Barely 48 hours after a comprehensive Boxing Day thrashing of Norwich City, Arsenal return to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday lunchtime for the visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
While the hosts put five unanswered goals past the Canaries at the weekend, Bruno Lage's side did not take to the field on Boxing Day due to coronavirus cases in the Watford camp.
Match preview
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With no recognised right-back available and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang still on the naughty step, few would have expected Arsenal to prevail in the manner that they did at Carrow Road, but the young guns stole the show.
Bukayo Saka netted twice while Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe and Alexandre Lacazette also got in on the act in a 5-0 romping of Dean Smith's side, with Mikel Arteta a very happy man in the dugout as his side ran riot on Boxing Day.
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Victory at Carrow Road marked the Gunners' fifth in a row across all competitions and fourth on the bounce in the Premier League, and the absence of Aubameyang clearly is not being felt, with Arsenal notching up a staggering 19 goals in that five-game winning run.
With less than 48 hours to recover for the visit of Wolves, enforced changes and jellied legs will threaten to end that hot streak, but the hosts' five-game winning run at home in the Premier League - with four clean sheets in their last four - will aid them once again in their top-four chase.
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Watford's coronavirus crisis allowed Wolves to spend the Boxing Day festivities away from competitive action, with Bruno Lage's men enjoying the rare luxury of a nine-day rest before they face a second successive London derby in the Premier League.
The West Midlands outfit performed valiantly to hold European champions Chelsea to a goalless stalemate at Molineux on December 19 - their second clean sheet on the bounce following their previous win at Brighton & Hove Albion a few days beforehand.
Wolves have not exactly become renowned for exciting, goal-laden affairs in recent weeks, but the defensive discipline that Lage has instilled into his side is remarkable, with only two goals conceded in their last seven Premier League encounters.
Even then, Manchester City and Liverpool could only claim 1-0 wins over Wolves, who remain in European contention as they sit X in the table following the Boxing Day games ???
The 1-0 win at the Amex on December 15 represents Wolves' only win and only goal from their last four games away from home, although they did claim a pair of 2-1 wins over Arsenal last term, with the victory at the Emirates marred by that sickening head injury Raul Jimenez suffered in a collision with David Luiz.
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Team News
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Arsenal revealed before the win over Norwich that Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Cedric Soares and Takehiro Tomiyasu - the latter of whom is also nursing an injury - had all tested positive for COVID-19.
Calum Chambers was already ruled out for the same reason as Ben White stepped in at right-back, while another full-back in Sead Kolasinac remains in the treatment room.
Arteta will undoubtedly be forced into numerous changes for Tuesday's contest, with Nicolas Pepe, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah potentially coming into contention for places.
Aubameyang was once again left out of the squad for the trip to Carrow Road, but tired legs may very well force Arteta to reinstate his former captain in North London.
Wolves have not been totally unaffected by the surge in coronavirus cases, with Fabio Silva and Yerson Mosquera - who is injured anyway - missing the Chelsea draw after returning positive tests.
The former may be able to return here with a negative test, but Willy Boly, Pedro Neto and Jonny are long-term absentees, while uncertainty lingers over Hwang Ui-jo and Rayan Ait-Nouri's availability.
Nevertheless, Lage should be reluctant to make too many changes from the side which impressively kept a clean sheet against Chelsea, which could mean another start on the right for Ki-Jana Hoever in place of Nelson Semedo.
The visitors are also in talks with Morocco over the possibility of keeping Romain Saiss beyond the December 27 deadline to join up for the Africa Cup of Nations, and his availability remains unclear at the time of writing.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; White, Holding, Mari, Tavares; Elneny, Lokonga; Pepe, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang; Nketiah
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Coady, Saiss; Hoever, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Marcal; Jimenez, Podence
We say: Arsenal X-Y Wolverhampton Wanderers
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Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Arsenal win with a probability of 61.14%. A draw had a probability of 23.3% and a win for Wolverhampton Wanderers had a probability of 15.55%.
The most likely scoreline for an Arsenal win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.71%) and 2-1 (9.34%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.82%), while for a Wolverhampton Wanderers win it was 0-1 (6.27%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Arsenal in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Arsenal.
