A look at Wolves’ numbers ahead of Arsenal’s game tomorrow night – Suburban Gooners

It’s Friday, press conference day and with Mikel Arteta having taken over some of our forwards from the Champions League win in midweek, I’m curious to see what kind of mood he might be in today. Let’s hope it’s a jovial moment, as the frustration and annoyance of last Saturday’s defeat was countered by an impressive Champions League win and with key players also rested, we can look towards Wolves with some confidence that – at home – we should be able to overcome the current worst team in the league.

Wolves have only picked up two points this season, have scored eight goals in the 15 matches they have played, they have let in 33 and one look at a Wolves fan forum gives you an idea of what they think will happen – this prediction forum here has its fans saying it will be an Arsenal win with an overall score of 69 – 15 and an average rating of 5-0 Arsenal on 15 answers – none think Wolves will win. They’re at the point where they’re just happy when they score and it’s definitely a bit sad when Gallow’s humor comes into play.

You can see why – there aren’t many stats in Wolves’ favor this season, although they aren’t comfortably the worst, so I don’t think we’re going to take the beating that many think we might inflict tomorrow. They are in the bottom three for xG created and xG allowed, although they are not bottom of that one, with West Ham and Burnley both providing surprises in that regard. Also strangely, they are not at the bottom of shots on target either; Burnley take this crown with West Ham also ahead of them. Where they are at their lowest is their shooting percentage that they record; which is not a stat a goalkeeper wants to see, but it seems like they aren’t having a good time when teams are getting shots on target.

Their goalkeeper is a ball thrower on goal kicks and, from a defensive point of view, they lead the league in the number of tackles they make in their own defensive third with 156 – no other team in the Premier League has to do the same. I read this stat and I think they could play in a low block, but oddly, in terms of the average distance from their goal that Wolves perform a defensive action (tackle, blocked shot, etc.), it’s actually quite high at 15 yards from their own goal. Arsenal are highest at 18.6 because obviously opposition teams don’t get as close to our target, so you’d think a low-blocking team would have lower average distances (again, West Ham and Burnley are bottom two), but Wolves are actually sixth in the league for average distance in defensive action. So what does that mean? If I talk to you for a second (as I like to do), it tells me that the Wolves are a team that plays a higher line than one might expect and that there could be opportunities to fall behind tomorrow night – I certainly hope so.

One would also hope that defensively we would be able to keep them quiet, as they have the fewest number of shots they have taken this season of any team, the fewest number of shots on target per 90, and the fifth highest distance from which they shoot at 17.4 yards. It is therefore a team which has struggled to penetrate into the opposing back lines so far and which does not create many chances or shots. This will be a Wolves team that goes as often as possible – they have the most long ball attempts in the league – and it’s a team that, when the ball goes long, goes into the channels and looks to cross the ball (they have the most crosses into the penalty area of ​​any team this season.

Arsenal will be aware of it, Arteta will be aware of it, they need to be ready for it and they need to be in the mindset to score early because if we do that (and I’ll do more of a match preview tomorrow) then I think this game could be a couple of goals.

But football is weird and while there won’t be many brave men betting on Wolves winning at the Emirates tomorrow night, I still feel like we need to be wary of any threats or potential banana peels. You only need to look back a few weeks to see how Villa nearly collapsed; Wolves looked good, scored a good goal which was ruled out, forced Martinez into some superb saves (including tipping one over the bar) and Villa had to rely on a marvelous strike from the edge of the box to seal the victory. We know what good form Villa are in, so for Wolves to give them the type of play they did should serve as enough of a warning to Arteta and his coaching staff.

But if you want to win league titles you have to win your home games like tomorrow, so Arsenal have a job to do and that’s what Arteta will tell these players in training today.

Read more about how Arsenal line up tomorrow, plus all the interesting bits from today’s press conference, but for now I hope you have a great Friday and I’ll be back tomorrow with more pre-match thoughts.