Scars of past title near-misses run deep for Arsenal

Late Wolves leveller means seven dropped points from winning positions in 2026 - but Saka rejects pressure talk

- Ed Aarons

It was left to Bukayo Saka to sum up the mood in Arsenal’s dressing room. “Very flat,” admitted the England forward after watching his side surrender a 2-0 lead at Wolves on Wednesday night.

A couple of hours earlier, Saka’s first goal in 15 games in all competitions - his longest drought since breaking into the first team as a fresh-faced teenager in 2018 - looked to have set up an easy victory against the Premier League’s bottom side to restore Arsenal’s seven-point cushion over Manchester City. Made captain for the night by Mikel Arteta in the continued absence of Martin @degaard, Saka celebrated his rare headed goal by mimicking signing the lucrative contract to 2030, worth more than £300,000 a week, that was announced by Arsenal yesterday. But his broad smile had turned toa frown by the time he faced the television cameras in the tunnel at Molineux.

“I’m very disappointed with the result and especially how we played in the second half, it’s far from the level that we’ve set this season,” said Saka, who was substituted in the 73rd minute with Arsenal leading 2-1. “It’s time for us to reflect on the past few performances and just fix the issues immediately so we can get back to winning games and going ona run and build momentum because we’ve lost that a bit right now.”