Mikel Arteta handed historical Premier League boost in Arsenal's race for top four

It was a memorable night at the Emirates on Thursday as a stoppage-time own goal from Wolves’ Jose Sa helped Arsenal come from behind to beat the visitors 2-1.

Coming into the clash, Wolves boasted a formidable record when taking a lead, going undefeated in each of their last 45 Premier League games in which they opened the scoring.

And for a long period, it did seem as though Hwang Hee-chan's early strike was going to be decisive for them again. However, Nicolas Pepe’s leveller from the bench set up a grandstand finish.

With only minutes remaining, Alexandre Lacazette saw his effort ricochet of Sa’s hand and into the back, sending the Emirates into raptures.

The win saw Arsenal move to fifth in the table, one point behind fourth but with two games in hand.

Many Gunners fans are now getting excited about the prospect of seeing their side again competing in Europe’s premier European competition next season.

But how does their current points tally of 45 compare to the returns of the teams who have finished fourth in each of the last two seasons?

In both campaigns, it was Chelsea who went on to finish fourth, and Arsenal fans should take some confidence in that Mikel Arteta’s men have more points on the board than their London rivals did at the same stage in both of those seasons.

After 24 games last season, Chelsea had accumulated 42 points, whilst in the season before that, they’d picked up just 40.

They did better than Arsenal both seasons in terms of goal difference, yet for Arteta it’s winning games that’s the priority.

"We don't know today how important this will be but we know the importance of winning our matches," said Arteta following Thursday’s last-gasp win.

"At the end of May we want to be fighting for those