Arsenal look to extend their lead over Manchester City to seven points when they head to Molineux to face bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
***The Gunners***are looking to get back to winning ways in the league following a 1-1 draw with Brentford last Thursday, which saw their lead reduced to four points.
Arsenal will now play their game in hand against Manchester City, as it was scheduled to take place on the weekend of the Carabao Cup Final. City will have to wait to play their game in hand until April, as their opponents for that match, Crystal Palace, are in UEFA Europa Conference League action.
Sunday’s 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup was always going to be an opportunity for testing and rotation, but Mikel Arteta might have found a new attacking spark which could be tested in the Premier League.
Riccardo Calafiori pulled out of the warm-up due to injury, meaning that Myles-Lewis Skelly was moved back to left back despite originally being set to start in midfield.
The safe option for Arteta would’ve been to put Declan Rice or Martin Zubimendi into midfield, instead he chose to start Bukayo Saka in the number 10 role, meaning that it was a midfield trio consisting of Christian Norgaard at the base, Ebere Eze playing as an 8 and Bukayo Saka as that attacking midfielder, while Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli occupied the wings.
The biggest benefit was that Eze had a lot more space to operate in and get on the ball, allowing him to walk away with two assists, albeit it was against a side fighting relegation in League One.
Saka came off for Gyokeres at half-time, which saw another interesting tactical tweak as Arsenal seemed to move to a 3 at the back with Mosquera, Saliba and White, while Lewis Skelly moved into a pivot with Norgaard.
It’s no secret that Arsenal’s attacking dynamics can be stale at times, and considering that for the majority of games they will dominate possession, tactical tweaks like this show a potential blueprint for how the dynamics can change in the final few months of the season.
**Arsenal**must take the opportunity to move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League. Both of them and City may not be on level pegging in terms of games for a while, but to have that gap in the table will be such a boost to Mikel Arteta’s players.
Following this weekend’s fixtures, the Gunners will only have ten games left to play.
***The Gunners***have a brilliant record in recent times away at Wolves, with wins in the last four without conceding. Arsenal have only lost twice at Molineux since the hosts were promoted back in 2018 (3-1 18/19, 2-1 20/21).
Last season’s encounter came with controversy after Myles Lewis-Skelly was wrongly sent off for a tactical foul on Matt Doherty. Wolves were also reduced to 10 after Joao Gomes received a second yellow card, though it could have easily been a straight red, given the force of the tackle. Riccardo Calafiori smacked home the winner in the 74th minute with a brilliant volley, which crashed in off the post.