Arsenal should be braced for accusations they are “bottle jobs” in the wake of a disappointing 2-2 draw at Wolves.
The Gunners were two goals in front after strikes from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie, but Hugo Bueno pulled one back for the hosts before debutant Tom Edozie scored a last-gasp equaliser.
Arsenal are now five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, but Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand.
Speaking on Sky Sports, former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson said the mentality of Mikel Arteta’s side is going to come in for intense scrutiny in the season run-in.
“You can’t play in second gear. When it went 2-2, for the last three minutes there was an urgency, they didn’t have that [before Wolves’ equaliser]. You can’t play like that. Every game is a cup final until the end.
“You’ve got to play at a high tempo. If Arsenal play at a high tempo, Wolves can’t live with them. But to play the way they played, and it’s slow and lazy, and they are giving the ball away, then Wolves are always going to be in the game.
“That could come back to bite them. That is really, really disappointing tonight. It [criticism] is going come on full blast now – being ‘bottle jobs’, ‘melting’. It's full-on now.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was critical of his side’s performance.
“Extremely disappointed with the result and the way the game ended, but we have to blame ourselves,” he said. “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. Even though we scored the second goal, we never had control of the game — that’s the reality.”
Arsenal have now won only three of their last eight Premier League matches.
“Disappointed. Not much else to say,” Saka said. “There was a big difference between our first half and second half performances. We dropped our standards and were punished for it.
“It’s time to focus on ourselves, raise our standards and improve our performances. It’s in our control.”
Arteta said his team have to accept every criticism that comes their way and need to bounce back against Tottenham on Sunday.
He added: “That’s credit obviously to Wolves, they can’t be underestimated. It’s very basic things and simple things that today we did really wrong and that’s why we had the feeling without conceding much, when the game is open that kind of thing can happen.
“Any question, criticism, opinion, you have to take it on the chin today. That’s it. Any bullet, take it because we didn’t perform at the level required, Anything anybody says can be right because we didn’t do what we had to do. The way to do it is on the pitch on Sunday in another great opportunity we have.
“We have always done it but if you are strong you need to show it next time. To say it here is simple but we have to show it on the pitch.”
Wolves boss Rob Edwards saw his side pick up a second successive draw and was proud of the belief his side showed to gain an unlikely point.
“It’s nice to get a late equaliser and especially when you’re 2-0 down against a team like that. We’re up against Arsenal, everyone needs to have a bit of perspective. In the first 20-30 mins it was everything we expected the game to be like.
“We stayed in the game and that was important. We showed belief and played with a bit more emotion. To show that character and quality and all of that. It might be easier for the lads to lose belief but that’s not the case.”