Arsenal’s stubborn defence nullified Matheus Cunha, writes ISAAN KHAN – but Wolves talisman showed enough to tempt the Gunners this month

Upon the hour mark Matheus Cunha had lashed a strike from outside the box, leaving David Raya to spur into life, pawing the ball away at full stretch.

The resulting corner fell, again, to Cunha, who scuffed this chance wide. These two chances were among Wolves’ best to walk away from the Molineux with a point against title chasers Arsenal. The Brazilian, as expected, was their most potent attacking threat.

Yet, those efforts summed up his afternoon. One of much promise — not enough to steal the show, but enough to certainly tempt the Gunners before the January transfer window closes.

He often twisted and turned from the left side to the right, trying to make in-roads through the opposition backline. It kept the visitors alert and, at times, committing extra bodies to contain him.

Cunha has been widely linked as a transfer target of the north London club, and this was his audition in the proverbial shop window.

Mikel Arteta’s interest in the talented attacker makes sense. He can play across all three forward positions — particularly of use when there’s a hole in the striker area and the absence of Bukayo Saka on the right wing through a hamstring injury.

The Brazilian endured a frustrating afternoon as Wolves suffered a 1-0 defeat by the Gunners

But he showed enough to tempt Arsenal to make a move for him before the window closes

Once the Gunners went down to 10 men, after Michael Oliver’s very questionable decision to send off Myles Lewis-Skelly for his challenge on Matt Doherty on a counter-attack, Wolves gradually went into the ascendency, allowing Cunha more time on the ball.

The overall numbers don’t lie: he has 10 Premier League goals thus far. Arsenal’s top scorer Kai Havertz has eight. A stark gap when the objectives of these two teams are taken into account.

More widely, Cunha has been directly involved in 33 Premier League goals since the start of last season, scoring 22 and assisting 11, ranking him ninth among all players. He is that important to a Wolves team staring at the spectre of relegation.

Manager Vitor Pereira took seven points from his first three top-flight matches in charge, but the Midlands club have now suffered four straight losses — and only netted once in that period.

From the off, Cunha was up for this, a clear eagerness to chase and sprint even when not on the ball. He committed a foul after just four minutes and then won a free-kick a couple of minutes later.

His ability to occupy different positions on this pitch was impressive. For an opposition, that is hard to track and contain.

Cunha kept the visitors alert throughout and they committed extra bodies to contain him

Cunha’s body language is a potential red flag though and Vitor Pereira has been critical of him

Though, it must be said, his body language is a potential red flag. For example, on 33 minutes he visibly shook his head and threw his hands up in the air towards substitute Hwang Hee-chan after Cunha’s own pass went slightly behind the striker.

Later, he whinged at Rayan Ait-Nouri for not passing to him on the wing. These aren’t typical trademarks of a team-player — a characteristic which is so valued by Arteta.

The future of Cunha, who Pereira criticised over his body language during their defeat to Chelsea on Monday, is complicated.

He has two-and-a-half years left on his current contract, with a new contract on the table for him to sign.

Whatever is to transpire, Cunha has the ability to step up.