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Wolves were outgunned by Arsenal in Saturday’s teatime kick off- boss Mick McCarthy opting for three changes to his line up- Richard Stearman, Nenad Miljas and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake coming in for George Elokobi, Michael Kightly and Chris Iwelumo. It seemed to work, as the home side enjoyed the majority of the play in the opening minutes. Bacary Sagna was forced to clear a Ronald Zubar cross before William Gallas was also rushed into conceding a corner following Miljas’s attempt at a centre.
Kevin Doyle’s attempt after getting on the end of the set piece was cleared by Kieran Gibbs. Gallas then brought down Doyle prior to another Wolves corner, Ebanks-Blake sending the ball wide. Next it was Christophe Berra’s turn to test Manuel Almunia in the Arsenal goal as he first sent in a long range drive, and then got underneath a Miljas free kick, Doyle’s final shot deflecting off a defender.
The visitors began to creep back into the match and Zubar was on hand to clear a Robin Van Persie cross, with Abou Diaby forced off injured and replaced by Alex Song. Ebanks-Blake found himself unable to meet Doyle’s cross, and on 28 minutes, after coping with the pressure from the men in gold the Gunners took the lead- Zubar the unfortunate scorer as Cesc Fabregas’s corner deflected in off his thigh. The evening took another turn for the worse just seven minutes later as Aaron Ramsey and Eduardo broke forward to counter attack as almost the entire Wolves starting eleven were looking to press on for an equaliser, Ramsey slipping a ball in to Eduardo whose chipped effort deflected in off the covering Jody Craddock.
As the half wore on it seemed the goals had knocked the confidence of the opposition, and minutes before half time Sagna and Eduardo combined to set up Fabregas for Arsenal’s third. |
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As the second half began Miljas gave Almunia a rude awakening from a free kick which tested the Spaniard. After a flurry of bookings Kightly replaced Segundo Castillo as a precursor to a Wayne Hennessy save from Andrey Arshavin’s driven effort, though he made no mistake from Fabregas’s corner kick. Matt Jarvis replaced Miljas for the home side as Tomas Rosicky and Samir Nasri came on for Arsenal in place of Eduardo and Arshavin, with the visitors content to test Hennessy from range before a Jody Craddock goal a minute from full time ensured a consolation goal long after the points had eluded the men in old gold.
Teams-
Wolves- Hennessy (gk), Zubar, Stearman, Edwards (Mancienne 80), Craddock, Berra, Miljas (Jarvis 74), Henry, Doyle, Ebanks-Blake, Castillo (Kightly 65)
Subs not used- Hahnemann (gk), Halford, Keogh, Maierhofer
Arsenal- Almunia (gk), Diaby (Song 24), Sagna, Fabregas, Vermaelen, Eduardo (Rosicky 71), Gallas, Van Persie, Ramsey, Arshavin ( Nasri 74), Gibbs
Subs not used- Mannone (gk), Eboue, Senderos, Silvestre
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