Emery's men blitzed as Neves, Doherty and Jota dent the much-changed Gunners' top four bid

UNAI EMERY'S mass changes were seven 'n hell for Arsenal as Wolves bagged a victory as emphatic as the scoreline suggests.

Ruben Neves' superb free-kick, Matt Doherty's unmarked header and Diogo Jota's low left-footer sunk the Gunners in the last 17 minutes of their farcical first-half, with Sokratis nodding a late reply.

Arguably none of Arsenal boss Emery's seven changes from Sunday's 3-2 loss against Crystal Palace paid off – his defence still shaky, midfield tame and Alexandre Lacazette their only menace up front.

Defeat leaves the dismal Gunners fifth, a point and a place below Chelsea.

And Arsenal looked anything but a side trying to, let alone worthy of, climbing into a Champions League spot.

After Wolves edged the first 28 minutes, recalled Gunners' left-back Nacho Monreal was booked for fouling Jonny on the fringe of the area.

And the real punishment came from the resulting set-piece, curved home beautifully by Neves.

Wolves maintained their superiority in both cohesion and confidence, Neves firing another free-kick off the wall and over.

Lacazette did burst in from the right to blast high.

But it was no big shock when Wolves doubled their lead on 37 minutes.

Jonny swapped passes with Joao Moutinho from a corner and crossed for Doherty to rise and plant home a header.

Ineffectual Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira was lucky to see yellow not red for a two-footed lunge on Neves.

And to sum up Arsenal's opening-period embarrassment, Jota pounced on Granit Xhaka surrendering possession to bypass Sokratis and rifle past keeper Bernd Leno.

Surely the Gunners could only get better after such a dire 45 minutes.

And perhaps they did – but only just.

Monreal's long-ranger was blocked by Leander Dendoncker as the visitors upped the pace.

But Wolves looked menacing on the break.

And Jota would surely have bagged a fourth had he not narrowly misjudged a precision cross from the fast-raiding Raul Jimenez.

Lacazette's dramatic fall under Ryan Bennett's challenge was ruled no foul by ref Stuart Attwell as the Gunners toiled to little effect.

And just before the hour mark Sead Kolasinac and Matteo Guendouzi replaced Torreira and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Finally, Sokratis nodded home Xhaka's 80th minute corner from close-range to make it 3-1.

But all that meant was Arsenal had avoided their heaviest loss against newly-promoted opposition since Oxford United beat them 3-0 in May 1986.

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