Arsenal recovered from a horror week by returning to the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Wolves.

The Gunners’ endured potentially season-defining back-to-back defeats as they lost to Aston Villa in the league last Sunday before being knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

But they returned to the summit of the Premier League thanks to goals from Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard at Molineux, moving a point above Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

Pep Guardiola’s side were in FA Cup semi-final action on Saturday and, with the Gunners facing Chelsea on Tuesday, they could be four points clear of City by the time the reigning champions next play against Brighton on Thursday.

That would be a big swing in momentum after what was diagnosed as a seemingly terminal defeat against Villa last week, with Liverpool, who also play twice before City are in action again, currently three points behind.

Mikel Arteta’s men were good value for their Saturday night win, even if Trossard’s opener had an air of good fortune about it and then having to wait until injury time to kill the game.

Wolves are crippled by injuries, including most of their key attacking players, but competed well and a shock result might have been possible had Joao Gomes’ first-half shot gone in instead of hitting the post.

Gary O’Neil’s men are now six games without a win in all competitions, but with home fixtures coming up against Bournemouth and Luton they will still be eyeing a top-half finish.

Arsenal did not have long to stew on that midweek defeat in Germany and were soon on top at Molineux.

Trossard was involved from the off, causing trouble down the left and his cross was tamely headed straight to Jose Sa by Bukayo Saka before the Belgian teed up Declan Rice who whistled a low shot just off target.

Trossard was then on the end of the supply line when he was found by Ben White, but he missed his kick in the middle of the penalty area.

For all Arsenal’s domination, it was Wolves who came closest to opening the scoring on the half-hour.

Gomes got the better of Jakub Kiwior down the right, advanced into the area and thundered in a shot which David Raya did well to divert onto the post.

Arsenal survived that scare and took the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Matt Doherty was weak in the challenge with Gabriel Jesus and the Brazilian set it back for Trossard, whose sliced effort went in off the post for his side’s first goal in two and a half games.

Arsenal were able to manage the contest effectively in the second half.

Wolves were so short of attacking options that midfielder Mario Lemina came on as a striker and the hosts upped the ante in the final 15 minutes.

But unsurprisingly, they were unable to create anything clear-cut as they probed for a leveller.

And Arsenal, who have not conceded in a Premier League away game since January, killed the game deep into injury time when Odegaard converted from an acute angle at the second attempt to take the three points and top spot.

What the papers say

Arsenal’s pursuit of a striker has received some encouragement from a potential target. Newcastle’s Sweden forward Alexander Isak, 24, admitted “things can happen” during the summer according to the Daily Mail.

The Gunners have been tracking another Sweden forward but the Sun reports scouting trips to see Viktor Gyokeres, 25, at Sporting have seen the Lisbon club’s Ivory Coast centre-back Ousmane Diomande, 20, catch their eye.

Wolves are in pole position to sign Southampton’s Scotland striker Che Adams according to The Daily Telegraph. The 27-year-old becomes a free agent in the summer.

Brighton are looking at Nigerian winger Philip Otele at Romanian club Cluj, reports the Evening Standard.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Erling Haaland: Barcelona are keen on the Manchester City striker in 2025 according to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, which says the 23-year-old’s agent met with the La Liga club last month.

Joao Gomes: The Wolves midfielder, 23, has been identified by Manchester United as a replacement for fellow Brazilian Casemiro, 32, reports Spanish outlet Sport.

Ange Postecoglou warned no magic wand will get Tottenham’s top-four tilt back on track after they suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Wolves.

Spurs had returned to fourth position with a last-gasp victory over Brighton last weekend but were leapfrogged on Saturday by Aston Villa, who won at Fulham.

Joao Gomes headed Wolves into a deserved lead after 42 minutes and, while Dejan Kulusevski levelled 34 seconds after the restart for Tottenham, Gomes grabbed his second after an excellent solo run by Pedro Neto with 63 minutes on the clock.

It consigned the hosts to a frustrating defeat and they have now failed to score in the first half of their last five home matches.

“We will work hard, we’ve got two weeks to prepare for our next game (against Crystal Palace) and there’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves,” Postecoglou insisted.

“You take the blows and you’ve got to move on irrespective of what’s happened in the past. You’ve got to make sure you’re ready for the next game.

“There’s no tricks, it’s hard work. I’m not a magician, I’m a football manager. It’s hard work which these guys have done all year.

“Like I said, we’ve got to this point which is pretty decent on the back of some hard work and that’s what we’ll keep doing.”

Spurs were without first-choice full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie and struggled to break Wolves down in the opening 45 minutes with home goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario making fine saves to deny Nelson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia either side of Gomes heading in a corner by Sarabia.

Tottenham came out firing after the break, like they had done in recent wins over Brentford and Brighton, with Kulusevski equalising after he dribbled past Craig Dawson and poked under Jose Sa.

Postecoglou’s team were beginning to build a head of steam but Wolves remained a threat on the break and, after Vicario denied Sarabia in the 56th minute, the visitors’ second arrived six minutes later.

Yves Bissouma lost possession after a Spurs corner and Neto carried the ball half the length of the pitch before he cut back and teed up Gomes, who slammed home for his second of the afternoon.

A raft of attacking players were thrown on by Postecoglou, but Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Toti and Neto all squandered promising positions for Wolves before Ben Davies headed wide deep into stoppage-time for Tottenham to ensure Gary O’Neil’s side completed the double over the north London outfit.

Neto’s moment of individual brilliance was his ninth assist of the campaign but his manager issued a hands off to potential suitors after they moved on to 35 points for the season.

O’Neil said: “I still want to push him and get him as close to perfect as a wide player as we can.

“Yeah, I’ve been asked a few times this week about the summer already and I’m not interested in discussing Pedro Neto leaving the football club.

“He is a fantastic player that we spent a lot of money on, that we work very hard on and as far as I’m concerned, we don’t want to lose our best players.

“We have a long way to go yet this season and then hopefully he stays with us and we can keep pushing towards the top half of the table.”

Tottenham’s top-four hopes suffered a blow after a Joao Gomes brace fired Wolves to a deserved 2-1 away win in north London.

Spurs had claimed back fourth spot from Aston Villa with a last-gasp victory over Brighton last weekend but struggled to break down Gary O’Neil’s side.

Gomes headed Wolves ahead in the 42nd minute and, while Dejan Kulusevski levelled for Tottenham straight after half-time, Pedro Neto’s wonderful solo run settled the contest.

Neto raced half the length of the pitch before he teed up Gomes to side-foot home with 63 minutes played to earn the visitors to a fourth win from their last five matches.

There was a big contingent of South Korea fans inside the stadium with two of the nations’ best going head-to-head and Hwang Hee-chan should have scored in the fifth minute.

Wolves worked the ball out wide to Nelson Semedo, who was denied by Guglielmo Vicario and Hwang inexplicably sliced over the rebound from close range.

Spurs threatened for the first time soon after when Ben Davies fired over on the turn before the visitors created another promising opportunity but Rayan Ait-Nouri curled straight at Vicario.

The stop-start nature to the contest continued although Tottenham enjoyed a rare foray into the away penalty area with 36 minutes played only for Kulusevski to side foot well wide from James Maddison’s pass.

Wolves had frustrated the hosts’ well, while also proving a threat and made their dominance count with 42 minutes on the clock.

From Wolves’ second corner of the match Pablo Sarabia picked out Gomes, who headed into the top corner after being given too much space.

It was a deserved breakthrough but sparked a frantic finish to the half with Vicario pushing wide a curler by Sarabia, who was offside before the same player flashed an effort off target.

Ange Postecoglou’s team did test Jose Sa through Emerson Royal but it stayed 1-0 at the break.

It meant Tottenham had failed to score in the first half of five consecutive home matches, although they quickly hit their straps after half-time.

The equaliser arrived 34 seconds into the second half and it was all about Kulusevski.

Richarlison knocked the ball into the path of the Sweden international, who dribbled past Craig Dawson close to the byline before he poked under Sa for a superb sixth goal of the season.

Spurs were pushing for a second but Wolves remained dangerous, especially on the break and Vicario impressively denied Sarabia after Semedo’s cross.

Back came Tottenham with Kulusevski’s low effort excellently tipped wide by Sa before Semedo blocked another shot from the Swedish forward in the 63rd minute.

It earned the hosts another corner but they were hit with a sucker-punch after a moment of individual brilliance by Neto.

Yves Bissouma lost possession on the edge of Wolves’ penalty area and Neto carried the ball half the length of the pitch before he cut inside Emerson and teed up Gomes, who slammed home for his second of the afternoon.

Tottenham attempted to respond straight away and Maddison curled over before Postecoglou turned to his bench with Rodrigo Bentancur, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner sent on.

Chances remained at a premium until Kulusevski picked out the unmarked Davies deep into stoppage-time but the Welsh defender headed well wide to ensure Wolves completed the double over Spurs.

