ARSENAL fans have plenty of reasons to feel festive as they open their advent calendars with the Gunners sitting top of both the Premier League and their Champions League group heading into this clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Mikel Arteta's men made the most of title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool drawing last Saturday as they ground out a 1-0 win at Brentford to return to the summit in England's top flight.
A good week then got even better on Wednesday night as they crushed Lens 6-0 at the Emirates, with a bet landing for our man Mark as Arsenal secured both a place in the last 16 and a seeding for that draw.
Heavy investment in the summer looks to have given Arteta a better squad as the Gunners bid to last the pace in this season's title race, having stumbled heading down the home straight last term.
But Arsenal will be a challenged by a hungry Wolves side as Gary O'Neil's men look to claim another notable scalp, having already given Manchester City a bloody nose at Molineux.
Wolverhampton Wanderers sit comfortably in mid-table, 10 points clear of the drop zone, and plenty of fans would have taken that at this stage of the campaign after a summer of upheaval that saw Julen Lopetegui head for the hills.
But if it hadn't been for a series of dodgy VAR calls, the Molineux men would be even higher up the table, with O'Neil left exasperated by the last-gasp penalty that condemned his side to a 3-2 loss at Fulham last time out.
How the bookies view it
Arsenal are unbeaten at home this season and have won their last five at the Emirates so it's no surprise to see them as odds-on favourites, although they look way too short at a best 8/25 with BetMGM.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have done well against the bigger teams this season so a few punters might fancy a nibble at 11/1 with Coral while the draw pays 5/1 at Matchbook.
Recent head to head
Arsenal have beaten Wolves in their last four meetings, including a 5-0 hammering at the Emirates last season. But the Molineux side had a decent record in this fixture before that poor run, losing just once in six outings against the Gunners.
Players to watch
Bukayo Saka remains Arsenal's brightest spark and got a little breather on Wednesday, sitting out the last half hour after scoring against Lens. The England winger is 9/5 at Paddy Power for another goal while McBookie have him at the same price for an assist.
Hee-Chan Hwang is leading the line well for Wolverhampton Wanderers and the South Korean is now on double figures this season for club and country. He seems to be on the penalties now as well and is 13/2 at Bet365 for anytime scorer.
Anything else catch the eye?
Both myself and Mark cashed in by backing an Arsenal win to nil in midweek but Wolves should cause the Gunners more problems than that limited Lens side. O'Neil's men have scored in every game since drawing a blank at Old Trafford on day one and they should have got a late penalty in that match as well. So BTTS looks good value at 11/10 with Bet365 while over 3.5 goals also catches the eye at 13/8 with the same firm.
Wolves will be missing a bit of dig in midfield with both Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes serving suspensions. That makes me think backing under 4.5 cards could be a wise move at evens with Bet365. Tommy Doyle will probably deputise and he's 7/4 at SkyBet to make over 2.5 tackles.
Matheus Cunha always looks lively in attack for Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Brazilian is a tempting 23/20 with Unibet just to have a shot on target at the Emirates.
This English Premier League match between Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers will be played on Dec 2, 2023 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
