SAN FRANCISCO, November 29, (THEWILL) –Â Wolverhampton Wanderers set the shock of a sickening injury to top scorer Raul Jimenez aside to secure a 2-1 Premier League victory away at Arsenal on Sunday.
A fifth minute knock of heads with Arsenal defender David Luiz appeared to leave Jimenez unconscious. Oxygen was administered to the prone player on the field for almost 10 minutes of treatment before he was taken to hospital.
After the lengthy delay and amid a fog of grave concern over Jimenez’s wellbeing, Wolves took a 27th-minute lead.
Right winger Adama Traore got the better of Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney down the Arsenal left and left winger Pedro Neto was in the best position to convert when Leander Dendoncker’s header came back off the crossbar.
Their goal advantage was short-lived. Three minutes after they went ahead, full back Gabriel Magalhaes powered home Willian’s cross from a well-worked short corner straight out of the training ground.
Taking advantage of Arsenal’s pitiful defending, Wolves made it 2-1 in the 42nd minute. Keeper Bernd Leno dealt with Neto’s deflected shot using his legs and winger Daniel Podence seized the opportunity to deftly lift the bouncing ball over Gabriel and find the back of the net.
Traore, who was largely influential during the build-up again, saw his first-half stoppage-time attempt slash the side netting.
Wolves’ attackers kept the pressure on Arsenal running directly at the defense after the break. The Gunners were spared an extra goal when Hector Bellerin blocked Podence in the nick of time with an hour played.
Some sloppiness crept into the Wolves’ game inside the final 20 minutes. Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and substitute Reiss Nelson had chances to level out the scoreline but could not convert them.
Aubameyang, without a Premier League goal in open play since the opening weekend of the season, headed wastefully over from Bellerin’s 82nd-minute delivery.
Though, Arsenal’s dreadful form persists, the congested nature of the early-season table means their lowly position should not cause huge concern. However, match results like this must be concerning. They have won just once and lost four of their past six league matches, scoring only twice in that period.
Arsenal next play Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday. They will have to start scoring fast and defending convincingly to avoid another defeat. Wolves have until Saturday, December 6 when they face a similarly tricky assignment at Liverpool.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
