Mikel Arteta shares his reason for apparent gesture to Wolves bench after Arsenal’s winner last night

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It’s safe to say things have got a tad feisty between Wolves and Arsenal in recent weeks, and there was a spice to last night’s fixture at The Emirates.

Of course, Arsenal had the last laugh again. Late goals from Nicolas Pepe and a deflected Alex Lacazette effort ensured the Gunners came away with all three points when a defeat had seemed likely at one point. Wolves, for their part, had wound up the Arsenal team, coaching staff, and fans with some serious attempts at time wasting.

The most blatant was when Bruno Lage tinkered with a substitution involving Raul Jimenez and Daniel Podence which seemed to incense the Emirates crowd. But in the end, it only served to drive the Gunners on to the win.

And for those eagle-eyed viewers looking at the second goal, some might have noticed that Mikel Arteta was quick to gesture to the Wolves bench about their tactics. Arteta, as spotted on Amazon Prime footage, was seen pointing to his watch in the direction of the Wolves coaching staff. Whether or not this was a nod to their own antics, or he simply wanted the game to end, is open for debate.

The Gunners boss did try to clarify, commenting that he ‘missed his watch’ and ‘didn’t know how long was left’.

But Arteta was certainly animated in his celebrations and the more you look at it, the more it looks like the Spaniard was making a point to Lage and co.

TBR’s View: Arsenal Got What They Deserved

Wolves were a bit daft here really. Their time wasting resulted in the time being added on in which Arsenal got the winner. A weird sense of karma for some, but a lesson for Wolves to learn, surely?

For Arsenal, they did deserve this in the end. They played some good stuff, worked hard, and competed in frustrating conditions at times. Mikel Arteta clearly loved it, and his actions showed just how much it meant to him.

In terms of Arteta and that watch gesture. We’ll have to take his word for it. Although there was a glint in his eye that suggests otherwise.