Arsenal 2-1 Wolves: Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard strike early to put Gunners 4 clear at top of Premier League

Arsenal moved four points clear at the top of the Premier League after another fast start earned them a 2-1 win over Wolves.

After scoring five first-half goals in their 6-0 Champions League demolition of RC Lens in midweek, the Gunners were quick out of the traps once again with two goals in the first 13 minutes.

Bukayo Saka showed persistence to fire past Jose Sa after six minutes, before Martin Odegaard coolly completed a fine team move from the edge of the area seven minutes later.

But while Arsenal got off to a good start, they failed to kill the game and that allowed Matheus Cunha to pull one back in the 86th minute to set up a tense finish at a freezing Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal held on for the win, which puts them four points clear of Manchester City – who take on Tottenham on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports.

Arsenal were in a clinical mood in the opening exchanges – scoring from their first two shots inside the first 20 minutes.

First, Saka played an incisive ball into Gabriel Jesus on the right wing and continued his run into the box. Takehiro Tomiyasu gave him the ball in the box and he burst past Craig Dawson to slam past Sa.

The Gunners doubled their lead seven minutes later, as Oleksandr Zinchenko played a slick one-two with Jesus and cut the ball back for Odegaard, who slammed home.

Arsenal kept on going with Leandro Trossard denied by a Sa block from close range after a defence-splitting pass from Odegaard.

But that ended up being the Wolves goalkeeper’s last action of the game as he was replaced by Daniel Bentley after picking up a knock in the move.

Arsenal kept going with Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice seeing shots blocked – before the former hit the outside of the post after being found on the break by Saka.

For Wolves, it was a brutal first half – with their only sight of goal coming late in the half as Hee-Chan Hwang was denied at his feet by David Raya after a mix-up between William Saliba and Zinchenko.

Wolves did improve at the start of the second period, with Cunha forcing Raya into a smart near-post stop after beating Rice down the left.

But Arsenal continued controlling the tempo of the game by keeping the ball away from Wolves. Rice blasted wide from distance, before Saka put a 25-yard curling effort inches over Bentley’s far post. As the game went into a lull, there was concern for Arsenal as Tomiyasu came off injured.

The Gunners’ inability to get a third did end up biting them as Wolves pulled one back. Zinchenko dithered on the ball so Nelson Semedo snuck in, before feeding Cunha to slam home past Raya.

And despite Eddie Nketiah missing a big chance to seal the points after being put through and hitting the post, Arsenal held on for another slender victory. (Sky)

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