Wolves Rub Salt in Arsenal’s Wounds With Brutal Social Media Taunt

The Gunners’ approach to their 2–2 draw at Molineux hasn’t gone down well.

Arsenal’s title charge suffered a huge blow. | MB Media/Getty Images

Wolverhampton Wanderers took to social media to tease Arsenal over the alleged time-wasting tactics which came back to bite them in Wednesday’s 2–2 draw.

The Gunners are no strangers to accusations over their use of the “dark arts” which, in this case, saw Mikel Arteta’s side attempt to wind down the clock before conceding a 94th-minute equaliser, after which there was not enough time left for a reply.

In an 80-second TikTok post captioned ‘Game Management’, Wolves offered up their own brutal highlights package looking at Arsenal’s approach to the late stages.

Pointing to Gabriel Martinelli’s “confident” choice to celebrate towards the crowd with a 2–1 gesture before a long delay taking a corner, Wolves poked fun at apparent “confusion” over who takes set pieces. “If only you could practice this before matchday,” the post added.

Both Gabriel and Leandro Trossard were accused of faking injuries—the Belgian actually went down twice from a head injury which allowed Arsenal to introduce Riccardo Calafiori as a substitute just seconds before the Italian defender converted Tom Edozie’s effort into the back of his own net.

Wolves had some fun at Arsenal’s expense. | TikTok/wolves

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Arsenal Haunted by Time-Wasting Allegations

The finger has been pointed at Mikel Arteta. | Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

Back in 2023, Arteta went on a public crusade against time-wasting in the Premier League, famously butting heads with Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe. Just a few years later and the shoe appears to be on the other foot.

Complaints over Arsenal’s management of minutes have regularly been aimed at Arteta this season, and the reasons for that were on show against Wolves, when a series of slow, sideways passes were mixed with blatant attempts to wind down the clock when the ball was out of play.

Indeed, per Opta, Arsenal have used a Premier League-high total of 117 minutes to restart games when taking corners, with their average delay of 44 seconds per corner also topping the charts in England’s top flight.

While even the harshest critic of Arsenal will admit that the art of time-wasting can be a necessary evil in certain circumstances, the attack on Arsenal centres around the fact Arteta’s league-leaders felt compelled to waste time against a Wolves side glued rock bottom of the table.

This was not an isolated incident, either. Back in November 2025 after a 3–0 win over Slavia Prague in the Champions League, captain Lukas Provod actually thanked the Gunners for the “compliment” of wasting time in such an imposing position.

“Arsenal prepare for set pieces for a long time, we knew that,” Provod argued. “When they were leading, they didn’t rush anywhere, the referee didn’t rush them. I guess that’s a compliment for us too.”

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Arsenal Seeking Response in North London Derby

Arsenal seek an immediate response. | Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

Whether Arsenal’s approach to the game was an instruction from Arteta may never be known, but the boss did acknowledge his squad lacked the composure needed to see out a victory over Wolves in midweek.

An inability to deal with pressure is an accusation which was recently laughed off by Bukayo Saka, but there can be no denying that the heat is rising for Arsenal, who do not have long to lick their wounds before turning their attention to one of the biggest games of every season, the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.

The Gunners head into Sunday’s game as immense favourites, taking on a Spurs side that just sacked manager Thomas Frank after falling within five points of the relegation zone, but that tag may be an unwelcome one for Arteta’s squad at this stage of the season.

Arsenal are looking to shake off a miserable reputation of poor form in the final few months of the season, but must now seek to do so with the spotlight on them as bright as it has ever been.

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