Wolves 1, Arsenal 4: Bill Howell's big match verdict
A superbly-worked third goal and a poorly-defended fourth followed before Jody Craddock nodded a third goal in the right net inside a week.
The Redditch-born defender notched 50 per cent of the goals at the Britannia Stadium a week earlier and 40 per cent here, if you include his unfortunate deflection of Eduardo’s attempted cross that just about ended the contest.
And yet for 28 minutes, had any extra-terrestrials landed in Wolverhampton – as they are prone to do, according to some locals – then it would have been difficult for little green men to guess which side was sweeping all before them at home and in the Champions League.
By half-time, however, it was crystal clear which team would be leapfrogging Manchester United into second place and which would be sinking into the bottom three for the first time since the opening day of the season.
Two early chances came and went for the home side. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake stooped to head Nenad Milijas’ corner wide of the near post and Christophe Berra mis-timed his jump and headed Milijas’ free-kick backwards when well set.
Then, calamitous defending of a set-piece and Ronald Zubar, who had waxed lyrical about all his friends at the Emirates in the build-up, diverted Cesc Fabregas’ corner into the net under pressure from Eduardo.
Even worse defending somehow saw Wolves leave Craddock totally exposed to an Arsenal breakaway.
Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey scampered clear on to Fabregas’ simple pass and Eduardo’s curler glanced off Craddock and floated agonisingly inside the far post.
There was no luck about the third goal.
Bacary Sagna won the ball outside the Arsenal box and passed it to Fabregas on the halfway line. The Spaniard took it forward, sized up his options and played a simple pass back to Sagna, whose cross to Robin van Persie was cushioned towards Fabregas who beat Wayne Hennessey at his near post.
Andrei Arshavin was denied by a fine Hennessey save before the Welsh goalkeeper punched poorly, allowing Arshavin’s shot to nestle through a ruck of bodies and inside his right-hand post from 18 yards for 4-0.
Wolves nearly crumbled under an avalanche, with Eduardo foiled by Hennessey who saved with his legs, then dived at the striker’s feet.
Fabregas fired over from six yards, Tomas Rosicky drove over from close range and Ramsey fired into the side-netting.
The last laugh, nevertheless, belonged to Craddock whose age-defying abilities could be bottled by Nivea.
It is likely to get worse before it gets better for Wolves. Next up? Stamford Bridge.
Ten points is not a great return from a dozen matches. A year ago, Albion (11 points) and Newcastle (12) were in the bottom two and Middlesbrough (17) were in the top eight. They all went down.
For Wolves, the nitty-gritty will begin when Gary Megson brings Bolton to town on December 5.
