Super Eagles striker Tolu Arokodare has admitted that Wolverhampton Wanderers’ dramatic 2–1 defeat to Arsenal was painful, stressing the need for the team to defend better and remain focused for the full 90 minutes.
Wolves turned the game on its head in the second half, with the Nigeria international heading home a superb equaliser in the 90th minute to cancel out Sam Johnstone’s own goal, which had earlier handed the Gunners the lead.
However, Wolves were unable to hold on to the equaliser as Bukayo Saka’s dangerous cross in the 94th minute was turned into Johnstone’s net by defender Yerson Mosquera.
Reacting to the defeat, Arokodare, who scored his first Premier League goal of the season after 11 appearances, described the loss as especially hurtful, given how well Wolves executed their game plan and defended for long spells.
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“It’s hurtful. It’s been happening to us all season,” a disappointed Arokodare said after the match. “We play very well for the whole 90 minutes, but in the last few minutes we concede.”
“It’s not the first time we’ve conceded late, so it’s something we have to work on—staying focused until the final whistle. We were very unlucky. It was a good goal from them, but I’d say there was also a bit of poor defending from us.”
Despite the result and the manner of the defeat, Arokodare believes there were positives to take from the performance.
“There are a lot of positives from the game. We played against the best team in the league-they’re top of the table,” he said.
“Their first goal came from a corner kick, which was very lucky. We came back into the game, then they scored a last-minute goal. Still, there are many positives, and we’ll take them into the next game and hopefully get a win.”
The striker also highlighted Wolves’ need to improve in front of goal.
“We need to score more goals. We haven’t scored much in the last few games,” he added. “We had a couple of chances in the second half. We have the quality, but we haven’t been lucky in attack or defence. Hopefully, in the coming games, we’ll start scoring and everything will change.”
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