Teenager Tom Edozie scored a 94th-minute equalizer on debut as Arsenal took a two-goal lead at bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday that wasted a huge chance to advance in the Premier League title race.
Arsenal have 58 points from 27 matches, five points more than second-placed Manchester City, who have played a game more. Wolves have 10 points from 27 matches, still one point less than Derby County's record low of 11.
Bukayo Saka celebrated his new five-year contract by scoring his first goal in 16 games on a bitterly cold West Midlands night, before Piero Hincapie doubled the lead 10 minutes into the second half.
That should have been the case, but Wolves remained in the contest when Hugo Bueno netted with a superb curling strike, before Edozie fired a shot towards goal which bounced off Calafiori and the post and into the net.
“I'm obviously extremely disappointed with the result and the way the game ended but we have ourselves to blame,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters.
“Our performance in the second half was not even close to the standards required to win in this league.
“It was one moment after another moment after another moment. Even though we scored the second goal we never dominated the game, that's the reality.”
Arsenal have won only three of their last eight matches in the Premier League.
“Disappointed. There's nothing else to say,” Saka told the BBC. “There was a big difference in the way we played in the first half and the second half. We dropped our level and we were punished for it.”
“It is time to focus on ourselves, improve our standards and improve our performance and that is within our control.”
The game was moved up a month due to Arsenal's appearance in the League Cup Final on 21 March, when they would face Pep Guardiola's City.
It took just four minutes for the visitors to take the lead as Saka ended his longest spell without a goal for the club. Declan Rice's brilliant high pass into the six-yard box forced Saka to bend to head into the net from close range.
He scored his second goal in the 55th minute when Hincapie ran onto Gabriel's pass and lifted the ball past José Sá.
wolves fight back
Wolves found a way back into the contest when Bueno was allowed too much space on the edge of the box and he fired a shot into the top corner for his first Premier League goal.
And 19-year-old Edozie rifled in a low shot after David Raya's cross could not be taken and the ball hit Calafiori and the frame of the goal, a strike that was originally ruled an own goal.
Edozie said, “The ball fell to me and I tried to keep it as low as I could and hit it as hard as I could. They couldn't stop it, so that was my goal.”
Its level ends at Molyneux. pic.twitter.com/a4SJxOWxpr
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) 18 February 2026