Expecting a beamback of this fixture to be held in club level at the stadium, I decided against a midweek November trip to the Midlands. It was a pretty chilly evening, so my fears about the weather were justified. I should have dug out the thermals in hindsight. I am no fan of watching games in pubs, but faced with the frustrations of internet streams that freeze and cut out, there was no real choice.

Unfortunately the staff at the hostelry in question were convinced the game kicked off at 8pm, despite protestations to the contrary. The news on Sky Sports that Arsenal were one up somehow persuaded them where anxious punters had failed. We were later shown a replay of the goal. Basically a quality cross from Sagna matched by the accurate header of Chamakh caught the Wolves’ defence cold.

It was a game of many chances, although Arsenal had enough of the earlier ones to have made the second half far more comfortable than it was. The difference between this performance and the one on Sunday was marked. A great deal more determination. Although Lukasz Fabianski was an obvious contender for the visitors’ matchwinner, one player that symbolised the change in attitude was Tomas Rosicky, who played no part at the weekend. I felt his contribution was immense.

As for the keeper, Sunday’s error was always going to happen at some point, it was how he reacted to it that would decide if pursuing with him was a fruitless exercise after a run of decent matches. He reacted well, pulling off some key saves in the face of the bombardment. I watched the game with the Highbury Spy who told me to mention that it was the defence that won the game for Arsenal. There is a certain truth to that, as Wolves asked some tough questions. With that amount of pressure, chances are an inevitability, and most fell to Kevin Doyle. Few clean sheets were as hard earned as this and there is an argument that Johan Djourou might be a better option than Laurent Koscielny to partner Squillaci until Thomas Vermaelen’s eventual return.

Match of the Day made a big thing about Cesc Fabregas’ yellow card challenge while totally ignoring Karl Henry’s far worse studs up assault on Andrey Arshavin. At least Mick McCarthy made no issue of it, so no charge of hypocrisy can be labelled there.

In the context of Arsenal’s season, what is important is that this performance was not a flash in the pan. It demonstrated the qualities required to win enough games to challenge for honours. Ideally, the team will build on this and incorporate the spirit demonstrated at Molineux into their performances on a regular basis, starting with Everton on Sunday. Mick McCarthy claimed that Wolves were the better side, although in fairness, I’d call it about even over the 90 minutes. Wolves certainly had more of the ball. But the Gunners were resolute and stood firm. I was not optimistic we’d see this side of them before the game, although knew that we’d need to if anything were to be taken from the fixture. The players have shown they can do it, so let’s see them go on a run of tricky games and continue displaying the fortitude of last night.

One suspects the players had a rocket up the backside after the Newcastle defeat and this display was a reaction. They shouldn’t really need that to be motivated if they have serious aspirations to win titles. More of the same at Goodison please.