As Arsenal welcomed Bolton to the Emirates on Saturday afternoon, both teams were feeling the pressure of a tough start to the season. Bolton, despite a morale-boosting 4-0 victory over QPR at the beginning of the season, had stuttered into a 4-match losing streak. Arsenal have had to deal with the loss of key players through injury and suspension, a leaky defence and unprecedented challenges to Arsene Wenger. Arsenal and Bolton both secured wins in their midweek Carling Cup fixtures and were looking to gain some momentum in this game. Inevitably some of the pre-match talk was centred on Bolton’s central defensive mainstay, Gary Cahill. The classy defender was the subject of at least one bid from the Arsenal in the summer but failed to secure a move in what became a rather acrimonious affair. Unfortunately he was replaced by David Wheater for the visitors after picking up an illness.
Arsenal started with the news Jack Wilshere would be required to undergo surgery which is likely to rule him out until 2012, with Abou Diaby and Thomas Vermaelen also long-term absentees. Sagna recovered from the knock which forced him off against Blackburn last week, with returns to the starting line-up for Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott. Oxlade-Chamberlain was given a place in the squad after his impressive goalscoring outing in the Carling Cup versus Shrewsbury, while Yossi Benayoun was ruled out with a muscle strain. Bolton started with their captain, Kevin Davies, on the bench, suiting an Arsenal defence who have previously been sent into disarray by his highly ‘physical’ approach to the game.
The Match
The game saw Arsenal begin with a lack of verve and creativity as they were clearly low on confidence given previous results and performances. Bolton were also affected by their recent form and saw the best chance of the game fall to Darren Pratley who had a stinging drive saved well by Wojciech Szczesny. Bolton were forced to substitute David N’Gog for Kevin Davies after 20 minutes, with the bustling striker committing fouls on a regular basis, as is his wont. There was little further action of note other than some wayward shooting, particularly from the likes of Walcott and Gervinho.
The second half saw the game spark to life, with Robin van Persie latching onto an Aaron Ramsey pass and producing a cool finish past Jussi Jaaskelainen to score his 99th goal for Arsenal. Bolton faced an uphill struggle when David Wheater fouled Theo Walcott as the last man and received a red card for his troubles. Jaaskelainen had to find his best form to deny van Persie on several other occasions, before Chris Eagles squandered a chance to equalise when he fired straight at Szczesny. Van Persie eventually reached his landmark 100th goal when he tapped in from close range after some good work from Theo Walcott. Alex Song sealed the game late on by firing a curling shot into the far corner of the goal after receiving the ball from Bacary Sagna. The victory was tainted by the sight of Theo Walcott leaving the field with what could be a serious knee injury in the closing stages.
How did we do?
Arsenal fans should be extremely happy with this result and performance. Arsenal scored 3 goals in consecutive league games, kept a clean sheet and earned 3 points. Good performances from Walcott and Gervinho again, with Arteta influential and Ramsey showing he looks more comfortable when playing at the Emirates.
The highlight of the match was undoubtedly van Persie’s brace, helping him achieve 100 goals for the Arsenal. The striker has been in sensational form in 2011 and is vital to any hopes we may have of silverware and that all-important Champions League berth.
The clean sheet will be of huge satisfaction to Arsene Wenger after being constantly questioned throughout the week on his intentions to bring in a defensive coach. Wenger has dismissed this idea out of hand and hopes to solve the problem himself. The burgeoning partnership between Mertesacker and Koscielny looked far more balanced with Gibbs at left-back over the offensive-minded Andre Santos. This, in truth, was not the greatest of tests against a Bolton side low on confidence who look more one-dimensional after the expiration of Daniel Sturridge’s loan spell. Once again, Szczesny put in a reliable performance and the ‘keeper is growing in stature with every game.
Special praise should go to Theo Walcott for an industrious performance which should have seen him add a goal to his assist, but he chose to inexplicably shoot from outside the box when clean through on goal and under no pressure. His injury yet again comes at a time when he was beginning to show superb form for both Club and Country. David Ornstein of the BBC provided some hope after the game by stating Walcott’s injury is not thought to be serious and he should be available for selection on Wednesday in the Champions League.
