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2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 23
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal
Molineux Stadium
Wolverhampton, England
Saturday, 25 January 2025
Kick-off is at 17h00
Arsenal will be determined not to lose any more ground to the
Premier League leaders when they take on Wolves at Molineux on Saturday, January 25.
The Gunners dropped points for the second time in three games as they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa in North London on January 18.
Mikel Arteta's side have allowed surprise-package Nottingham Forest to close right up on them in third position, while seeing Liverpool go six points clear of the two teams at the top of the table.
The Reds claimed a dramatic 2-0 win over Brentford on January 18 and the Tricky Trees held on for a 3-2 victory against Southampton the following day.
The Old Gold find themselves on the brink of the relegation zone in 17th position, with goal difference keeping them above Ipswich, who are tied with them on 16 points.
However, Vítor Pereira's side were due to play Chelsea on January 20 as they headed to Stamford Bridge looking to snap a three-match winless run, having suffered back-to-back 3-0 defeats against Forest and Newcastle most recently.
Boubacar Traore (knee) and Matheus Cunha (illness) could come back into contention for Wolves, but Yerson Mosquera, Enso Gonzalez, Sasa Kalajdzic (all knee) and Toti Gomes (thigh) remain unavailable for selection.
The visitors must do without Gabriel Jesus (ACL), Bukayo Saka (thigh), Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu (both knee), Ethan Nwaneri (muscular) and William Saliba (thigh), although Riccardo Calafiori could make his comeback.
Pereira felt the scoreline against the Magpies was a harsh reflection of the game, admitting the difference was that one team took their chances and the other didn't.
"The result didn't show what happened in the game. I am so proud of the players - we created many chances. We will get confidence and begin to score," the Portuguese said.
"In the second half they [Newcastle] can score a goal and we have to realise that. They have the striker [Alexander Isak] who is very fast and great quality. We tried to do everything well so I can't criticise the defenders."
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Arteta expressed his frustration at only coming away with a point against the Villans after his players delivered a quality performance despite it being their third game in the space of six days.
"I think the performance was immense. The boys were incredible, the way they went about it after playing three times in six days so I'm so pleased with the quality of the performance and how much we dominated a very, very good side," the Spaniard said.
"For everything we did in the game actually to get a draw, very disappointed, very frustrated, very sad because it doesn't reflect what the game did.
"But as well I think there is a part where we have to blame ourselves, especially with one of the goals we conceded because it cannot be part of our game it won't constantly win football matches."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Wolves wins - 0
Arsenal wins - 5
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 23 fixtures:
Saturday, January 25
17h00: Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest
17h00: Brighton & Hove Albion v Everton
17h00: Liverpool v Ipswich Town
17h00: Southampton v Newcastle United
17h00: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal
19h30: Manchester City v Chelsea
Sunday, January 26
16h00: Crystal Palace v Brentford
16h00: Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City
18h30: Aston Villa v West Ham United
21h00: Fulham v Manchester United
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