Arsenal vs Wolves preview, team news, expected XI and predicted score

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Arsenal kick-off the 2024/25 Premier League season at home as Wolves head to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Mikel Arteta’s men have pushed Manchester City close the past two years but failed to get over the line to win our first title in over 20 years. Last season, Arsenal finished just two points behind the Cityzens and ended the season on the same goal difference [+62] as the champions, so we’re certainly getting closer to ending their domination.

It’s been a relatively quiet summer in the transfer market so far. As expected, David Raya has made his loan move from Brentford permanent while defender Riccardo Calafiori has arrived from Bologna to further strengthen the best defence in the league. The big exit saw Emile Smith Rowe join Fulham in a £27m deal while Albert Sambi-Lokonga has joined Sevilla on loan.

Otherwise, there has been no other significant transfer business but Arsenal are expected to remain active in the market over the closing weeks with a central midfielder and forward on Arteta’s wish-list before the window closes at the end of the month.

Pre-season has largely been successful for Arsenal with three wins, one draw and one defeat from five matches. We kicked things off with a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth in late July in a game that saw Arteta field a youthful side with many of Arsenal’s key players still on holiday following their exploits with their countries this summer.

Arsenal then flew out to the US for their pre-season tour – still without several important players – and opened things up with a 2-1 win over Manchester United thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli. Our only defeat came at the hands of Liverpool as a Kai Havertz goal wasn’t enough with Mo Salah and Fabio Carvalho inflicting a 2-1 defeat on the Gunners.

We were back in North London to entertain Bayer Leverkusen and produced our best performance of pre-season with a hugely impressive 4-1 victory at the Emirates. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz were all on target to beat the Bundesliga champions in a game that saw the likes of Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice make their first appearances in pre-season.

Arsenal completed their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 2-0 win over Lyon in the Emirates Cup last weekend. William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes both scored from corners to secure a routine win and ensure we head into the new Premier League campaign off the back of a win. The real test starts on Saturday and it’s expected to be a packed house at the Emirates with Arsenal vs Wolves tickets in high demand as fans are excited ahead of the new season.

Wolves come to the capital looking to make a strong start to their season. Gary O’Neil guided Wolves to a 14th-placed finish last season and he’ll be aiming for the top half this time around. However, the Midlands club will be without two of their key players having lost both Max Kilman and Pedro Neto this summer. They are yet to sign a replacement for either, so understandably some Wolves fans are nervous ahead of the new season and a daunting opening weekend trip to Arsenal is probably the last thing they want.

Team news

Arsenal will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu for their Premier League opener after the defender picked up a knee injury in pre-season. The Japanese international will be out for a number of weeks which is a huge blow after an injury plagued campaign last year.

Jurrien Timber missed Arsenal’s final two pre-season games due to a minor ankle knock. He’s been back in training this week so should be in contention to feature on Saturday – although a place on the bench is probably the best he can hope for.

Kieran Tierney is back at Arsenal following the expiration of his loan at Real Sociedad. The full-back is nursing a thigh injury so isn’t likely to be in the squad against Wolves.

Otherwise, Arteta has no injury concerns to worry about. Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and William Saliba only had mini pre-season training after arriving back later than many of their team mates, but they are all expected to start this weekend.

As for Wolves, they have a number of injury concerns ahead of their opening game. Jorgen Larsen is nursing a groin injury while Matheus Cunha is ruled out with a thigh injury. Enso Medina is also expected to miss the trip to Arsenal with a knee injury while Leon Chiwone and Nelson Semedo are also on the sidelines.

Daniel Podence will face a late fitness test on a calf problem but Mario Lemina is likely to be passed fit following a thigh injury.

Predicted line-up

Arteta has a few big decisions to make but we should see a familiar line-up on Saturday. David Raya will obviously start in goal while Ben White, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are all certain to start in defence.

The one area of concern last season was left-back and while Calafiori may have been signed to solve that issue long-term, he’s not ready to start just yet. With Timber also not 100% fit, it looks like Oleksandr Zinchenko will start on the left side of defence on Saturday.

Thomas Partey is back to full fitness and impressed in pre-season so he should start in the holding role ahead of Jorginho. Declan Rice is certain to start while Martin Odegaard will captain Arsenal once again.

Bukayo Saka will line-up on the right wing and he’ll be looking to build on another superb season. Gabriel Jesus has looked sharp and hungry in pre-season after recovering from a niggling knee injury but he may have to settle for a place on the bench.

Kai Havertz is expected to lead the line up front as he looks to stack his claim to be Arsenal’s first choice striker this season. Gabriel Martinelli lost his place during the closing stages of last season and it will be interesting to see if Arteta opts to go with Leandro Trossard on Saturday. I have a feeling we’ll see Martinelli starting with Trossard on the bench.

Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

Predicted score

It’s never easy to predict games on the opening weekend of the season as some players aren’t fully up to speed yet and new signings aren’t fully integrated. However, Arsenal are the strong favourites to collect all three points on Saturday.

The Gunners have won their last six games against Wolves and will be confident of doing so again this weekend. Arsenal have looked solid in pre-season and I expect a relatively comfortable win in this match. Arsenal 2-0 Wolves

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