Mikel Arteta praised an “unbelievable” contribution from Bukayo Saka after the winger fired in Arsenal’s second goal in their 2-0 win over Wolves at the Emirates to kick off their Premier League campaign.
The Gunners are looking to end a 21-year wait for the title, having finished second to Manchester City in each of the last two seasons, missing out by two points in May despite winning 16 of their final 18 games.
And they got off to an ideal start in north London against Gary O’Neil’s side when Kai Havertz dashed towards the six-yard box to meet Saka’s cross in the 25th minute, squeezing between goalkeeper Jose Sa and defender Yerson Mosquera and heading his side into a deserved lead following early pressure.
At that stage they might already have led after Saka, Ben White and Declan Rice had all had sights of goal, a combination of good goalkeeping and wayward finishing keeping Wolves in the game before Havertz struck.
David Raya saved brilliantly from Jorgen Strand Larsen’s header to preserve the lead and Matheus Cunha missed a golden chance from a William Saliba error before Saka settled nerves around the Emirates when he lashed in at Sa’s near post 16 minutes from time, allowing Arteta to celebrate a deserved win.
“First half we were really good,” he said. “Really aggressive, really intense. A lot of purpose to our attack. A lot of threat in the box.
“We generated a lot. We probably we should have scored two or three. Second half we became a bit sloppy, we had some giveaways, then the game was a bit more open. Bukayo had an unbelievable action to score the 2-0.
“What I see is the willingness. We started well the first game. With the first game, you have some uncertainty in how you will respond against a really difficult opponent. Score two, clean sheet, win.”
More than once throughout the game Saka was allowed space to cut inside from the right on to his left foot, most notably in crossing for Havertz’s goal and then in firing in himself to score the second late on.
Arteta was asked whether he was surprised teams continue to allow the England winger space to come in from the flank to such devastating effect.
“With good players it’s like that,” he said. “With (Lionel) Messi, I know he’s going to come in and do that, but you can’t stop him.”
The game was notable for fine individual displays from Rice, Saka and Raya just 34 days after the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain in which all three were involved.
“I’m not surprised (at their performances),” said Arteta. “That was their mentality straight away after the last game, they said I’m going to be ready for the first game.
“They wanted to come and be here early. If players are doing that, the compromise, it will grow around the team, and it will step up the level.”
Thank you for all of your support at the Emirates today.
We''ll see you all back at Molineux next week 💛 pic.twitter.com/4gR00nDR13
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 17, 2024
Wolves boss O’Neil reflected on a game in which he felt his side retained a ready threat until finally succumbing to the second goal.
“Good game I thought,” he said. “I thought we played a huge part in it. We acquitted ourselves well against a very tough test.
“At 1-0 we were right in the game, we had some really good territory, kept Arsenal pinned back for a while and created a couple chances in that moment.”
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