New Delhi: Arsenal conceded in the 94th minute to let go of a two goal lead and settle for a 2-2 draw against bottom-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, squangering a great opportunity to move clear in the English Premier League title race.
Arsenal moved to 58 points from 27 matches and went five ahead of second-placed Manchester City with a game in hand. Wolves have 1 from 27 games, and need one more point to level up with Derby County’s record low of 11.
Bukayo Saka put the Gunners ahead with his first strike in 16 matches before Piero Hincapie extended the lead on 55 minutes in what looked a rotuine vitiry for the league leaders.
But Wolves remained in the contest through Hugo Bueno’s wonderful curling strike, before Edozie’s shot rebounded off Calafiori and went into the net.
“Extremely disappointed obviously with the result and with the way the game ended but we have to blame ourselves,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said afterwards.
“The performance 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 moment after another moment. Even though we scored the second goal we never had dominance of the game, that’s the reality.”
The match was preponed by a month keeping in mind Arsenal’s League Cup final against Manchester City on March 21. Arsenal now have won only three of their last eight EPL games.
“Disappointed. Not much else to say. There was a big difference in how we played in the first half and the second half. We dropped our standards and we got punished for it,” Saka told BBC.
“Time to focus on ourselves, improve our standards and improve our performances and it is in our control.”
Edozie, 19, equalised in the dying moments with a low shot as the ball went in off Calafiori and the post.
“The ball dropped to me and I tried to keep it as low as possible and just (strike it) as hard as I can. They couldn’t stop it, so it was my goal,” Edozie said.