Arsenal vs. Wolves match thread: make sure of it

First-place Arsenal host last-place Wolves at the Emirates in Matchweek 16 of the Premier League. The Gunners lead Manchester City by two points and Aston Villa by three but the gap has closed over the past few weeks. Arsenal have posted a middling 2-2-1 record in the last five league matches compared to 4-0-1 for Manchester City and 5-0-0 for Aston Villa, which includes their last-second win over the Gunners last weekend. These are three points that Arsenal have to claim.

Injuries, fatigue, rotation, what have you — there is no reason Arsenal should not be beating Wolves at home. The visitors have been dreadful this season, in fact, if they don’t win either of their next two matches, they’ll be off to the absolute worst 18-match start to a Premier League season in history. They’ve picked up two points this year and are currently threatening Derby County’s 11-point, worst PL season ever.

If you want slight cause for concern (but why would you?), Wolves have scored about five fewer goals than expected — 8 goals from about 13 xG created. Their anemic attack is a bit better than it would seem. Couple that with Arsenal’s defensive injuries, and are you starting to see a little something? It’s strained, I’ll grant. But stranger things have happened. We’re all too familiar with Arsenal dominating matches, conceding a boneheaded goal, and managing to drop points.

This squad seem to be made of stronger stuff *knock on wood* and you’d expect them to take care of business at home. The attack is getting healthier and guys are finding their form. Martin Ødegaard has looked sharp since returning. Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli scored wondergoals in the Champions League. Gabriel Jesus looked energetic in his first appearance after his long layoff.

One attacker who hasn’t hit his stride is Viktor Gyokeres. Arsenal need to get him going. You can understand his slow start. He had an abbreviated preseason because of the transfer saga. Kai Havertz’s injury thrust the Swede into the starting spot and to play most of the minutes instead of getting to ease into the season and play what many expected would be a rotational role in favorable situations. As a result, Gyokeres picked up a hamstring injury that set him back.

But matches like today are why Arsenal bought Gyokeres. He was meant to be our flat-track bully, to help turn some of those damaging draws against lower-table clubs into wins. He’s big, strong, and scores goals against lesser clubs. Home against the worst team with the worst defense in the Premier League seems the perfect opportunity for him to rediscover his form and gain some confidence from seeing the ball hit the back of the net. Strikers are weird like that — sometimes all it takes is one goal to open the floodgates.

Arsenal will be without Gabriel, Cristhian Mosquera, and Riccardo Calafiori on the backline. The Brazilian is expected back towards the end of December / early January and the Ecuadorian will miss 5 or 6 more weeks with his ankle problem. The Italian misses out today through yellow card suspension. Kai Havertz is out for another couple of weeks after a setback in his knee injury recovery. Max Dowman is out for about two months with an ankle injury suffered in a closed-doors friendly last week.

William Saliba and Jurrien Timber, who were both questionable to play, make the starting lineup. Declan Rice, who missed out midweek through illness, starts. Leandro Trossard, who is being managed through a calf problem, makes the bench.

Wolves will be without Rodrigo Gomes, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, and Marshall Munetsi. Goalkeeper David Bentley is also unavailable.

Arsenal – Raya, White, Saliba, Hincapie, Timber, Zubimendi, Rice, Eze, Saka, Martinelli, Gyokeres

Wolves – Johnstone, Mosquera, Agbadou, T. Gomes, Doherty, J. Gomes, Andre, Krejci, Wolfe, Strand Larsen, Hwang

WHO: Arsenal vs Wolverhampton
WHERE: The Emirates Stadium, London
WHEN: Saturday, December 3rd, 12:00 pm PT | 3:00 pm ET | 8:00 pm GMT
HOW TO WATCH: Broadcast live on the USA Network. Streaming on NBCSports.com.

For all your international streaming needs, check LiveSoccerTV.com. Please do not share or discuss links to illegal streams here.