A rocket from Tommy Doyle kept Wolves in the FA Cup despite playing with 10 men for 81 minutes at Brentford.

Wanderers lost Joao Gomes to an early red card and were trailing to Neal Maupay’s first-half goal when Doyle struck from 20 yards to secure a 1-1 draw and a replay.

In a niggly encounter, Gomes was given his marching orders for chopping down Bees captain Christian Norgaard.

But Wolves could easily point to a similar challenge from Mikkel Damsgaard on Doyle which went unpunished.

Brentford were looking for a measure of revenge for the 4-1 defeat they were dealt by the same opposition in the Premier League nine days earlier.

They suffered a collective defensive meltdown in that loss and the nerves were hardly settled when goalkeeper David Strakosha, making only his third appearance of the season, passed the ball straight to Wolves forward Matheus Cunha.

The Brazilian managed to round Strakosha but ran into defender Mathias Jorgensen, who cleared the ball over his own crossbar.

Moments later Wolves found themselves a player light after Gomes caught Norgaard on the heel with his studs and was shown a straight red card by referee Tony Harrington.

It was a further injury blow for already-depleted Brentford with Denmark midfielder Norgaard unable to continue.

Former Wolves defender Nathan Collins, who was directly culpable for two of his old side’s goals in last week’s horror show, almost made amends at the right end of the pitch with a shot which curled narrowly over.

Then Bees midfielder Josh Dasilva, making his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in August, tested Wanderers keeper Jose Sa with a low, skidding drive before the hosts went ahead five minutes before half-time.

After Wolves failed to clear a Mathias Jensen free-kick, the ball ricocheted to the feet of Maupay who rifled it home from eight yards for his third goal of the season.

After the break Damsgaard’s shot was well blocked by Sa and Dasilva hit the side-netting before, almost out of nowhere, Wolves equalised.

A short corner was worked by Pedro Neto to Doyle on the edge of the area, with the England Under-21 midfielder taking a touch before lashing the ball left-footed into the top corner.

It was Doyle’s first goal for Wolves and he had a taste for more, only this time he cracked another drive straight into the face of Jensen, who had to go off after a concussion check.

Brentford could have won it late on but substitute Myles Peart-Harris side-footed wide and Sa saved Keane Lewis-Potter’s header from point-blank range.

A melee at the end of the match suggested these two teams are pretty sick of the sight of each other, which could at least make for a spicy replay in just over a week.

Gary O’Neil asked “what is the point in VAR?” after his Wolves side conceded a controversial late penalty during a 3-2 defeat at Craven Cottage.

VAR sent referee Michael Salisbury to the screen to award a penalty after Joao Gomes brought Harry Wilson down in the box, Willian scoring his second spot kick of the game to seal all three points for Fulham.

O’Neil highlighted the decisions involving the late penalty, Carlos Vinicius’ alleged headbutt on Max Kilman and why Tim Ream did not receive a second yellow for a foul on Hwan Hee-Chang.

The Wolves boss criticised the decisions during the game and believes VAR has not helped the referee.

O’Neil said: “I don’t think it’s helped the game,

“I think the ref would have done a better job on his own. I don’t think VAR helped him but in fact it hindered him.

“Sending him to the screen for one and not to the other, not advising him there is a headbutt or that Tim Ream should receive a red card. What is the point in VAR?

“They said they got the Harry Wilson one right (last penalty decision). There’s minimal contact and I don’t think there’s enough.”

O’Neil, who spoke to the referee after the match, also felt aggrieved about Fulham’s first penalty awarded for a foul by Nelson Semedo on Tom Cairney.

He told Sky Sports: “Nelson plays the ball, doesn’t touch Tom Cairney. I watched it back with the referee, and to be fair to him he says he thinks they’ve got that wrong and he should have been sent to the monitor.”

Fulham boss Marco Silva lauded his side’s mentality to end a run of four games without a win and to go ahead in the game on three separate occasions.

He said: “We knew Wolves would show resilience tonight again and they brought it back twice and we showed team spirit and I really believed we deserved three points.

“It is important to express ourselves on the pitch. We had some very good spells in some times in the game.

“But the mentality, team spirit and it was a game we had to win and we did it.”

Willian scored his second and third of the season from the spot and Silva praised the experienced 35-year-old.

“He is really important for us and we know the quality of Willian,” Silva added.

“My decision last season to change the taker because he is a player who needs more importance and confidence and it was nice to see him take responsibility with two very good moments from him.

“Overall his performance was very good. Two chances he must score and he did it in very good style, I must say.”