Arsenal snatch point against Wolves through Henrikh Mkhitaryan, to salvage their undefeated run

Arsenal are a team that have forgotten how to lose football matches. They were little better than dismal on a dreary evening against Wolves, conceding the sloppiest of early goals to a grateful Ivan Cavaleiro, only to snatch a point late on when second-half substitute Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s cross evaded everybody and snuck inside the back post. The most fortunate of goals and the most fitting of equalisers.

It is one of this season’s great curiosities that a team currently sat fifth in the table, basking in the glory of an undefeated run stretching back to mid-August, remain one of only two clubs yet to lead a Premier League match at half-time this season. And, this time, Arsenal’s customary slow start really looked as though it would cost them. There appeared to be no way back.

Enter Mkhitaryan. With the game on the cusp of entering into injury time, Mkhitaryan flitted his way to the edge of the penalty box, whereupon he attempted to pick out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with a languid, looping cross. Aubameyang missed it. But so too did Rui Patricio. The ball careered in at the back stick and Arsenal had their ill-deserved point.

Sixteen matches undefeated and counting, although it was so nearly fifteen and bust. Wolves twice spurned opportunities to snatch back all three points in injury time. First Adama Traore broke clear only to see his shot on goal superbly saved by the outstanding Bernd Leno. Moments later, Leno found himself beaten only for Ruben Neves’ cruise missile of a shot to cannon off the underside of the crossbar.

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Unai Emery at least had the good grace to admit how well Wolves had played. “We knew that they were a competitive team,” he said. “And they made us take a lot of risks when we were drawing and conceding chances. So we are not happy with the point, but we have to recognise that they worked very well.”

Arsenal have Emery to owe for their point and, once again, the Spaniard demonstrated a pleasing propensity to gamble. He boldly switched formations at half-time. He withdrew his captain, the anonymous Mesut Ozil. And he spent the entire match prowling his touch-line barking increasingly frenzied instructions whenever his struggling full-backs shuffled sheepishly into earshot. But his decisive contribution was to throw on Mkhitaryan, in place of the ailing Seed Kolasinac.

Kolasinac was desperately poor, as was Granit Xhaka, who was to blame for Cavaleiro’s early goal. The Swiss has been a man transformed since Lucas Torreira’s arrival from Sampdoria, but Arsenal’s midfield magician cannot always be relied upon to be trailing in his wake with a brush and dustpan at the ready. And he was not on hand to bail out Xhaka when he made the peculiar decision to allow a Kolasinac pass to bobble by him on the edge of his final third.

Calamity followed. Snatching at the ball in wide-eyed glee, Cavaleiro pinged forward, shrugging off the attentions of Xhaka and laying off Raul Jimenez. The Mexican looked up in time to see his team-mate smuggling his way beyond the hapless Xhaka and into space, and the finish beyond Leno was a routine one. A gift. A gaffe. A goal.

Were it not for the brilliance and bravery of Leno, it would have been worse for Arsenal. Alexandre Lacazette went close only to see his delayed shot charged down by a snorting Conor Coady, with Wolves immediately racing down the other end of the pitch through Helder Costa. Leno stood his ground and did superbly to make a strong, one-handed save. Moments later and he was at it again, flying through the gloaming to acrobatically stop Costa's speculative effort from range.

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Something needed to change for Arsenal. Something did. Alex Iwobi had been playing well but Emery mercilessly hooked him off, bringing on Matteo Guendouzi and reshuffling his side into what was effectively a midfield diamond, Guus Hiddink style. And it worked: insofar as Wolves began to find themselves strangled for space to race into and Arsenal began to grow into the game.

Torreira saw a vicious drive well saved by Rui Patricio. Bellerin blazed one over from close range. And the writing appeared to be on the wall when Aubameyang spurned a gilt-edged opportunity from just outside the six-yard box, stroking the ball across goal and against the underside of the post. It took Mkhitaryan to bail Arsenal out — Patricio beaten not by a shot but a cross.

Thrillingly, the final word was so nearly snatched away from the Armenian, first by Traore and then by Neves. First Leno, then lady luck came to their rescue. Wolves boss Nuno Santo tried hard to concentrate on the positives. “We had the best chances and if more time had been added on we would have done better,” he insisted. “But I want to thank our fans and our players. We have come up from the Championship and we are humble.”