Our defense was good enough to keep Wolves out for the game, even with the last 27 minutes a man down. A first half Gabriel tap-in off a corner kick scramble was good for an important three points against a close rival. The yellow cards kept coming, with Partey, Xhaka (of course), and Gabriel collecting one each until Martinelli did them one better by picking up two from Referee Martin Oliver in three seconds. It's never happened before that anyone can remember, and it was weird, but Martinelli was totally out of line and stupid. Fortunately, it did not cost us the points, due to Wolves' lack of punch.
We edge up to fifth, with two games in hand vs 4th place West Ham. Hot on our heels is Man U and Tottenham, with Wolves just five points back. There is very little margin for error.
We have nine days until we face Brentford, who embarrassed us on opening day 2-0. Martinelli hasn't been scoring anyway; I hope Pepe gets a run out. Lacazette seems to have run out of gas. He works hard but the end product is not there when he gets in position. He missed a golden chance today. The only other central striker on our rolls is Eddie Nketieh, who has not scored in the league this year (albeit with not a lot of minutes played). Heck, Laca is already a "false nine" so why not play that way, with a fluid front four of Pepe, Saka, Odegaard, and Smith-Rowe? Tierney is fully capable of joining in the attack as well. Anytime you want a shot from distance, you can call on Partey or Xhaka, especially if you want to see the ball go a few yards over the bar.
Anyway, we needed this. If Tomiyasu gets healthy, we can play even better,
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