It was obvious that the Wolves players had taken exception to the way that Arsenal had celebrated their 1-0 win over their European qualification rivals on Thursday night.
Ruben Neves came out after the game to explain how he believed Arsenal had acted as though they’d ‘won the league.’ Saltiness is a word that might be used to describe it, and quite rightly. Perhaps though the Gunners will more than just revel in motivating their opponents who come to the Emirates in just under a fortnight’s time.
This is exactly what club captain Conor Coady believes is the case. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the England international explained that he and his teammates will travel to London to try and ‘put it right.’
“We’ve seen them, we heard them. We’ve obviously seen the whole thing, I know Ruben has obviously spoken out after it. They celebrated quite hard, didn’t they?” Coady remarked.
“It probably obviously shows how big the game was to them, and to us – it was big to us as well.
“Listen, we spoke about it all week, we prepared right, we made sure we were ready and I actually thought we played quite well if I’m being honest.
“We had the ball, we created different things, but listen Arsenal are a top side. So, we’ve seen the celebrations, I’ll be honest with you, from our point of view, we really didn’t like them.
“It’s something where we’ve got two weeks’ time now to try and put it right going back to the Emirates and try and put on a good game again.”
Arsenal celebrated a victory earned after going down to ten men against a very good Wolverhampton Wanderers side. Bruno Lage’s club could have gone above Arsenal in the table had they won. However, ironically, the Gunners' players actions might help their top-four ambitions.
Arsenal have just the one game at home to Brentford before they play Coady again. Whereas Wolves have two interesting fixtures that the Gunners will be pleased to know that they have fired up their future opponents for.
First comes a trip to Spurs on Sunday followed by the visit of Leicester City to Molineux. Both sides have ambitions of European qualification this season, but Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham, in particular, are their closest opponents.
Spurs can go level with Arsenal on points should they beat Wolves on Sunday. The Gunners will hope their newly motivated former and future opponents aid in their quest for Champions League football.
With just the sole game, Mikel Arteta can be afforded the additional rest before their reverse fixture on the 24th of February. Gabriel Martinelli, who was the man sent off in controversial circumstances, will also be back and motivated himself to win back his place in the team.
Arsenal have not done the double in the league over Wolves since the 2010/11 season. Two 2-0 wins and braces from Marouane Chamakh and Robin van Persie in the away and home games saw the Gunners pick up maximum points. Repeating the feat would be considered a far greater achievement in 2021/22.
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