Early doors: Marouane Chamakh put Arsenal ahead in the first minuteCesc Fabregas faced the wrath of Molineux after Marouane Chamakh provided Arsene Wenger with the perfect response to his weekend woes.
Arsenal skipper Fabregas left the field in the knowledge that Arsenal had secured three points thanks to a classy double from the Moroccan international. But he did so too with the jeers of an angry crowd ringing in his ears.
A horrible lunge on Wolves' Stephen Ward three minutes from time had invoked the ire of the home fans, who were incensed by the tackle itself, the fact that referee Mark Halsey had given a yellow card instead of a red and the sight of the player departing down the tunnel on a stretcher.
Chamakh scored the fastest goal by Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League, finding the net after 38 seconds. After the incident involving Fabregas that caused such a vicious reaction, the former Bordeaux striker wrapped up the points with the last kick of the game.
It was enough to tip a home fans over the edge as Fabregas left the field. A water bottle and a few coins were hurled in his direction as he was shepherded down the tunnel.
Managers Mick McCarthy and Arsene Wenger seemed to exchange words at the final whistle but it was as if the incident had never happened afterwards as both feared a public relations backlash for different reasons.
Floored: The Wolves medical staff attend to Stephen WardFabregas went to the home dressing- room to apologise. That was accepted. McCarthy spoke out in defence of everyone 'manning-up' and accepting that tackles are made and sometimes mis-timed. Wenger has been a vociferous critic of reckless tackles. With some justification.
However, before last night, his team were bottom of the Fair Play League with four red cards to their credit already. The last thing he needed was another inquest into Arsenal's own disciplinary shorcomings.
'I have always said I like tackling and the physical game and the commitment of the physical game in England,' said Wenger. 'But it's down to the referees to make the rules respected.'
McCarthy added: 'I've not problem with the tackle and I appreciate the apology from him.'
Wolves' fans reacted after being cast in the role of fall-guys this season. McCarthy admitted that the reaction to Karl Henry's challenge on Wigan's Jordi Gomez had caused unwanted distraction. No wonder he was anxious to draw a line under the affair.
Just as desperate as Wenger to grab the points after Lukasz Fabianski's blunder helped Newcastle to victory on Sunday. The Poland internat ional however, was certainly in credit last night.
He kept out one deflected Matt Jarvis cross, pulled off a magnificent tip-over to deny Kevin Doyle. But his stop in injury-time, denying Nenad Milijas was the pick of the bunch. Moments later, Chamakh raced on to a pass from Fabregas, just to rub salt into the wounds, to wrap up the points.
It did not look like Fabianski would be needed at all early on as Wolves failed with the basics. Tomas Rosicky fed Alex Song on the right and the midfielder delivered a superb cross for Chamakh to head his seventh goal of the season.
Andrey Arshavin caused all sorts of problems. Marcus Hahnemann blocked well and did so again from Fabregas as Arsenal threatened to overwhelm the hosts.But slowly Wolves gained a foothold. Fabianski had been called into action in the first-half and made a laudable attempt to keep out a deflected shot. But his stop as the hour approached from Doyle was truly top-class.
Suddenly, from nowhere, Wolves were on the front foot. Stephen Hunt's corner was flicked on at the far post and, had Stearman connected cleanly, Rosicky would not have been able to hack clear.
Fabianski saved his best until last with his breath-taking stop from Milijas, who fired through a group of players from the edge of the area.
Even though most of the crowd's attention was still upon Fabregas, the keeper was swamped by his delirious team-mates at the final whistle.
'Someone gave me a bit of duff information,' said McCarthy wistfully at the final whistle. 'They told me he wouldn't be playing. Typical.'
source: dailymail
