(Wolves – Arsenal 0-2) Arsenal puts pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race.
The short version
- Arsenal won 0-2 over Wolves, putting pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City in the title race
- Arsenal went through a difficult week, losing to Aston Villa and exiting the Champions League
- Leandro Trossard scored the first goal of the match in extra time in the first half
- Odegaard scored a stunning extra-time goal in the second half and passed his 50th goal under Mikel Arteta.
– It has been a heavy week for us with several strong blows to the face. It would have been nice to get three points today, Odegaard said in an interview with Viaplay after the match.
Last week, Arsenal lost 0-2 to Aston Villa in the English Premier League and was eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich.
– It takes time, there are a lot of matches and a lot of what happens otherwise. There's a lot of back and forth here and there. It takes course.
Now the focus has shifted forward.
-We must remember that we still have something big to play for. We are at the top of the Premier League, there is enough motivation for everyone, and we know what we are playing for.
Watch the exhilarating scenes after Odegaard's goal here:
Odegaard was in difficult working conditions and was anonymous for a long period in tonight's important win.
It was clear that the home team had drawn up a clear plan on how to stop the Norwegian. The opponents were tough in duels every time the 25-year-old got on the ball.
In the first half and large parts of the second half, Odegaard didn't accomplish much. But he only needed one chance.
Three minutes into extra time, Odegaard put the nail in the coffin with a stunning goal. The captain played freely in the 16-meter area and first tried to shoot in front of goal, but it was blocked. Odegaard received the ball in return, tried his luck just as easily and put the ball safely into the net.
With this goal, Odegaards also completed his 50th Premier League appearance under Mikel Arteta.
The Norwegian celebrated, as did his teammate Leandro Trossard, on several occasions this season:
Before the end of the first half, Trossard scored the first goal of the match.
Bukayo Saka found Kai Havertz, who in turn found Gabriel Jesus. Jesus tussled with the Wolves defenders and passed the ball to Trossard inside Wolves' 16-metre box. With the outside of his foot, Trossard put the ball over the crossbar and into the goal – an impossible feat for Jose Sa, who had good control in the first half.
– It's very impressive, we played really well and controlled most of the match. We could have scored more goals, but we are more than satisfied clean sheet“, Trossard tells BBC Sport after the match.
Graphics: sofascore.com
Arsenal came out with high pressure from the beginning. The Gunners created half-chance after half-chance, but were not effective enough with their shooting.
Arteta's men continued to dominate in the second half as well.
– One-way traffic, commented Niels Johan Semp after Arsenal dominated the first eleven minutes of the first half.
Wolves tried to change the picture of the match by making changes from a worn-out bench – to no avail.
Before Odegaard scored the winner, Saka was on the verge of making it 0-2. The Arsenal winger dribbled past everything and everyone on the right wing and reached the finish line, but had to finish off the ball with his right foot.
With this win, Arsenal occupies the top spot, one match more than Liverpool and City.
Graphics: sofascore.com
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