Prmeier League: Wolverhampton vs Arsenal preview

Wolves and Arsenal fight for their European future when the two teams clash at Molineux Stadium in the Premier League on Wednesday. The reverse fixture ended 1-1, Ivan Cavaleiro opened the scoring for Wolves at the Emirates Stadium after just 13 minutes and then Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the equalizer in the 86th minute. That was the first match between these two teams after six years, since Wolverhampton got relegated to the Championship in 2012. Overall, Arsenal have won four of the last six direct meetings, and they have not lost a match against Wolves since 1979. Wolverhampton are in the heat of the battle for seventh place, a position that could send them to the UEFA Europa League preliminary rounds next season. They could have gotten there through the FA Cup, but they lost 3-2 after extra time against Watford in the semi-finals. After that match things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse in the Premier League as well, Wolves lost 3-1 at Southampton and then last week got held to a goalless draw at home by Brighton. Nevertheless, a win against Arsenal in this match would rise them above both Everton and Leicester in the battle for that seventh position in the Premier League table. Arsenal are in a battle of their own, but their aim is qualification to the UEFA Champions League. They could get there through the Europa League as they have just qualified for the semi-finals last week, but finishing in the top four in the Premier League might be a more realistic target. However, the Gunners suffered a surprising 3-2 defeat at home against Crystal Palace at the weekend, and that result dropped them to fifth place, one point behind fourth-placed Chelsea but with a game in hand. Sokratis Papasthatopoulos is available again after having served his two-game ban, and Granit Xhaka could return from injury after having missed last weekend's match. Hector Bellerin, Danny Welbeck and Rob Holding remain sidelined for the rest of the season. Probable line-ups: Wolves: Patricio - Bennett, Coady, Boly - Doherty, Gibbs-White, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny - Jimenez, Jota Arsenal: Leno - Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal - Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Guendouzi, Kolasinac - Mkhitaryan, Iwobi - Aubameyang My prediction: 1-1 draw, Wolves will fight for a point in this match and Arsenal are not strong enough to deny them. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Wolves win - 2.90 Draw - 3.50 Arsenal win - 2.55