Wolverhampton Wanderers face a period of five Premier League fixtures in 18 days, including two Thursday night clashes with fellow top-five aspirants Arsenal that could go a long way to determining the extent of their participation in UEFA competitions next season.
Wolves
After an outbreak of Covid-19 amongst their playing squad forced the postponement of two Premier League matches in late December, Wolverhampton Wanderers face a period of five Premier League fixtures in 18 days, including two Thursday night clashes with fellow top-five aspirants Arsenal that could go a long way to determining the extent of their participation in UEFA competitions next season. A near-full strength team were eliminated from the FA Cup at home to Norwich last weekend, a result which snapped an impressive run of six unbeaten games including impressive five-game Premier League form. It was hardly the fault of their defence, though, who have conceded one or no goals in an outstanding 12 consecutive competitive outings, a result which has helped Wolves register eight of their ten league wins by a single goal margin.
Arsenal
Arsenal still have to conquer postponed fixtures against Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool later in the season, so a third consecutive H2H defeat against Wolves would place their chances of returning to the Champions League for the first time since 2016/17 in serious jeopardy. The ‘Gunners’ have not dropped points in three straight Premier League games since their three defeats to open the season, suggesting they’ll have the mettle to bounce back here. Boss Mikel Arteta will also hope that a trip to Dubai has freshened up his side after they started the new year by failing to win both league games and getting knocked out of two cups, whilst only scoring once across the five games – three of which saw them start as favourites!
That goalscoring issue is an obvious concern, compounded by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moving to Barcelona and the club failing to bring in any new firepower, and with Champions League participants reportedly eyeing up the likes of starlet Bukayo Saka, Arsenal have millions of reasons to ensure losses at Brentford and Everton were their last as a Premier League travelling favourite.
Penalty taker Raul Jimenez has scored in Wolves’ last three Premier League home victories, including two team opening goals, whilst Saka scored before half-time in Arsenal’s last two away Premier League wins. Both teams have scored in five of the last six H2Hs.