Switzerland. The result means Arsenal will not only be top on Christmas Day for the first time since 2007 but will do so with a handy advantage over nearest challengers Manchester City.
In contrast, Wolves are now bottom as new manager Julen Lopetegui prepares to take charge. The former Spain, Real Madrid and Sevilla boss was introduced 15 minutes before kick-off at Molineux and watched the game from the stands, as Arsenal rattled his team.
He saw a microcosm of Wolves’ season given the hosts battled hard and produced some opportunities despite spending much of the game on the back foot but were undone by a lack of goal threat as they failed to score for the eighth time in 15 top-flight games.
With that win, and the fact that most of the top teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City dropped points, most football pundits who never gave Arsenal a chance at the beginning of the season have started to eat their words. The fact remains that something is indeed happening at the Emirates Stadium this season.
The architect of Arsenal win Martin Odegaard who spoke to Sky Sports at the end of the game said, “We had to dig deep today. The first half was difficult, they defended well. We were a bit slow, but we know the quality we have and we always create chances. We stayed patient and it paid off.
“We talked about some tactical things at half-time and did better in the second half. We played the ball out wide and created some overload and got the goal which helps. We have to stay calm, it’s a long way to the end of the season, we play every game as a final and that’s all.”
