LONDON — If the pressure of the title race does this to Arsenal in December, what on earth is it going to be like in May?
The Gunners needed two own goals from Wolves, the worst side in the division — currently on course to tie the worst in Premier League history — to secure the victory everyone anticipated filing into Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening and restore a five-point lead at the top of the table.
The 2-1 result is the only thing Arsenal can take from this. It is, of course, all that matters in the moment. They found a way. But the absolute mess they made of this will do little to assuage concerns that the biggest question mark over their title credentials is whether they can hold their nerve when the prize is on the line.
Almost everything about this screamed of the Arsenal that manager Mikel Arteta hoped they had left behind this season: a lack of cutting edge in front of goal; an excessive reliance on Bukayo Saka to conjure up the requisite creativity; and a relinquishment of the initiative, providing their opponents with renewed hope.
– Arsenal transfers: Mikel Arteta rules out Gabriel Jesus exit
– Ogden: Man City have a history of overtaking Arsenal; can Gunners hold their nerve?
After a torrid first half and a marginally better start to the second, Saka’s 70th-minute corner was palmed onto the post by Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone before it hit the back of his head and went in.
It should have been the end of the struggle but it was only the beginning. Just like Sunderland last month, Wolves were encouraged by Arsenal’s territorial regression and reluctance to press, emerging from their 5-3-2 shell with several substitutions to throw bodies into the box in search of an equalizer. One duly arrived in the 90th-minute as Saka stood off Mateus Mane, who crossed for Tolu Arokodare — both Wolves substitutes — to plant a header past David Raya.
Suddenly, Arsenal were staring into the abyss. A draw here combined with Manchester City winning at Crystal Palace on Sunday would have knocked them off the top of the table.
And then, Saka, the one player who kept probing, kept trying, sent in a 94th-minute cross that substitute Gabriel Jesus attempted to meet but Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera inadvertently did, turning the ball into his own net.
It was telling that Arteta chose not to focus on the euphoria of that moment and instead on the issues that created such an emergency in the first place. “[The mood in the dressing room] is relief but with a very clear understanding that the margins should have been bigger,” he said. “After not being precise enough in the first half with the amount of situations that we generated inside the opposition box and we didn’t pick the right color of shirt, we had to improve in the second half.
“We did it, we generated more chances to score a goal, but after [that] we had a period of two or three minutes, deep, totally passive with horrible defensive habits that is nowhere near the level that is required against a team that hasn’t had a single shot.
“The first time they had an opportunity to do it, they scored a goal and this is the Premier League. Fortunately, we are relieved because we scored a goal to win it, but we need to improve in that sense for sure.”
Injuries have obviously weakened Arsenal’s hand. Center back William Saliba returned here but Ben White was forced off after 31 minutes with a hamstring injury. Arteta confirmed afterward that it “looks like bad news” for White. But that cannot excuse a performance that was bereft of the intensity such an opportunity demanded, a chance to reassert themselves in the league after a painful last-gasp defeat at Aston Villa last weekend.
Arteta has spent a long time trying to whip up and employ the emotion inside Emirates Stadium to make it a more hostile atmosphere. One consequence of his success in that regard is the hugely emotive feel to what should have been a routine home game. In that environment, his players must prove they can continue to execute their game plan under pressure.
City have put them under a modicum of pressure lately, and it has felt like a contributing factor, along with a tough fixture list and the absence of key players. Manager Pep Guardiola has already repeatedly pointed out he knows how to win a league title — an unusual comment for a manager to make in the winter, but one that feels pointed when taking into account Arteta’s comparative inexperience.
“Every time you win the Premier League, you should be happy and you should be conscious of the difficulty of it,” said Arteta. “But we made it even harder for ourselves today, and that’s the big lesson that we have to do.
“When the opponent merits something, that’s fine, and they did a lot of things to make it difficult for us, but … the things that are on us, we should make sure that we improve them.”
A significant improvement would likely ensure Arsenal’s superior squad depth will deliver the title they crave. Without it, they face many more fraught nights like this.