Wolves manager Bruno Lage was left feeling aggrieved after his side were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal in a feisty Premier League encounter at Molineux on Thursday night
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Wolves v Arsenal: Match in pics
Wolves manager Bruno Lage hit out at “strange decisions” which he felt prevented his side from earning points against Arsenal on Thursday night.
The Gunners left Molineux with all three points after they held on with 10 men to claim a vital 1-0 win.
Victory moved Mikel Arteta’s side up to fifth in the Premier League, one point behind West Ham with two games in hand.
But it was far from a straightforward win, with Gabriel Martinelli’s red card in the 69th minute prompting an uncomfortable finale.
Martinelli was shown two yellow cards in quick succession by referee Michael Oliver after committing two fouls in one move following advantage.
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Arsenal were forced to dig deep to defend their lead, which came from Gabriel Magalhaes’ first-half tap-in from a corner after Alexandre Lacazette had clashed with Wolves keeper Jose Sa.
Wolves were denied an equaliser from a Granit Xhaka own goal when Raul Jimenez was judged to have interfered with play from an offside position, while Aaron Ramsdale kept out Romain Saiss’ shot and Rob Holding cleared off the line.
“I’m disappointed because I think we were the better team,” Lage said.
“First of all, the tempo we put in was very good. I think we managed the game well.
“We created chances but didn’t score. We suffered one more time from a set piece. When we got to the end, we didn’t score goals.
“I think we created a lot of chances, but when you look at the situations, especially our [disallowed] goal, no player got a touch on the ball, and he (Xhaka) put the ball in his goal.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Bruno Lage right to complain about the decisions? Comment below.
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“Now we move on, continue to work like we are working and play like we play.
“It’s nothing new, another good performance, but disappointing result. We conceded one more time from a set piece, in a strange situation.
“We take the best of what we did in the game and move onto the game against Tottenham.”
Wolves remain eighth in the table after their three-match winning streak in the Premier League was brought to an end.
Lage has established an excellent defence which has conceded just 17 goals – the best record apart from leaders Manchester City – but scoring goals remains a problem.
Wolves have scored just 19 times in 22 league matches this season, which is the third worst record ahead of relegation-threatened Burnley (17) and Norwich (14).
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“We did well, but we are struggling to score goals and conceding a lot on set-pieces,” said midfielder Ruben Neves.
“With their goal there is some doubt about whether it was a foul or not but that’s football. We are used to these decisions.
“I can accept the decision about their goal but in some games they give it and in some games they don’t. They need to do the same decisions in every game because it’s frustrating for us.”
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