Nicolas Pepe canceled out Hwang Hee-Chan's opener before Alexandre Lacazette forced an own own goal from Jose Sa to snatch all three points for Arsenal.
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Alexandre Lacazette forced a Jose Sa own goal in the fifth minute of stoppage-time as Arsenal beat Wolves 2-1 in the Premier League fixture at Emirates Stadium on Thursday. Hwang Hee-Chan had put Wolves in front early in the match before a late show from the Gunners earned them the victory. Nicolas Pepe equalised eight minutes from time before Sa put the ball inside his own net to give all three points to Mikel Arteta’s side. The win helped Arsenal to 45 points from 24 games, just one point behind fourth-placed Manchester United who have played 26 games.
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Late but great ?#ARSWOL #PL pic.twitter.com/fZROiewyGK
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 24, 2022
Arsenal started the match brightly, seeing a penalty appeal turned down inside the first minute when Nelson Semedo tangled with Gabriel Martinelli. But the visitors drew the first blood after nine minutes when Hwang latched on to a weak backpass by Gabriel Magalhaes and rounded Aaron Ramsdale before slotting into an empty net from a tight angle.
Wolves looked more confident after taking the lead. Daniel Podence played a perfect through ball to find Raul Jimenez on the edge of the box, but the Mexican forward’s effort went wide.
Arsenal created a series of chances in the first half, but failed to get on the score-sheet because of some poor shooting and lack of quality in the final third. Bukayo Saka and Lacazette combined to get inside the box but the latter was quickly closed down by the Wolves defence.
An overhead ball from the back released Saka on goal but the Ivorian failed to hit the target after being quickly closed down by Coady. Just after the half-hour mark, Lacazette’s effort from outside the box went straight to the keeper before Martinelli’s shot went over the bar.
Immediately after the break, Podence played yet another superb through ball to find the run of Hwang on goal but the South Korean forward’s low effort from the right side of the box went just past the far post.
From then on, Arsenal played with more intensity and started to dominate the game. Twenty minutes from time, Saka and Lacazette combined once again, but this time, the latter was denied by a fine close-range save by Wolves keeper Sa. Arsenal’s persistence finally paid off on 82 minutes when Pepe made a smart turn from Nketiah’s cut back and fired past Sa at the near post.
Few minutes later, at the other end, Rayan Ait-Nouri made a darting run down the left flank before cutting the ball back for Pedro Neto, whose effort went just wide of the far post. Saka cut inside from the left to get past two defenders before forcing a fine, low save from Sa.
Just when it looked like the points might be shared, Lacazette received a pass from Martin Odegaard, played one-two with Nketiah and forced the ball inside the net off Sa’s hands.
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