The Japan Times - Arteta tells faltering leaders Arsenal to harness Wolves 'pain' against Spurs

The Gunners were on course for a routine win on Wednesday after goals from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie put them 2-0 up at Molineux.

But bottom of the table Wolves hit back through Hugo Bueno and Tom Edozie.

The draw left Arsenal, bidding to end a 22-year-wait to be crowned champions of England again, just five points clear of second-placed Manchester City.

It was the second match in a row where Arsenal had dropped points following a draw with Brentford and meant they have now won just twice in their last seven league games.

City, who have a game in hand, twice chased Arsenal down to win the Premier League in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons and their April clash with the Gunners could prove pivotal to the title race.

But Arteta said: "I'm going to be the first one to be close with them (the players) because it has nothing to do with attitude or desire, it is completely the opposite.

"It's part of football. Where it could've gone wrong today, it went wrong.

"If you look at the way we conceded the two goals today without conceding any other situations, it is very rare but it happens. And it happened for a reason and we need to react.

"If you are at the top you have to win and win, that's nothing new."

Arsenal are away to struggling Tottenham in a north London derby on Sunday, with Arteta saying: "We need to go through the pain and go through it looking in the mirror and understand what the game requires now and the next action is Sunday. We need to keep all that in our tummies to show it on Sunday."

Meanwhile Saka told Arsenal.com: "It's pretty flat. We're pretty disappointed with the result, it's the only way to describe it.

"I think it's a game of two halves. In the first half we started so well but in the second half we dropped the level and got punished for it."

Looking ahead to the derby match, the England international added: "It was already a big game and now it's still a big game...It's still in our control so we just need to focus on that, fix the issues we're having now and get back to winning ways."

H.Takahashi--JT