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That wasn’t too bad in the end.

Not the formality I thought beforehand and certainly not the bloodbath I feared after the first 15 minutes.

We couldn’t have started worse and the worry with our defending is that even with every man behind the ball there seem to be spaces. Fulham played through us on Monday so it was no surprise the league leaders had a lot of joy.

The commentators were purring over Arsenal’s incision but I felt Wolves could have done better. For the first goal particularly, it’s too easy for Saka to ride those challenges and Dawson should either have cleared it out or sent him down the line.

After the second went in and Sa went off, I was contemplating how many I’d be prepared to concede with no serious thoughts about staging a comeback.

Credit to the lads for digging in and changing that negative perspective. They kept going, riding their luck ridiculously at times, but ultimately making a good fist of things.

There were a few times when Arsenal threatened to give something up at the back so that loose pass from Zinchenko that Cunha punished superbly wasn’t completely out of the blue.

Our attempts to force an equaliser were somewhat lacking in conviction save for one brilliant pass from Sarabia that set Nelson free inside the box. But after that was scrambled away, there wasn’t much to get us off our seats.

It was pleasant to inflict some panic though and see Arteta clock up the steps in his technical area after the early signs pointed to a winter stroll for his team.

And although we didn’t take any points we can extract some positives, especially when you factor in that we had at least four first team players missing.

Doyle and Traore made a decent go of it in midfield with the former offering a few teasing balls into the area and the latter improving considerably as the game went on, pouncing on stray passes and winning vital second balls.

And although Toti demonstrated some wasteful possession at times, I think he did well overall and is maturing into a very good Premier League defender.

With a couple of extra bodies back and an easier fixture (on paper) in the week we can realistically hope for better but there’s a bit of pressure on that Burnley game having lost the last two.

Hard to predict how it will go. The only thing I’m truly confident about is that this flawed but enthusiastic team will continue to keep us guessing.

I still feel a bit drained after Monday night.

Much like Gary O’Neil, those decisions just sapped all of my energy. Losing at the death is bad enough, but under those circumstances – again – it’s just so demoralising.

After a similar situation at Sheffield Utd we were able to bounce back and beat Spurs. But this is an even bigger ask, away to the league leaders with several players unavailable.

The lads are really going to have to dig in and we can only hope – at a minimum – for a fair fight.

Arsenal

Until yesterday, I was going to write about how Arsenal had managed to get back to the top without hitting their stride. Then they hit Lens for six in the Champions League.

The worry is that mega win will play key figures like Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard (who all scored) into top-form at the worst possible time – for us anyway.

Saka already has 7 goals and 10 assists this season and he is still the main man, despite not reaching his best level recently. He scored in the 5-0 rout in this fixture at the end of last season and truth be told, we were lucky to escape with a fairly modest pummeling in what proved to be Julen Lopetegui’s final competitive game in charge.

In the games I’ve watched them play, I don’t think they’re as fluid or attractive a team as they were last season, but they’re clearly doing something right because the results keep coming. The only game they’ve lost was up at Newcastle and even that was to a goal wrapped up in VAR controversy.

My money remains on Manchester City for the title, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Arsenal won it. I would expect them to dip into the market in January for some reinforcements and that might well tip the balance in their favour. Ivan Toney has been strongly linked, as has Pedro Neto, but the former seems a more obvious and likely acquisition in the immediate.

Wolves

Monday was costly for Gary O’Neil with Lemina and Gomes both picking up their fifth bookings of the season and Rayan Ait-Nouri sidelined by injury.

Craig Dawson will probably return to what’s likely to be a more rigid back three. Matt Doherty or Hugo Bueno could fill in for Ait-Nouri and that’s a big call for Gary because Arsenal are strong in those wide attacking positions.

Doyle and Traore will both surely get a start with the other two midfielders out and the front three probably picks itself unless the manager has something more bespoke up his sleeve for such a tough assignment.

At the time of writing, I’ve not heard anything about Pedro’s return. I’m hoping he doesn’t miss the busy December period because he can be a real difference-maker in some of the more winnable games. Tomorrow, I’m assuming, has come too soon.

Predictions

Nobody predicted a 3-2 loss at Craven Cottage (owing to a string of officiating blunders) so we can just move on.

For the hardcore predictors, I’ve spent a block of time trying to update the overall table this week. As it stands, Wokywolf leads the way, but I’m still carrying out some checks. Please do let me know in the comment section if you think your score is wrong, as it will help me identify the issues and fix.

I can’t see beyond a defeat tomorrow. I think Arsenal will have too much for us, particularly with some key personnel missing. Hopefully, we can show some fight and at least make a game of it, but my best guess is probably a 3-1 loss.

As always, if you’d like to join in with the Prediction League this season, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.

Up The Wolves!