Ten-man Arsenal held on for a vital 1-0 win at Wolves that takes them fifth thanks to Gabriel’s first-half goal
Gabriel Martinelli's red card midway through the second half sparked heavy pressure from the home side but Mikel Arteta's team held on for the three points
The goal itself was a scrappy one as Gabriel nudged it over the line from close range after Alexandre Lacazette tangled with Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa
Bruno Lage's side struggle to create but were given fresh hope when Martinelli was sent off in strange circumstances - booked twice in the same passage of play
Wolves thought they had the equaliser immediately when Granit Xhaka put the ball through his own net but Raul Jimenez had interfered with play from an offside position
Scoring goals has been a problem for Wolves all season and could well see them drift out of this race for the European places - a race Arsenal now look well placed to win
West Ham remain the team to catch but the Gunners are now just one point behind their London rivals with two games in hand
Defensively, Arsenal withstood everything that Wolves threw at them
It is five clean sheets in seven Premier League matches for Arteta and his players, and with Ben White restored alongside Gabriel that partnership looks particularly strong
They headed away cross after cross in the second half with man-of-the-match Gabriel not afraid to indulge in the dark arts either - time-wasting when it was required to get his team over the line
Arsenal fans will welcome that bit of nous
 It might just take them back to the Champions League
Only Norwich and Burnley have scored fewer goals than Wolves this season and even those two have caught them up this week
 It is holding them back
Lage tried to force things, taking off Conor Coady for Fabio Silva late on
 Wolves had all the territory in the final quarter of the game once Arsenal were down to 10 men
But they could not find the breakthrough despite putting in 35 crosses from open play
 It was not even that the quality was lacking, the issue is that they cannot put it away
Ruben Neves whipped in one inviting ball that would have required only the slightest of touches
 Daniel Podence was putting the ball in with pace too
 It was not enough
Leander Dendoncker is accomplished at getting his head to the ball but lacks the technique to get enough power on it
 Jimenez has not scored a header since his return
 It cost them here
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was proud of Thursday's performance, especially after the sending off, but has warned his team that they must stop going a man down if they want to finish in the top four
He told "It is tough enough to play against Wolves here away from home, and we made it even tougher playing again with 10 men
 The result is really positive, we needed to win, but we suffered in the final 20 minutes
"The character, how we dig in, the spirit that we showed, how they defended so many difficult situations for such a long time, I am really proud of the boys
 When I talk about the unity and the togetherness in the group, this is when it comes and they showed it on the pitch
"We need to play with 11 players in the final 16 games - that is going to be key to give us the best possible chance for us to win football matches
 To win games in the Premier League is hard enough, with 10 men it is very unlikely
"Wolves boss Bruno Lage was unhappy with the decisions to allow Arsenal's opener and disallow a potential Wolves equaliser after Raul Jimenez was judged to have interfered with play from an offside position when Granit Xhaka put through his own net
"I think we were the better team, the tempo we put in the game was very good," Lage told "At the end we didn't score, but I think we scored [the disallowed goal]
"I think it was two strange decisions, both goals
 It does not justify everything, because I think we created a lot of chances to score
"But the situations it was very strange, especially our goal
 We must move one and keep working as we are working
"Tottenham host Wolves on Sunday at 2pm while Arsenal are next in action on Saturday February 19 at home to Brentford; kick-off 3pm
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