Wolves resilient but downed 2-0 by relentless Arsenal

Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden reacts to Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Arsenal in the Premier League.

Transcript

00:00 Wolverhampton Wanderers can go away from Molineux proud tonight despite losing 2-0 to title

00:06 chasers Arsenal. Gary O'Neill's men fought very hard, resolute, dogged performance I

00:12 thought here under the lights on Saturday evening. Arsenal though, just a bit too much

00:17 for them. Their squad quality, total number of shots they had, the clear-cut chances,

00:21 they did exceed Wolves' numbers. I thought Wanderers, they really dug in, especially

00:26 in that first half. Throughout much of the second as well actually, some solid performances

00:30 from players who've not had that many minutes really this season. The likes of Boubicar

00:34 Traore, Hugo Bueno, they are first team players, but they're not regular starters. Wolves only

00:40 had 10 first team outfield players available for tonight. Five teenagers named on the bench.

00:48 Jere were starting up top for just his sixth Premier League match. I believe actually his

00:52 first proper full start in the Premier League for Wolves as well. It just shows, doesn't

00:57 it, against Arsenal, one of the world's best teams. Wolves have such a threadbare squad

01:02 yet able to compete for the most part. It was 1-0 until the 95th minute when Martin

01:07 Odegaard scored Arsenal's second. Martinelli had a good chance as well at the end to make

01:11 it 3-0. There was a flurry actually at the end from the Gunners as they tried to push

01:15 on and maybe improve their goal difference a little. Apart from the last five minutes

01:19 or added time rather, Wolves really did dig in very well defensively and you thought he

01:24 could have gone either way. Some good chances down the other end as well. On another night,

01:29 I think Wolves might have been able to get a point out of this. Whether that would have

01:32 been deserved, I'm not too sure. It might be a little bit of a stretch, but it certainly

01:37 didn't deserve to be more than 1-0. That's what Gary O'Neill echoed in his press conference.

01:42 He was very proud of his group. He wasn't actually expecting such a strong showing considering

01:47 the inexperience, the lack of minutes, the lack of sharpness as well. But he was very

01:51 impressed with what he saw. Ryan Aitnouri made his return off the bench as well. Gary

01:57 O'Neill was joking in the press conference about how Aitnouri wanted to welcome his return

02:01 to the world by taking on the entire Arsenal team. He did try that with one dribble from

02:06 deep. It got past about four or five players to be fair to him, but then was ushered out

02:09 by Gabriel. Troy Owey, as I mentioned, was impressive in the middle. Very robust, physical,

02:16 had so many tackles to break up the play. Hugo Bueno did a decent job considering Aitnouri

02:21 has been the main starter at left-back, left-wing-back this season. Hugo Bueno stepped up against

02:26 Ben White pretty well. Cherewa as well on his first proper start. He threw himself around,

02:32 he held up the play well. That's easier said than done up against the likes of Gabriel

02:36 and Saliba. The fact that David Rye was forced into so many saves is also a point for Wolves.

02:44 One big opportunity for Giao Gomez as he dispossessed Kiviore and got down the right, probably the

02:48 best one for Wolves. Forced a save from right onto the post. Had that gone in, well, the

02:54 complexion of this game, the result could have been incredibly different. But as it

02:58 is, it is Wolves-nil, Arsenal-two.

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