Wolves manager Bruno Lage issues apology to Mikel Arteta and defends Arsenal celebrations

Bruno Lage has defended Arsenal’s celebrations in their last-gasp victory over Wolves and has issued an apology to Mikel Arteta after being accused of time-wasting towards the end of the game.

An error from Gabriel allowed Hwang Hee-Chan to put Wolves in front early on at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal levelled with eight minutes remaining through Nicolas Pepe but Alexandre Lacazette’s effort, which has gone down as a Jose Sa own goal, sealed a 2-1 win for the Gunners in injury time.

Arsenal were unhappy in the last minute of normal time after Wolves caused a delay in their substitution by opting to keep Raul Jimenez on the pitch.

But Lage has taken the blame for the incident and has apologised to Arteta.

‘The first thing is to say about that situation at the end, it was bad communication between me and my staff,’ Lage explained after the game.

‘I changed my mind in the last minute and that’s why there was confusion about that.

‘I apologised to the referee and also to Arteta about that because it’s not in my mind to come here and waste time and do those kind of things.’

Arsenal’s players were also criticised by Ruben Neves for their celebrations in their 1-0 win at Molineaux earlier this month.

But Lage insists he had no problem with the wild scenes at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening following Arsenal’s late winner.

‘It was a good game, another good game like we had two weeks ago,’ said Lage.

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‘Football is about celebrating and scoring goals. When you won in the last minute you need to