Unless you owned Bukayo Saka (£10.2m), Saturday’s bloodbath-that-never-came at the Emirates was a massive let-down.
Not only did Arsenal’s clean sheet get busted late on but the Gunners’ two strikes were both own-goals, with Saka assisting on each occasion.
Barely anyone else registered anything of note, with Piero Hincapie‘s (£5.5m) last-gasp consolation defensive contribution (DefCon) points – a bit of a hollow victory – the one exception.
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WHITE INJURY AS SALIBA RETURNS
It was one defender in, one out for Arsenal on Saturday.
William Saliba (£5.9m) was back after a three-Gameweek absence, but the Gunners lost Ben White (£5.4m) to an early injury.
“Exactly that. Obviously he hasn’t played a lot of minutes because of the previous knee issue that he had, then the moment he started to get some momentum, he had to play a lot because we didn’t have any other solution. We had to even risk Willi [Saliba] today because probably it wasn’t their best call to play 90 minutes because we were buying tickets for another injury, but we don’t have anybody else. But yeah, that’s bad news for sure.
“It looks like a hamstring [injury], so we don’t know the extent of that, but probably tomorrow or the day after, we’ll know more.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Ben White’s issue is an example of the ‘dangerous cycle’ of injuries
Saliba’s return saw Hincapie move to left-back, with Myles Lewis-Skelly (£5.1m) the man omitted despite Riccardo Calafiori (£5.7m) being suspended.
Above and below images from BBC Sport
When White went off, everyone else shuffled across one place and Lewis-Skelly was brought in at left-back.
Ultimately, any White injury would benefit Jurrien Timber (£6.5m) the most. Back at right-back from where he’s delivered five attacking returns already, he’d also be shorn of his chief positional rival. Another player who can offer relief at full-back, Cristhian Mosquera (£5.4m), is also sidelined at present.
Hincapie’s new (400k+ of them in Gameweek 16) and existing owners will be hoping for a White lay-off, too. With Calafiori back in Gameweek 17, Hincapie’s minutes may have looked shaky – remember that the Ecuadorian started this game at left-back. While it’s not a cast-iron guarantee he’ll start at Everton, the short-term situation looks rosier if White is sidelined.
Naturally, he’s only a first-team fixture so long as Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m) remains out.
SAKA GETS TWO ASSISTS… FINALLY!
Saka, thanks to those two aforementioned assists, got his first double-digit haul at the Emirates in over a year.
The assist for goal #2 was straightforward enough: a cross from the right, with Yerson Mosquera (£4.3m) nodding into his own net.
Goal #1 was more of a saga. Saka’s corner was touched onto the bar by Sam Johnstone (£4.5m), with the ball then rebounding in off the Wolves’ keeper.
The assist was added, then it was removed. Finally, it returned and stayed. We’ll let FPL do the explaining:
Saka, the one bright spark in the Arsenal side on Saturday, is hitting his stride. It’s six attacking returns in as many games for the winger, with no blanks in that time – if you count DefCon points against Tottenham Hotspur as a return.
CLEAN SHEET BUST
It’s just one clean sheet in six league matches for Arsenal, the majority done without the injured Gabriel.
In reality, Arsenal’s defensive numbers are still very good even in his absence. The best in the division for expected goals conceded (xGC), in fact, over these last six matches:
Saturday’s goal concession came totally out of the blue, a 90th-minute header from Tolu Arokodare (£5.4m) that was Wolves’ third and final shot of the game. Hwang Hee-chan (£5.6m) had earlier spurned a breakaway chance but Arsenal were otherwise untroubled.
“We generated more chances, scored a goal, but after, we had a period of two or three minutes in deep, totally passive, with horrible defensive habits, that is nowhere near the level that is required against a team that hasn’t had a single shot. The first time that they had the opportunity to do it, they scored the goal – and this is the Premier League. Unfortunately, we are relieved because we managed to score a goal at the end and go and win it, but we need to improve in that sense, for sure.” – Mikel Arteta
ATTACKING OFF-DAY
Rather, this was an underwhelming performance because of the attack.
A laboured display against a side without a clean sheet all season, it took 70 minutes to break the deadlock and two own-goals to win the game.
Saka aside, Declan Rice (£7.1m) was probably the best of the rest. His free-kick tested Johnstone, he had a decent headed chance, and his corner should have been nodded in by Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m). This is pretty much what you’d expect of Rice; he’s never going to be an xG-machine like some others but he’ll tick over with returns from various sources. In the last half an hour here, he was unhelpfully playing as a ‘six’ as Arsenal chased a win and sacrificed Martin Zubimendi (£5.2m).
Eberechi Eze (£7.8m) was, for the second week running, hooked before the hour mark. When things aren’t going well for the Gunners, he’s always going to be one of the first candidates for an early withdrawal. Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m) showed little to suggest he’ll break the forward template, meanwhile.
A quick word on Wolves, who were more Gameweek 13 (creditable defensive performance away) than Gameweek 15 (horror show against Manchester United).
No FPL manager is going to be interested in their players, nor is anyone going to stop targeting Wolves as a fixture for captaincy. But Rob Edwards will be hoping that three single-goal-margin defeats in four is progress of sorts, and that the United trouncing was an aberration.
