Arsenal taunted with brutal chant as Wolves comeback leaves major title doubts

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The jitters hit Arsenal’s title challenge for the second week running. And blowing a two-goal lead to bottom-of-the-table Wolves will really sow the seeds of doubt over whether Mikel Arteta’s men have got what it takes to be champions.

Last week, they dropped two points against Brentford which was bad enough but this was even worse because Wolves are still in danger of becoming the worst team in Premier League history with a record low points tally.

Arsenal just cannot seem to make life easy for themselves and now they have really opened the door for Manchester City with Pep Guardiola’s men just five points behind with a game in hand.

It should never been like this because Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie put Arsenal into a 2-0 lead and yet still they managed to blow it.

Wolves refused to give up, clawed their way back to snatch an unlikely to leave Arsenal distraught at cursing themselves at the final whistle with the home fans taunting: ”Second again, second again, ole ole.”

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It was crazy because Arsenal should have been in cruise control. They were ahead inside five minutes - and it had to be Saka. Surely it was written in the stars after the England star had signed his new five-year contract.

Gabriel Martinelli won the ball, Declan Rice whipped in a cross and there was Saka with a lovely glancing header which went straight through Wolves keeper Jose Sa’s legs.

Saka celebrated by pretending he was signing a piece of paper to celebrate his new £300,000-a-week deal which will keep him at the Emirates until 2031. The early goal killed the atmosphere inside Molineux with large swathes of empty seats in the home section as their survival hopes have long since gone.

Rice went close to a second goal with a shot which flew just wide while Sa spilled Noni Madueke’s shot but Gabriel Martinelli could not take advantage from the rebound. You really felt the early goal would spur Arsenal on to get more and put the game to bed. But they have got into a lazy habit of not killing games off.

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Arsenal’s front three offered little as Madueke, Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres just did not click and it allowed Wolves to slowly creep back into the contest. Wolves’ Brazilian midfielder Andre sent a low effort whistling wide of the far post which prompted the home fans to sing: “We’ve had a shot, we’ve had a shot.”

It was one-sided but while it remained 1-0, Arsenal were always going to get a little bit nervous as the rain turned to sleet on a filthy night in the Midlands. Arsenal finally got a second after 56 minutes when Gabriel threaded through a ball to Hincapie who raced through and drilled a shot past Wolves keeper Sa.

The goal survived a lengthy VAR check which overruled an offside flag because Hincapie was onside and his first goal for Arsenal was allowed to stand.

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But Arsenal’s comfort blanket did not last long. Five minutes later, Wolves were back in the contest. Arsenal were sloppy, Gabriel gave away possession and Wolves took full advantage.

Santiago Bueno’s pass found Hugo Bueno who cut inside from the right, switched onto his left foot and curled a sensational left foot shot into the top corner.

Worse was to follow after a calamitous mix-up in Arsenal’s defence. Arsenal keeper David Raya spilled the ball after colliding with Gabriel and Tom Edozie’s shot hit Riccardo Calafiori before crossing the line for the dramatic equaliser.

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