The one Wolves player who holds the key to Emmanuel Agbadou becoming a superstar signing

Wolves were beaten by Arsenal on Saturday in the Premier League, but Emmanuel Agbadou enjoyed his best performance to date.

Wolves lost 1-0 at Molineux to the Gunners, with Riccardo Calafiori’s second-half goal the difference between the two sides.

Arsenal saw Myles Lewis-Skelly sent off in the first-half and that presented a chance for Wolves to take the game to their opponents.

But Wolves could not really lay a glove on the Gunners, and then a foolish challenge by Joao Gomes meant it was 10 vs 10.

It was a frustrating defeat for Wolves given the one-man advantage they had before Gomes made a ‘ridiculous’ challenge, in the eyes of pundit Danny Murphy.

But one small positive to come out of the game was that Emmanuel Agbadou really impressed.

• READ MORE: Wolves’ current stance on potentially signing a second centre-back after Emmanuel Agbadou transfer

Emmanuel Agbadou stats for Wolves vs Arsenal

Agbadou was signed by Wolves a few weeks ago in the transfer window.

He was a £16 million arrival from French club Reims, and him coming in pleased many supporters who had been demanding for defensive additions.

So far, Agbadou has made four appearances for Wolves and on Saturday, he made his debut at Molineux – and it was a solid display from the Ivorian.

As per Sofascore data, Agbadou made 12 defensive actions against the Gunners – which was the same as midfielder Andre. No player in the game made more than 12.

Six of those defensive actions were tackles, and Agbadou really did lock down the left side and gave Gabriel Martinelli very little.

Toti Gomes return is key for Agbadou

So Agbadou really impressed against Arsenal and his ability to defend is in no doubt But some have noted that his passing has been a little wayward so far.

Against Arsenal, his accuracy was only 74% and from watching him in recent weeks, it’s clear that Agbadou is very right-footed. He isn’t too bad with his left, but playing on that left side is going to demand him to use his weak foot, so his passing accuracy will suffer in theory.

What will be key for Agbadou is the return of Toti Gomes. He was back on the bench on Saturday after injury, but Pereira said Toti wasn’t ready for 90 minutes against Arsenal. In the end, he did not get on at all.

With Pereira seemingly quite set on using a back three, that surely means Toti will come back in once he’s fully fit. That position on the left of a three suits him very well.

That would then give Agbadou a chance to move over, either into the middle in place of Santiago Bueno, or into Matt Doherty’s current position on the right of a three. By moving across, Agbadou can then play more on his stronger right foot, and in theory, be better in possession.

Realistically, as well as Doherty has done at times, he’s probably the more likely player to lose his place to Agbadou, who has good pace and mobility to get out and defend wide areas, as he’s shown on the left side.

Agbadou has looked very promising so far, but the return of Toti to the starting XI could genuinely be the making of him in this team.