Bendtner again turned provider as he showed his natural prowess in the second striker role, chipping a delicately-weighted ball for Ade to run on to. The Togonator got clear of the defence, opened his body, sent it past the keeper

Match Review – Bolton 1 Arsenal 3 – Premier League

Two games, two wins, seven goals scored and only one conceded. Not bad for a bunch of Southern pansies eh? Wins at Blackburn and Bolton are hard enough to achieve, never mind in succession and let alone when there’s a trip to Kiev slap bang in the middle, so 6 points in seven days is no mean feat.

Upon hearing the starting lineup I was worried that three central midfielders and a converted full-back across the middle, plus two “big men” up top, would leave us short creatively. I needn’t have worried as those on the pitch stepped up to the plate and made their mark, with particularly good performances from Eboue and Bendtner.

However, it all started so familiarly. Despite having the lion’s share of possession in the first five minutes, it was Bolton who came closest early on. Denilson – who had lost possession a few times in the game’s nascent stages – was robbed and Kevin Nolan had a pot-shot from distance that a back-pedalling Almunia did well to tip over the bar.

By the time the tenth minute had elapsed, we’d already won five corners. But from each of them we barely carried a threat. Unlike our opponents, who are notorious for being set-piece bandits. On the quarter-hour they won their second corner. I’m sure there was a foul in the build-up, but hey I guess in the North-West the referee is also our opponent. Anyway, the corner came in and lo and behold, Bolton scored. Kevin Davies leaped, Toure and Gallas didn’t, and the ball nestled. Same old Arsenal, taking the piss out of themselves.

Some may blame Clichy for not covering the post properly, but Davies should not have been allowed a free header in the first place. Regular readers know how I feel about the Toure/Gallas partnership, and needless to say that when the goal went in I was not a happy bunny with either of them.

“It’s hard enough beating Bolton away, but from a goal-down?”

Then I recalled last year’s stirring fightback from a two-goal deficit in even worse circumstances with less time on the clock. And it wasn’t as if we were giving a toothless Fulham-esque performance; the first fifteen minutes showed that we had something about us.

And so it proved. Between the 20th and 35th minutes, we had a purple patch that no other team in the world could muster. It all began when, hallelujah, we threatened from a corner. Well sort of. The corner was half-cleared but only as far as Cesc, whose cross was chested down by Bendtner on a plate for Kolo. Eighteen-yards out, his controlled shot fizzed past the post.

Bendtner again turned provider as he showed his natural prowess in the second striker role, chipping a delicately-weighted ball for Ade to run on to. The Togonator got clear of the defence, opened his body, sent it past the keeper and I began to wheel away in celebration. My mistake. The ball struck the base of the post and I slumped into my seat.

We have a real affinity with the Reebok Stadium woodwork, I remember hitting it three times a few seasons ago and we ended up losing 3-1. It was again struck moments later, this time by Alex Song with a back-post header from a corner. The corner itself was won after an almost-certain Nicklas Bendtner goal was diverted wide of the post following a last-ditch block from Danny Shittu. Shittu by name, but not by nature.

At this point my blood had boiled. It was turning out to be one of those days where we do everything but score. But then, manna from heaven, the equaliser. And from a very unlikely source too. Mean Lean had mentioned in his MyVision that he thought Eboue would score. And when I texted my mate DJ before the game lamenting our lack of width, he had five words for me: “Don’t worry – we’ve got Eboue”. Bendtner again dropped off the front and threaded the ball through the Bolton backline. Originally intended for Ade, the Togonator was wise to step away when he saw the Ivorian Warrior stomping in. Eboue promptly swept it home at the near post – Marc Overmars, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg would have all been proud of that finish. Replays showed he was marginally offside, but do I marginally give a shit? A fully-deserved equaliser.

So we’d restored parity and had a full 65 minutes to fathom a second. We barely needed 65 seconds. Ade played in Denilson behind the full-back and the Brazilian squared to Bendtner who slid it home. Blink and you would have missed it. I’m so used to seeing the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, v.Persie and even Ade linger on the edge of the area waiting for a cutback, so it was thoroughly refreshing to see someone gamble at the near-post. It’s been a long time since we’ve scored two goals in such quick succession, so one would have forgiven Gooners from feeling light-headed. 1-0 down to 2-1 up in less time than it would have taken a kettle to boil.

Eboue was providing a very useful outlet on the left. Who could have envisaged that he would evolve from flaky right-back to competent left-midfielder? Whilst the relatively lightweight Theo can struggle on the left as he doesn’t have the power to shrug off challenges when cutting inside, Eboue is built like a tank and could have extended our lead but his goalbound effort was deflected wide following a swift counter-attack.

