A daunting opening-weekend assignment awaits Gary O'Neil's Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon, as the Molineux outfit head to the Emirates to tackle Arsenal.
For the Gunners, the 2024-25 season represents their third attempt to knock Manchester City off of their title perch, having been condemned to painful second-placed finishes in the last two campaigns.
Meanwhile, Wolves achieved an unspectacular fourth-placed ranking in the 2023-24 season, and history does not favour the West Midlands outfit one bit heading into this weekend's top-flight opener.
Here, Sports Mole picks out a selection of the best stats ahead of Arsenal's showdown with Wolves.
ARSENAL
The Gunners have won their last two opening-weekend fixtures, beating Crystal Palace in 2022 and Nottingham Forest in 2023 after a shock loss to newly-promoted Brentford in 2021.Arsenal last prevailed in three straight opening-weekend fixtures between 2007 and 2009, a streak that was broken in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool in August 2010.Arsenal won 28 games and scored 91 goals in the 2023-24 season, two new club records for a single Premier League campaign.The North London giants are four goals away from reaching the 200 mark in opening-weekend league matches, having struck 196 while conceding 169 in previous contests.Arsenal have 16 wins to show from 18 Premier League games in 2024; their 89% win rate is an all-time club high in a single calendar year.Not since the 2013-14 season has Arsenal's opening game come at 3pm on a Saturday. They lost 3-1 to Aston Villa that day.Defender William Saliba has won 49 of his first 65 Premier League games and could now reach 50 victories in record time for Arsenal. The current quickest player to hit 50 Premier League wins for the Gunners is Nacho Monreal, who hit that mark in 70 matches.Saliba was just one of two outfield players to play every minute of the 2023-24 Premier League season, alongside ex-Wolves defender Max Kilman.Arsenal are on a six-game winning streak in the Premier League, a run that coincidentally began with a 2-0 success over Wolves on April 20.Arteta's side have suffered just one defeat in their last 18 top-flight fixtures, going down 2-0 to Aston Villa at home on April 14.
WOLVES
Wolves have suffered defeat in each of their last three opening-weekend Premier League games and could lose four on the spin for the first time in their history this weekend.The visitors will play their first match of a season away from home for the sixth straight year. Their last opening-weekend fixture at Molineux came back in 2018, when they drew 2-2 with Everton after achieving promotion the year before.The West Midlands side lost each of their last three Premier League games in 2023-24; not since May-August 2021 - a run of six - have they endured a worse streak of top-flight defeats.O'Neil's side are on a six-game winless run away from home in the Premier League, but each of their last three victories on the road has come against London clubs in Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Brentford. They could now win four straight games in the English capital for the first time ever.Out of all the teams in the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and Bundesliga last season, Wolves were the only side not to score from outside the box.Matheus Cunha scored nine goals on the road in the 2023-24 Premier League, the third-highest in the division behind Erling Haaland (12) and Ollie Watkins (10).
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Arsenal are on a six-game winning streak against Wolves and could beat their visitors seven times in a row in the Premier League for the first time.The Gunners have netted in each of their last 33 games against Wolves in all tournaments, their best-ever goalscoring run against a single opponent and Wolves' worst-ever streak without a clean sheet against a particular team.Wolves have not kept a clean sheet against Arsenal since February 1979, when they won a First Division game 1-0 at Highbury.However, Wolves did the double over Arsenal in the 2020-21 Premier League season under Nuno Espirito Santo, winning 2-1 at the Emirates and Molineux.That narrow victory in North London represents Wolves' only success in their last 13 trips to Arsenal's turf.Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has scored more goals against Wolves than any other side (four), although only one of those efforts has come at the Emirates.
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