By MATT BARLOW, FOOTBALL WRITER
Published: 17:34 EST, 13 December 2025 | Updated: 17:34 EST, 13 December 2025
Jesus is back. In the nick of time. Now Arsenal believe.
Gabriel Jesus, back from almost a year out with a knee injury and onto the end of a cross by Bukayo Saka in the fourth minute of stoppage time to rescue three points.
It went down as an own goal, deflected in off Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera but the Emirates Stadium stook to hail Jesus.
They had led with the clock ticking towards 90 minutes but Tolu Arokodare got his head to a shot from distance by Mateus Mane and deflected it past David Raya.
Two Wolves substitutes combined to silence the Emirates Stadium
Seventy minutes without breakthrough against the worst team in the Premier League and anxiety levels were rising when Bukayo Saka swung over Arsenal’s eighth corner of the night.
A late Yerson Mosquera own goal saw Arsenal snatch a 2-1 victory over rock bottom Wolves
Gabriel Jesus took the acclaim for Arsenal as the league leaders survived a major scare
Wolves looked on the verge of earning just their third point of the season before the late goal
As ever, Saka applied devilish swerve and pace, fired deep towards the back post where Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone misjudged the flight.
Scampering and stretching, Johnstone tried to turn it to safety but could only touch it onto the bar and was helpless as it rebounded onto his right shoulder and into the net. It was a freakish goal.
Certainly, not one to trouble the Goal of the Month jury, but it brought relief for Mikel Arteta on a night when the home crowd were beginning to fidget and worry about lost form before they staggering over the line to reinstate the five-point lead at the top of the table before Manchester City take on Crystal Palace on Sunday.
For Wolves, the misery goes one. Marooned at the bottom on just two points and this, their ninth league defeats in a row, is another unwanted record, the worst sequence in the club’s long and proud history.
Rob Edwards’ team were a 28/1 bet to win when the game kicked off, but Arteta did not flinch with his selection. He went as strong as could be, with William Saliba and Declan Rice restored to the team and Piero Hincapie at left back as Riccardo Calafiori served a one-match ban.
There are still no Premier League starts for Myles Lewis-Skelly this season, but he was on after 31 minutes to replace Ben White, who pulled up suddenly and clasped a hand to a hamstring muscle at the top of his left leg as he sprinted back after a Wolves counterattack led by Hwang Hee-chan.
Hwang ran the ball from inside his own half closely pursued by a pack in red-and-white and went for goal once inside the Arsenal penalty area. David Raya saved without too much trouble.
This was the Wolves game plan. They sat deep with a back five screened by three in midfield and forwards Hwang and Jorgen Strand Larsen worked hard at their defensive duties. They came with a plan to frustrate the Premier League leaders, taking few risks, disrupting rhythms, eating away the seconds when the ball went dead.
And, boss Rob Edwards would have been encouraged by the first half when his team barely gave Viktor Gyokeres or Eberechi Eze a sight of goal and his goalkeeper Johnstone did not have a save to make.
Bukayo Saka caused some early problems, twisting past David Moller Wolfe with ease. Jurrien Timber headed over one Saka cross. Gyokeres came sliding into the six-yard area trying to get on the end of another but did not make contact and the ball ran through to Gabriel Martinelli whose shot was blocked.
Chances followed Martinelli around for a while. The best of them in the first half, a free header at the back post from a corner with which he missed the target. Then from another corner, a volley sliced wide from seven yards.
The anxious mood inside the Emirates Stadium became a little more fraught when Hincapie slipped in defence just before the interval, but he was up on his feet quickly enough to block the shot from Strand Larsen.
The pattern changed little as Arsenal squeezed the visitors back in the second half. Martinelli fired another shot wide before he was one of those hooked in a triple change just before the hour.
Arteta, desperate for something to shake the game open. He pleaded for Hwang to be sent off for a tackle on Lewis-Skelly. Referee Rob Jones showed him a yellow and VAR examined the tackle but were satisfied the Wolves striker was pulling his foot back as he made contact.
The Arsenal boss had no doubt forgotten Eze had been fortunate to escape without caution for a high boot which caught Joao Gomes in the face.
Gyokeres glanced a header wide, and Johnstone made his first saves from Rice, the first a free kick tipped over and the second an excellent save low to his left.
Then came the own goal by Johnstone to spark a frenzied finish. Arsenal know they must improve to achieve their ambitions, but this was a night when they got away with it.