Nuno proud of efforts at Arsenal

Nuno Espirito Santo’s overriding emotion leaving the Emirates Stadium was one of pride on Sunday evening as his Wolves side came within three minutes of beating Arsenal.

Ivan Cavaleiro had the visitors ahead at the Emirates and, even after Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s equaliser, Wolves came within a whisker of claiming maximum points when Morgan Gibbs-White struck the crossbar.

Nuno’s side were typically organised throughout and had chances to put the game to bed before the equaliser, leaving Nuno impressed with the efforts of his players in what was an entertaining affair in the capital.

“Coming to the Emirates and playing the way we played, I feel we should be proud,” he said. “It’s a good point, but of course we could have won. We were organised, solid and brave to put our barriers in front of the ball.

“Arsenal are a very good team. We blocked them, we had a lot of balance and cover, and didn’t allow them to play so great credit to the boys. When we had the ball we were threatening and created chances.

“The way we managed possession and created so many chances, against a very good team in a difficult stadium, is a credit to our players. It was an improvement from last Saturday so let’s work hard over the internationals and try to do better.”

Helder Costa, Diogo Jota and Adama Traore all could have netted for Wolves before Gibbs-White hit the woodwork, and Nuno believes his side could have claimed all three points had more time remained following the equaliser.

“Sometimes you are clinical and do it, sometimes not. The defensive organisation is why we stayed in the game until the end. Even after Arsenal scored, it was us who had the chances, we were asking for more time from the referee.

“I think if we’d had more time we could have had another chance and maybe be more lucky. Well done to the boys and our fans, coming here and performing the way we did should make them proud.”

Wolves now head into the final international break of 2018 in positive spirits and Nuno says the wider picture of their afternoon at the Emirates will make it an enjoyable two weeks on the training pitch.

“We stay humble, we came from the Championship and don’t take our feet off the ground. Arsenal were not able to play the way they usually do so credit to the boys, they always covered and helped each other.

“In the last moment of the game the ball hits the bar, it’s football and it was a very good game. Everybody that came to the stadium enjoyed it for sure. More important for us was not the result, but how we play and how we do things. We don’t change things, we believe.”

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