Wolves were defeated 2-1 at the Emirates on Saturday as Matheus Cunha’s late goal was unable to stop Arsenal from taking all three points.
Gary O’Neil was unable to bounce back from Wolves’ 3-2 defeat to Fulham as they fell to another defeat in the capital.
Another poor defensive performance allowed Arsenal to score twice in the first 13 minutes.
The result means that Wolves have suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats for the first time since September.
However, throughout the game, it became clear that Wolves may have a bigger long-term issue that they have to address.
Wolves have a serious depth problem
Both Pedro Neto and Rayan Ait-Nouri were injured for the game while Joao Gomes and Mario Lemina were serving a one-match suspension.
Jose Sa was also forced off the pitch mid-way through the first half against Arsenal with a back injury.
Fridge players Joe Hodge and Ryan Fraser were also unable to make the bench due to long-term knocks.
This meant that Wolves’ bench looked very light when facing Arsenal.
Of the nine players on the bench, only Fabio Silva had made three Premier League starts or more this season.
There was also no senior central midfielder with youth prospects Matthew Whittingham and Twanda Chirewa called up to provide cover in this area. Justin Hubner had also made the bench but none of the three have made their senior debuts for the club.
Depth had been a problem before this fixture had come around with Wolves having no suitable wingers to replace Neto after his injury.
This has meant that O’Neil has had to change his formation to accommodate this, with both Cunha and Hwang Hee-Chan now playing up front together.
Wolves also had a lack of depth in against Fulham. With Craig Dawson picking up a suspension, Santiago Bueno first had to make his first Premier League start.
This meant that O’Neil had no senior player who was a natural at centre-back on the bench.
Gary O’Neil ‘pleased’ with performance at Emirates
The manager wasn’t too displeased with the performance due to the injuries and suspensions that Wolves endured going into the fixture.
Given the circumstances that his side was under going into the game, the result isn’t awful considering Arsenal’s tremendous form.
“When you concede two early goals you think it could be a long afternoon, but I knew the lads understood the plan well and that it was going to be solid and sound,” O’Neil told Wolves.
“I knew that we’d suffer some moments against Arsenal because everybody does, and I felt we’d find a foothold and find a way back in and it was a long way back to get anything from the game, but we didn’t fear it would get away from us.
“The lads stuck together and gave everything they could to get us back in the game and gave Arsenal a little scare at the end. The lads should take a lot from that performance because we were short in numbers today, three young lads on the bench for their first time, we had to change the goalie, so to keep going, stick together and give Arsenal a scare, it was a good effort.”