Wolves 0 Arsenal 2: Bill Howell's big match verdict and player ratings

Nov 11 2010

WOLVES were denied by two breathtaking Lukasz Fabianski saves, a goalline clearance from Tomas Rosicky and saw Kevin Doyle fire a whisker wide in the 89th minute as their second half dominance failed to reap its just rewards.

Mick McCarthy’s side stay rooted to second- bottom of the Premier League after making a woeful start when they gifted Maroune Chamakh a 38 second goal.

In the third minute of injury time Chamakh cooly slotted home for his second as Arsenal broke swiftly just moments after Fabianski had dived full length to hold Christophe Berra’s powerful drive from the edge of the box.

To make matters worse Stephen Ward was carried off on a stretcher down the tunnel on 90 minutes after being caught on the ankle by a late Cesc Fabregas tackle that only earned the Spaniard a yellow card.

Wolves will feel aggrieved that Fabregas could have seen red but Mark Halsey - who refused to send off Stephen Warnock against Villa - saw it differently.

Arsenal could have ran riot in the early stages and even so almost made the points safe on 65 minutes when Andrei Arshavin fired against the foot of the post from 15 yards with Marcus Hahnemann well beaten.

Fabianski had produced a wonderful one-handed fingertip save to deny Doyle who controlled and curled a real beauty towards the top corner.

Rosicky cleared off the line from Richard Stearman from the resultant corner and a near post header from Kevin Foley just cleared the crossbar.

Wolves were just as lucky in the closing stages when Sebastien Squillaci got the ball stuck between his feet in front of goal and Johan Djorou’s shot was cleared off the line by Karl Henry. The fifth and final game in a nightmare sequence of fixtures saw Wolves make the sort of start that would have sent shivers down Freddie Kruger’s spine.

Alex Song crossed from the right and Chamakh’s powerful header beat Hahnemann’s all ends up.