21/02/2026

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Arsenal have now won only three of their last eight English Premier League matches League in 2026 than Arsenal (seven) and the Gunners have now failed to win from a leading position in three of their past five League games. Ű BY LAWRENCE OSTLERE P R EMIE R LEAGUE ‘Bottle job’ Gunners?

A RSENAL should be braced for accusations they are “bottle jobs” in the wake of a disap pointing 2-2 draw at Wolves. The Gunners were two goals in front after strikes from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie, but Hugo Bueno pulled one back for the hosts before debutant Tom Edozie scored a last-gasp equaliser. Arsenal are now five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, but Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand. Speaking on Sky Sports , former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson said the mentality of Mikel Arteta’s side is going to come in for intense scrutiny in the season run-in. “You can’t play in second gear. When it went 2-2, for the last three minutes there was an urgency, they didn’t have that (before Wolves’ equaliser). You can’t play like that. Every game is a cup final until the end. “You’ve got to play at a high tempo. If Arsenal play at a high tempo, Wolves can’t live with them. But to play the way they played, and it’s slow and lazy, and they are giving the ball away, then Wolves are always going to be in the game. “That could come back to bite them. That is really, really disap pointing tonight. It (criticism) is going come on full blast now – being ‘bottle jobs,’ ‘melting.’ It’s full-on now.” Former Arsenal forward Alan Smith admitted “that word bottle will be used quite a bit in the next few days”. Only Crystal Palace and West Ham (both eight) have dropped more points from winning positions in the

This was also the first time in Premier League history that a side starting the day bottom of the table avoided defeat to the leaders, despite trailing by two or more goals. “It feels like a pivotal moment, a vital one, maybe a turning point,” Smith added on Sky Sports . “It’s in Manchester City’s hands now. With their experience and Guardiola’s experience they will really fancy it now. They can almost feel the nerves of the Arsenal team watching that. “Having been 2-0 up against the team rock bottom on nine points is just not good enough for the team hoping to win the title. It doesn’t bode well for Arsenal to be able to handle the pressure.” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was critical of his side’s performance. “Extremely disappointed with the result and the way the game ended, but we have to blame ourselves,” he said. “In the second half we didn’t show anything close to the standards required in this League to win. “It was one moment after another. Even though we scored the second goal, we never had control of the game – that’s the reality.” Arsenal have now won only three of their last eight Premier League matches. “Disappointed. Not much else to say,” Saka said. “There was a big difference between our first half and second half performances. We dropped our stan dards and were punished for it. “It’s time to focus on ourselves, raise our standards and improve our perform ances. It’s in our control.” “It’s very flat,” added Saka. “It’s time for us to reflect on the last few perform ances and fix the issues immediately, so we can get back to winning games, go on a run and build momentum because we’ve lost that a bit right now. “I just think we have to get back to our

TODAY (11pm Malaysian time ) Aston Villa vs Leeds B rentford vs B righton Chelsea vs B urnley TOMO RR OW (10pm unless stated)

level. Do the basics right and we’ve got more than enough quality in this team to win games, especially in the games where we’ve been dropping points in recently. We need to fix that and that’s all our focus is right now.” With a north London derby to follow at Tottenham on Monday (12.30am Malaysian time), Arsenal have to respond quickly. Spurs will have Igor Tudor at the helm and they will hope he can give them the “new manager bounce” to add to the Gunners’ misery. Arteta admitted: “We need to go through the pain, looking in the mirror and understand what the game requires now on Sunday. “Anything we say from here is fine but we need to keep it all in our tummies and show it on Sunday.” – The Independent/Agencies West Ham vs B ’mouth (1.30am) Man City vs Newcastle (4am) Palace vs Wolves Forest vs Liverpool S underland vs Fulham MONDAY S purs vs Arsenal (12.30am) TUE S DAY Man Utd vs Everton (4am)

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