Wolves vs Arsenal player ratings: Bukayo Saka shines as Gunners keep European hopes alive

A hard-earned win for the Gunners puts them in the mix for an unlikely top four finish

Wolves were beaten 2-0 at home by Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday.

A game of perspiration rather than inspiration, both teams struggled to assert themselves with sustained quality.

Bukayo Saka scored the opener with a well-taken strike in the closing stages of the first half, with Adama Traore having Wolves’ best chance to equalise before Alexandre Lacazette’s late second.

The Gunners move up to seventh with the win, while Wolves miss the chance to go fifth.

Here are the player ratings from Molineux.

Ruben Neves is closed down by Eddie Nketiah (Getty)

Wolves player ratings

Rui Patricio - 7. Couldn’t do anything about Saka’s strike. Did well claiming the ball aerially. Frustrated by his players not being ready for his throws to launch counters at times.

Willy Boly – 5. Misjudgement led to the opening goal.

Conor Coady – 5. Decent on the ball, usual confident and organising self at the back, but caught flat-footed for both goals.

Roman Saiss – 5. One or two errors in decision-making, not overly progressive on the ball. Maybe lucky not to see two yellows in five minutes.

Matt Doherty – 6. Usually a much more aggressive outlet for his team but took him until into the second half to start rampaging forward. They needed more from him.

Leander Dendoncker – 6. Didn’t really impact the game. Subbed early.

Ruben Neves – 7. Fine in possession but defensively overrun in the first half. Came deeper to get on the ball thereafter. Cleared one off the line late on.

Joao Moutinho – 6. Similar to Neves, had to work hard to get involved and not at his most creative.

Jonny Castro – 6. Lots of hard running, not a lot of quality delivery in the final third.

Raul Jimenez – 6. Starved of service for a lot of the game. Kept dropping into space to help his side’s build-up play.

Adama Traore – 7. The only real first-half threat for Wolves. Great run for a chance on the hour, perhaps should have scored.

Arsenal celebrate after Saka scores (Getty)

Arsenal player ratings

Emi Martinez – 7. Extremely confident taking crosses, coming out one-on-one and with his distribution.

Shkodran Mustafi – 7. Solid, straight-forward. Kept demanding his more attacking team-mates show themselves for passes.

David Luiz – 6. A couple of suspect moments in the first half. Good couple of blocks in the second.

Sead Kolasinac – 7. Another who benefits from a back three instead of a back four. Held his line well, tracked runners when needed.

Cedric Soares – 6. Early promise but his lack of football this year shows in his timing and touch.

Dani Ceballos – 7. Always available to take possession, rarely wasted it. A little hindered at times by a lack of movement ahead of him.

Granit Xhaka – 6. Standard performance: a mixed bag of passing, positional work, decision-making and actual quality.

Kieran Tierney – 7. Very good for a while, Arsenal’s best outlet in the first half. Didn’t really last, but more due to Wolves taking control than his own consistency wavering.

Bukayo Saka – 7. Quiet start to the game but took his goal brilliantly. Only needs a few touches to make magic happen for his team.

Eddie Nketiah – 7. More endeavour than ability, but that caused as many problems for Wolves as anything else. Unlucky with his effort off the post.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6. Kept very quiet, for the most part.