Wolves became the first team sitting bottom of the Premier League to fight back from two goals down to secure a point against the league leaders in history, after stunning Arsenal at Molineux on Wednesday evening.
Although Bukayo Saka opened the scoring inside five minutes, Rob Edwards’ side battled well throughout the rest of the contest, and despite conceding a second during a spell when Wolves were on top, the Old Gold secured a deserved point when Hugo Bueno curled an incredible finish into the top corner before debutant Tom Edozie smashed home the equaliser in added time.
After the final whistle, former Wolves full-backs Andy Thompson and Lee Naylor discussed the fighting spirit the team showed in difficult conditions at Molineux, overcoming the odds to dent the Gunners’ title hopes, and if Edwards should show more trust in the under-21 players at his disposal after Edozie’s equaliser.
Fighting back for a point
Thompson: ““It was great. In the second half, they got that belief in the game, they got that belief that they could do something. I know it took a great goal by Bueno to get themselves back into it, and they’ll be disappointed after conceding the second goal, and I think they’d have been disappointed after conceding the first goal, but to concede that second, you thought that game was done – but no.
“They showed that character coming back into it, fighting for everything, and that great quality from Bueno, curled it beyond Raya, puts them 2-1 behind, and then at the end, who could have wrote it, to get that equaliser. But I just thought they never gave up, they kept going, they kept fighting for things, and you make your own luck when you work hard like that, and they got their rewards for it.”
Naylor: “It was brilliant and a great end to a football match. But I felt you could sense it. Even from the sidelines you could sense that Arsenal were there. If you could create chances, if you went after them, I believed they were there for the taking. If you look at our two goals against, that’s easy things to fix, that’s staying with your runners, that’s all it is, just stay with your runners. Whereas we’ve created. Hugo Bueno whipping one in top bins and then we create something at the end out of putting something into the box.”
Arsenal’s time wasting
Thompson: “They were wasting time on purpose, weren’t they? You got the pretence about two of them arguing over who was taking a corner and wasting a few minutes of time, and we all knew the reason they were doing it was because they were going to play a short corner, the Trossard one as well, but they got over that. Sometimes you don’t get the reward, but they did. They went on and scored two good quality goals by putting pressure on Arsenal and I thought they did brilliantly to get back into the game and it was a good result in the end for us.”
Overcoming the odds
Thompson: “I was listening to every pundit over the last week or so when they were talking about us playing Arsenal tonight, and they were going, ‘How many is it going to be?’, ‘It’s going to be an easy win for Arsenal’, ‘I can’t see anything other than a win for Arsenal’, but it just shows that fight and desire, if you can go up against the top team in the division this year, then you can get something out of it, and they’ve done exactly that.
“They’ve got their reward by battling, by fighting for things, and having the quality to get those two goals. People were writing us off before the game, and we know we haven’t had a great season, we know that, and we’re down at the bottom for a reason, but we showed some spirit in the last three or four months when we’ve started to fight back. It might be too late, but it’s great to see the desire and fight. We talk about momentum and we want to take that into next season – whatever league we’re in.”
Naylor: “We’ve come away from two Arsenal games believing we should have had more. We played really well away at Arsenal too, and not many teams can say that. Tonight, I’m so proud of them. I feel proud of the team, the graft they’ve put into tonight’s game and the result is top. I’m sure Rob will be really happy with it. But on the back of that, when we have got into those positions, a lot more crosses could have been put into the box, a lot more chances could have been created, and that’s against Arsenal.
“We’ve had opportunities to put the ball into the box, but it’s been the wrong decision, or selecting the wrong type of cross they’ve been delivering. Yet, we’re talking about this against an Arsenal team who are top of the league and we’re talking as if we should have created a lot more chances than we did. But we’ve gone and taken a point from a losing position against the league leaders and that’s not easy to do, so fair play to the boys because they’ve put an absolute shift in and they’ve got their rewards.”
A memorable night at Molineux ✨ pic.twitter.com/ehyqedbo4k
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 19, 2026
Handbags after the final whistle
Naylor: “As soon as Jesus came onto the pitch, you could tell they were having a bit of a tussle and that spilled over to full time. I don’t know whether Mosquera had done anything, or said something to him, and they’ve had a little spat. But I loved that everyone was in there. I loved that the whole team was in there, backing Mosquera up, and that’s the spirit which Rob has created.”
Trusting in the youth
Naylor: ““It’s one of those where he’s made a substitution and it’s worked. I don’t think we get too excited by that, but the kids come on and took his chance. It’s one of them where he’s had an opportunity to get on the bench, but then make an impact when he’s come on the pitch, which is great. Are they ready? You don’t know. He’s gone and scored the goal tonight, but I’ve watched a lot of under-21 games and there’s not too many who stand out, but when they’ve stepped up to the first-team, it’s been brilliant.”
Thompson and Naylor were talking to Matt Ponter on Wolves’ official post-match podcast, Matchday Live Extra, which is available to listen to now on all podcast providers.