Another positive for the team are that we maintained a high possession count and added penetration to it, with a healthy 14 shots on target. This should be a good confidence-booster going into our next game.
For Bolton, they must be looking at where they can pick up their next win having now lost 5 on the trot and facing Chelsea at the Reebok next week. After an opening day thrashing of QPR and a highly respectable performance in their loss to Manchester City, the worry for Bolton is the decline in their performances. Admittedly they were today without Ivan Klasnic, Gary Cahill, Chung-Yong Lee, Tyrone Mears and Mikel Alonso, they must hope for better luck with injuries and a crucial goal to get them back to their best.
Attacking Philosophy
This game centred around the offensive strategy of an Arsenal team who found their form in the second half. The foraying runs from Walcott and Gervinho opened gaps in the opposition defence for the likes of Arteta and Ramsey to penetrate, with Robin van Persie displaying a performance of the highest quality. Arsenal played a much more attacking game than Bolton and drew their rewards from this intent. The chalkboard showed Arsenal attacked as a team with shots coming thick and fast, whilst Bolton struggled to test Wojciech Szczesny, producing a paltry 3 shots, from 3 players.
Arsenal can be pleased with this attacking threat which was also coupled with an admirable defensive performance. The home win and clean sheet will add a lot of confidence.
Man of the Match: A Tale of Two Strikers
The game was arguably won by the sharp play of Robin van Persie who was a constant threat to the Bolton defence. I have no hesitation in selecting him as Man of the Match in this game as his contribution as a team player, Captain and Striker were all top class.
Kevin Davies was brought on after 20 minutes and provides an interesting comparison to van Persie as he is seen as someone who is more physical and less technical. Today, van Persie showed that by providing quality in attack he could relieve the pressure on his team-mates. Van Persie obviously didn’t have the responsibility of playing for a team down to 10 men, but over the course of the game had an impressive 10 shots on goal. Davies rustled up a grand total of 0 shots, as did N’Gog in his opening 20 minutes.
Van Persie once again underlined his class and proved why it is of the utmost importance that the Club ties him down with a new contract as soon as possible.
Interesting Points Post-Match
Arsene Wenger:
On the clean sheet: “Satisfaction because we didn’t concede a goal after conceding 4 last week”.
On overcoming Bolton’s man-marking in the midfield: “A combination of patience and intelligence”.
ON RVP “ Absolutely magic.... difficult to imagine our team without him”.
On Theo “Sharp pain in his knee, hopefully we have good news”.
Owen Coyle:
On result: “Disappointing to lose the game”.
On 1st half performance: “1st half terrific, well in the game... [1st goal] was avoidable”.
On red card: “Losing David Wheater gave us a bigger hill to climb... ended up a difficult afternoon”.
A clearly frustrated Coyle on his team’s 2nd half collapse: “They never fell apart, they scored a goal early on. If you’re a football person you’ll understand that and I think you watched the game and seen us go down to 10 men so as I said before, I’m just repeating myself here, it was always going to be difficult from that point on”.
The Referee
Mark Clattenburg is far from beloved by Arsenal fans, but credit where it is due – he had a good game today. I don’t believe there will be many complaints over the Bolton red card and only showed one other card during the game. That was a yellow to Gretar Steinsson who hacked down Gervinho in the build-up to the 1st goal, but Clattenburg played an excellent advantage. As referees are coming under increasing pressure for their mistakes, it is important to highlight their good performance, and this was certainly one of them.
Conclusion
Arsenal looked in good shape today, but face a completely different prospect against Champions League opponents Olympiakos on Wednesday night. That game will be followed by the North London derby, with Tottenham rejuvenated by the signings of Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker. After the Dortmund game Pat rice declared that Arsenal had “turned the corner”, but the result last weekend showed that there is still a fragility in this side. It is important to shed this problem, and quickly, for a result is needed both in the Champions League and particularly versus the old enemy, Tottenham Hotspur.
Latest:
