We look to return to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday (8pm) as we host rock-bottom Wolves in north London.
A happy Champions League trip to Bruges in midweek will have lifted spirits after our dramatic defeat at Aston Villa last weekend, and we’ll aim to make it back-to-back victories this week against a side still searching for their first in the league all campaign, a run that leaves them eight points adrift at the bottom.
We’ve enjoyed our recent encounters with the Old Gold, having won all of the last eight at Emirates Stadium and Molineux, and that record needs to stretch to nine to ensure that we remain top of the pile when the latest round of fixtures are in the books.
WOLVES’ SEASON OF WOE
It’s been a campaign to forget for Wolves so far, who arrive at Emirates Stadium winless in all 15 Premier League games this season, while their two-point haul is a joint-low after 15 games in top-flight history, level with Sheffield United’s infamous 2020/21 side.
That pair of draws were against Tottenham and Brighton under Vitor Pereira’s management, but he was sacked a month ago after 10 matches with former Molineux defender Rob Edwards installed as his successor. However the Welshman has lost his first four matches, including home defeats to Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United on Monday night, where they were thumped 4-1.
That was Wolves’ eighth-straight loss, matching a club record set 42 years ago, while they’ve not won on their travels since April, losing their last four on the bounce without scoring a single goal.
What the managers say
Arteta: “It’s a massive opportunity for us again to win the game and put ourselves in a good position. [There’s danger] always in any Premier League match, especially against a team that is fighting against results. I know the manager really well and how he’s going to push and get the players ready to. From our side, we’re going to go full gas from the beginning, we know what we have to do.
“You’re going to have to have over 90 points probably to win [the title], so that means winning a lot of football matches and tomorrow we have three points that we have to earn.” – every word from Mikel’s pre-match press conference
Edwards: “We can see it’s still going to be difficult going forward for a period of time, so there might be more pain to come. But I’m energised by that – and I’m looking forward to moving forward and trying to improve things.
“I’ve been able to show people in a meeting what is acceptable and what’s not. If we don’t do certain things, it [relegation] will be done quite quickly. I can’t put my boots on and go and do it. We can show, train it and demand the high standards but it has to come from them.”
Team news
Arteta will assess a number of players before deciding on his line-up for this game. Declan Rice missed the midweek win against Club Brugge through illness, while Leandro Trossard picked up an ankle knock at Aston Villa last week and also didn’t travel to his homeland.
Jurrien Timber also sat the game out with a knock, while William Saliba continues to close in on a return after his calf issues. Cristhain Mosquera, Max Dowman (both ankle), Gabriel (thigh) and Kai Havertz (knee) will definitely miss out.
Monday night’s goalscorer Jean-Ricner Bellegarde limped off late on at Molineux with a hamstring injury and is out for the next six weeks, but midfielder Joao Gomes is back after serving a suspension against Manchester United.
Midfielder Marshall Munetsi is out for a month with a calf injury, while Rodrigo Gomes has been out since October with a groin injury and will also miss out.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: Edwards appears set on working with his usual 3-4-2-1 formation that reverts to a 5-4-1 out of possession, when they hunt in packs to force dangerous transitions. Only three sides have won more tackles than Wolves who set out to press inside the opposition half. While that has led them to create a respectable 103 high turnovers, just 13 shots and a single goal have stemmed from those regains.
You would not describe Wolves as a low-block outfit that absorbs pressure. They average 47% possession, and while they are second behind Burnley for the greatest number of long passes attempted so far in 2025/26, they can also move the ball sharply between the lines with crisp, short passing.
Supplying quality ammunition from the flanks is a real strong suit. Producing 69 successful open play crosses, Wolves lead this department by an incredible 19. Left-back Hugo Bueno, has 21 to his name, a division high, while on the other side Jackson Tchatchoua happens to be one of the fastest players in the Premier League.
However they’ve netted just eight times this season, while at the back they are wobbling. On Monday night at home to Manchester United, their back three looked disjointed and low on confidence, giving up 27 shots and an xG of 4.24.
Facts and stats
We have won our last eight Premier League games against Wolves, our longest winning run against an opponent since a run of 10 against Burnley from 2010 to 2019.
Wolves have won just one of their last 14 away league games against us, losing the last four in a row since a 2-1 victory in November 2020.
We have scored in each of our last 35 meetings with Wolves in all competitions, since a 1-0 home loss in February 1979. In English football history, only Wrexham against Darlington have had a longer scoring streak – 49 between 1929 and 1961.
We have never lost a home Premier League game against a team starting the day bottom of the table (P26 W18 D8), keeping seven clean sheets in our last eight such matches.
We are looking to win five consecutive home Premier League matches for the first time since between January and April 2024. We have also won our last seven at Emirates Stadium against teams starting the day in the bottom three, since drawing 3-3 with Southampton in April 2023.
Wolves are winless in 19 Premier League games and have lost their last eight in a row. Both runs are their joint-longest in their league history, also going 19 without a win between December 1984 and April 1985, and losing eight in a row between December 1981 and February 1982.
12 of our first 17 Premier League goals this season had come from set-piece situations, but since Viktor Gyokeres’ header at Burnley in November, our last 11 league goals have all been from open play.
Noni Madueke has scored four goals in his two Premier League starts against Wolves, including a hat-trick for Chelsea at Molineux last season.
Eberechi Eze has scored in five of his last six Premier League appearances against Wolves (5 goals), netting in each of his last three.
Bukayo Saka has scored in each of his last three home Premier League games against Wolves (3 goals), scoring and assisting in this exact fixture last term.
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Match officials
Rob Jones will be the man in the middle, having refereed us just once last term, the 2-0 loss at Bournemouth where he sent off William Saliba and handed the Cherries a penalty. We had been unbeaten in all six of the matches he had overseen prior to that.
The Merseysider had been a lucky charm for Wolves recently too, who had won four on the trot, all away from home, under his watch before they were beaten 2-0 at Sunderland in October. He has shown 33 bookings in nine top-flight matches this term, but no reds.
Referee: Rob Jones
Assistants: Neil Davies, Wade Smith
Fourth official: Paul Tierney
VAR: John Brooks
Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan
Recent visits from Wolves
Wolves haven’t enjoyed their trips to north London down the years, as they have won just one of their last 16 home trips in all competitions, with that solitary success coming in November 2020.
They last pitched up in N5 on the opening day last term, when goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka got us off to the perfect start with a 2-0 win. In December 2023, early goals for Saka and Martin Odegaard put us in control, before a late Matheus Cunha strike left us hanging on for a 2-1 victory.
Before then, we wrapped up the 2022/23 season with a much more comfortable 5-0 win on the final day, as Granit Xhaka marked his farewell appearance with a brace, while Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Jakub Kiwior also got on the scoresheet during a fine display.
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Live coverage
Tune into Live from N5 from an hour before kick-off for all the best build-up from Emirates Stadium! Timbsy and Jeremie Aliadiere are live in the studio, and will be joined by the Sugababes’ Keisha Buchanan as well as singer and actor Mahalia.
Noni Madueke takes on Frimmy to see if his form on the pitch can carry over to a game of Jenga, while we celebrate 40 years of Arsenal in the Community by speaking to its head Freddie Hudson MBE, as well as people who have benefited from the initiative.
A new Hero of the Week will be crowned, another Emirates Stadium moment will be inducted into the Live from N5 Hall of Fame, and our supporters will be put through another round of Arsenal Mastermind before Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke get behind the mics to talk you through all the on-field action – so make sure you tune in!
You can also find out which broadcaster is showing the action live, wherever you are in the world.
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How to watch Arsenal v Wolves live on TV
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