Arsenal vs Wolves preview: Gunners aim to end season in style

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Arsenal will look to end the 2022/23 Premier League campaign in style when we host Wolves at the Emirates Stadium on the final day of the season on Sunday afternoon.

It’s certainly been an unforgettable season for Arsenal fans as we mounted a surprise title challenge and went toe-to-toe with Manchester City. After an unbelievable first half to the campaign, Arsenal were flying high at the top of the table and at one stage we were installed as the bookies favourites to win the title when we were five points clear by in February.

We managed to maintain our lead into April but then the wheels came off. Injuries to William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu in Arsenal’s Europa League clash with Sporting Lisbon proved costly and ultimately derailed out title charge. We managed to secure home wins against Crystal Palace and Leeds United but our defence looked frail without Saliba and we went on to concede 11 goals in the next four games.

Arsenal blew two-goal leads to draw 2-2 away to Liverpool and West Ham, and many feel these games were the real turning point of the season. We then had to come from 3-1 down to salvage a 3-3 draw at home to bottom club Southampton before being humbled 4-1 by City, which realistically ended our title hopes. Mikel Arteta rallied the troops to secure impressive wins over Chelsea and Newcastle, but a hugely disappointing 3-0 defeat at home to Brighton put City on the cusp of securing the title.

In true Arsenal style, we limped to a 1-0 defeat away to Nottingham Forest last weekend which handed City their fourth Premier League trophy in five years. We’ve ended the season with a whimper, and it’s important Arsenal get back to winning ways against Wolves to finish off what has been an excellent campaign on a positive note.

Many have dissected the last few months to see where it all went wrong, but the truth is there were several turning points. The Saliba injury obviously had a huge affect but the Bukayo Saka penalty miss to make it 3-1 against West Ham was a killer blow. We’ll never know how the season would have panned out had we won that game, but I have a feeling Arsenal would still have fallen short against a formidable City side, so we can’t be too downtrodden.

Fans need to remember this has been a thrilling season where we mounted an unexpected title push. Arsenal were the best team in the country for much of the season and were rightly top of the table until late-April. We came up short in the end and had to settle for second, but the fans and players should take the positives and use the disappointed as motivation to go one better next season.

It’s important we don’t take the hangover into next year so Arsenal need to get back to winning ways against Wolves on Sunday. The visitors head to the capitol off the back of a 1-1 draw with Everton having previously lost 2-0 at Man Utd. However, they have long secured their Premier League status and sit 13th in the table on 41 points, so they have very little left to play for.

Tickets

Just a few months ago, Arsenal tickets for this match were changing hands for thousands. Fans were hoping this would be the day where Arsenal would win their first Premier League title in almost 20 years. Sadly, it hasn’t turned out that way but we should still see a packed house at the Emirates Stadium. The players deserve a good send off following an unforgettable season.

There are still some tickets for sale on the official Arsenal ticket exchange but these are likely to be sold over the coming days. If you miss out, you can look to get hold of a last minute ticket by using a reputable reseller such as Seatsnet.

Team news

Obviously Arsenal will still be without the services of Saliba as the Frenchman is still recovering from the back injury that’s proven to be so costly. Tomiyasu is also out with his knee injury and he could be facing a race against time to be fit for pre-season.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has missed the last few games with a calf injury and he won’t feature in the final game. Gabriel Martinelli has also been ruled out after suffering a nasty ankle ligament injury during the defeat to Brighton earlier this month.

Mohamed Elneny is another absentee for Arsenal. The midfielder is back in training after recovering from surgery but he won’t be in contention just yet. Reiss Nelson is a doubt after missing the Forest game with illness.

As for Wolves, they’ll be without Sasa Kalajdzic due to a knee injury while Franscisco Tavares Olivier is also still nursing his own knee complaint.

Line-ups

With second secured, Arteta may be tempted to give some fringe players a chance but he’ll still want to end the season with a win, so we should still see a strong line-up. Aaron Ramsdale will keep goal once again while Ben White is expected to move to right-back after playing alongside Gabriel last week.

Jacub Kiwior was a surprising choice by Arteta at left-back against Forest and that experiment certainly didn’t pay off. Kiwior should start in the middle of defence with Kieran Tierney recalled at left-back on Sunday.

Thomas Partey could start in midfield with Jorginho making way while Granit Xhaka is set to start his final game for Arsenal. The Swiss is expected to move back to Germany this summer so hopefully he gets a good send off.

Saka and Leandro Trossard could support Gabriel Jesus in attack once again. Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Nelson and Fabio Vieira are options if Arteta wants to freshen things up.

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard, Jesus

Wolves XI: Bentley, Semedo, Collins, Dawson, Gomes, Neves, Gomes, Podence, Adama, Sarabia, Hwang

Prediction

Arsenal were very poor against Forest last week so hopefully we see a much improved display for the final home game of the season. We don’t want to end such a promising campaign on a sour note, and Arteta will be keen to ensure the players sign off on a high.

Wolves can be a dangerous side on their day and have some good players, but I’m confident Arsenal will be too strong on home soil. As long as the players are motivated and play the free flowing football we saw for much of the season, we should ease to victory on Sunday. Arsenal 2-0 Wolves

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