At last Arsenal overwhelmed by accolades following shot on target (9)

'at last arsenal overwhelmed by accolades' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'shot on target' is the wordplay.
'shot' becomes 'wards' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'target' becomes 'goal' (goal can mean a target or aim).
'wards' after 'goal' is 'GOALWARDS'.

'following' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?