As half-time closed in, things nearly got nasty in more than one sense. Firstly, Bolton could have equalised after we couldn’t properly clear the ball and a Nolan drive from twenty-yards was palmed over by Almunia. Secondly, that man Nolan again came close, this time beating Almunia but the post too with a well-struck volley. And finally, a not-so-nice tackle on Gael by Davies saw the Frenchman have to hobble off and eventually be taken to the hospital for an x-ray. A word on the foul: yes, Davies won the ball. But – and this is the crucial thing – if such a challenge goes unpunished, then players of a similar ilk will see it as carte blanche to go in over-aggressively. And the end result of that would be another Eduardo injury, which no-one wants to see ever again. So a yellow card was, in my opinion, the correct decision: he won the ball but endangered his opponent.

Gael didn’t re-emerge in the second-half and was replaced by Djourou. Initially I thought this would be a blessing in disguise as Gallas would move to the left and allow Djourou to slot in alongside Toure in the middle. It didn’t work out that way as Djourou filled in at right-back – where he made a decent fist of it – and Sagna trotted over to the left, where (unsurprisingly) he looked less comfortable. Thankfully Gael hasn’t broken any bones and is no worse off than a bruised shin.

We began the second-half as we ended the first – with some fast passing resulting in the creation of an opportunity. This time it was Song and Eboue who combined for the former to unleash a fearsome effort that was saved by Jasskelainen. It was at a good height for the keeper – anything higher or lower and it would have been threeasy does it. But that was as good as it got for a long time as Bolton proceeded to come out of their shells, backed up by some very vocal and persistent home support. It was so persistent that the one chart they repeated ad infinitum is still ringing in my head.

Manuel was called into action a number of occasions, none moreso than when he saved substitute Riga’s awkward effort which bounced menacingly in front of him. Overall I felt Manuel was solid, claiming 95% that went his way with a clean pair of hands, although there was one harum scareum moment when he came off his line and then quickly backtracked which led to a modicum of confusion and the keeper having to make another save from Vaz Te.

Having been well and truly under the cosh for a good half-an-hour, Le Boss introduced Theo to relieve some pressure. And how it paid dividends. Just as the game was about to enter squeaky bum time, a wonderful run from Theo prevented our collective Arses from squeaking. Picking up the ball in his own half, instead of going on the outside he checked and blasted past two players on the inside. Having spurned the opportunity to play it left, he released Ade on the right. Massive credit to the Togonator for a superb square ball that was sidefooted high into the roof of the net by Denilson to seal the deal.

Theo could have put the icing on the cake minutes later, but his curled effort was clawed away by Jasskelainen. In truth he should have rolled in Ade, but given the scoreline it was worth a pop.

The home crowd had mercifully been silenced once and for all. The away fans simply uttered the magical words: WE. ARE. TOP. OF. THE. LEAGUE. Hopefully the right result at Stamford Bridge can keep us there, although I wouldn’t mind seeing Man Utd get beaten again. At this stage of the season, the greater good may be to diminish their title hopes as much as possible rather than us having bragging rights for the next seven days. A draw will do nicely, methinks.

In the end we definitely deserved the three points, simply for that mesmerising 15 minute spell in the middle of the first period. It’s been a fair while since we hit a one-two knockout blow like that…last year we would have managed one before resting on our laurels, whilst the 2002-2004 side often grabbed three during such a period. It is imperative that we make the most of these periods of domination, because our defence is far from watertight, despite having only conceded two goals in five league games thus far.

Granted, we were *better* defensively in the second-half. When I say better, I mean we didn’t concede and looked slightly more organised at set-pieces. We were competent, not composed. Able, but not assured. We haven’t been rock solid defensively for a fair few years now – probably not since the Invincibles, notwithstanding the run to Paris in 2006 – so you’d think that we, the fans, would be used to it. But the Gallas/Toure combo still gives me the heebie jeebies. I sure hope Silvestre is good enough and different enough to replace one of them, because I can’t see us winning the league with those two at the back. There’s only so many times our attack can save the defence’s bacon – what happens if the forward players have an off-day like against Fulham? Clean sheets are a must, but our lot seem to present chances to the opposition way too frequently, be it from a lapse in concentration or simply bad defending. Last week for example; we may have kept a clean sheet against Blackburn, but that was more due to their attacking profligacy rather than our defensive proficiency.

Whilst Gallas/Toure as a partnership doesn’t inspire confidence, in recent times their individual performances haven’t either. Sure, Gallas has great individual moments like his goal in midweek to salvage a point in Kiev. But this was offset by the goal we conceded, which came about following a mistake from the skipper. Don’t forget that the goal conceded at Fulham was largely his fault too. And while Kolo redeemed himself here against Bolton with a couple of key tackles, he committed the cardinal sin of not challenging on Davies’ goal. There have been moments during the last week where I’ve pondered whether one or both should be dropped to give them a kick up the backside. This might cause a problem due to the captaincy issue with Gallas, but I wouldn’t hesitate to install both Silvestre and Djourou next week at home to Hull.

Before that though, the kids get a run out in the Carling Cup against Sheffield United. Wilshere, Vela, Merida, Ramsey…I can’t wait!