Cesc Fabregas was at his string pulling, tempo dictating, orchestra waving best. His range of passing was superb and caused Bolton all sorts of problems. His slotted through passes to Arshavin were weighted to perfection, on another day Cesc could have doubled his assist count for the day

With Manchester United surrendering a two goal lead earlier in the afternoon, the mood was set for the Gunners to go out and take full advantage. Bolton were not about to roll over and be tickled though. Bolton were going to give the Arsenal boys a hard work out come the whistle at 3pm.

Before the game many Gooners including myself were attempting to guess the starting eleven, not many would have guessed correctly as Wenger produced a mix and match side due to the recent international football. The French trio who played for Les Bleus were all left on the bench whilst Jack Wilshere started in midfield against the team who took him under their wing last season.

It may have been all smiles before kick off between Wilshere and his old Bolton chums but on the pitch it was a different story, especially from Kevin ‘elbows’ Davies. Before all of that Andrey Arshavin should have put Arsenal one up before a hint of any grass stained shorts.

Barely four minutes had been played before Rosicky played his trademark outside of the right foot pass into the path of the galloping Russian who had all the time in the world to beat the rooted goalkeeper, Arshavin attempted to roll the ball between the keepers legs but his effort was thwarted. Rosicky’s pass was inch perfect and Arshavin should have put away the chance. It wouldn’t be the last time that the little Russian would stand with his hands on his head.

The midfield players were in good form. Wilshere, Song and Cesc controlled the game. Kevin Davies should have received two bookings in the same passage of play. Firstly his tackle on Rosicky was late and then moments later he flew into Wilshere who was sliding in for the ball. A booking was all he received.

Our attacking players were in a wasteful mood. Rosicky and particularly Arshavin were chief culprits but as the old saying goes, you need to worry when those players are not getting any chances, at least Arshavin has the movement and awareness to get himself into goal scoring positions.

Cesc Fabregas was at his string pulling, tempo dictating, orchestra waving best. His range of passing was superb and caused Bolton all sorts of problems.

His slotted through passes to Arshavin were weighted to perfection, on another day Cesc could have doubled his assist count for the day.

Koscielny opened the scoring and his Arsenal account with a scrappy finish from close range, the good work was done before that when Wilshere floated in a quality ball to the far post, Cesc nipped in and deflected the ball into the path of Laurent Koscielny to play ping pong with the Bolton keeper before putting it into the empty net.

Arsenal were in total control, we could have been awarded at least one penalty. Individual errors and at times lack of concentration was a big reason for our rather overweight goals conceded column at the end of last season.

Koscielny went from hero to villain in the space of 20 minutes or so. Just before half time Koscielny misplaced a routine header back to the goalkeeper, the header was not executed with enough power or conviction and Lee nipped in ahead of Almunia, a cross was delivered onto the spam of Elmander who beat Almunia from close range.

Another Arsenal goal conceded that has gone down the same path as many previous. The Gunners dominate the game, miss chances for fun and then an individual mistake allows the opposition a route back into the game when realistically they should be out of sight.

Apart from a few little errors, including the goal conceded, I thought Laurent Koscielny looked the business. Of course we want to see top performances without errors but he is still learning and developing to the Arsenal way of life.

I call Laurent Koscielny the Cobra for his knack of waiting patiently behind the opposition, waiting for the right opportunity to strike and nip in ahead of his opponent, leaving him flat on the ground and striding past him looking for the forward pass. His tackling is clean and expertly timed, many English players could sit down, watch some videos of our number 6 and pay close attention.

His defensive partner Sébastien Squillaci had a quietly efficient game in defence. Winning balls in the air and throwing himself into shots. A very tidy debut from the experienced former Lyon player.

Chamakh was impressive yet again, he was everywhere on the pitch, moving the ball onto his moving team mates. Everything he does seems very simple yet so very effective. The one part of his game that seems to need improvement is his finishing. Cesc Fabregas played one of his golf like chipped passes across the green into space, Chamakh running on his left side could only manage a shot reachable for the Bolton stand in keeper and his effort was palmed away.

Chamakh wouldn’t be denied for long and it was his forehead that could do what his feet couldn’t yet again. A powerful, well directed header from close range. The finish was good but the assist was fantastic. Not many people have praised Cesc for the quality of the ball not just because it was inch perfect but because it was running away from him down the byline and the cross was on his weaker left foot. He dug his foot into the turf and floated a perfectly weighted cross onto the head of Chamakh.

Many of our players haven’t been able to produce a cross like that on their natural stronger side but that is the quality of Cesc.

We have many players in the squad in the same mould as Cesc. Nasri, Rosicky, Ramsey and Arshavin can all do similar things to Fabregas, some have better dribbling or better long range shooting but not one player in our squad, possibly in Europe has the same quality of end product in the final third when it really matters. In a tight game when chances and openings are scarce you want a player like Cesc using one of his only two opportunities in a whole 90 minutes to spot a runner and have the quality to find that runner.

We may or may not have Cesc for the rest of his career but I am grateful that we have him for another season at least.

A few minutes later Abou Diaby replaced Jack Wilshere who had hardly put a foot wrong. Some more valuable experience for the youngster who is not looking at all out of place in the Arsenal first team. Wenger would have wanted to add some physical power and more aerial ability with Diaby in the midfield.

Referee Stuart Attwell has had plenty of criticism in his short time as a professional referee, unfortunately he didn’t do much to prove his doubters wrong. He failed to clamp down on some awful Bolton ‘challenges’ and his afternoon got a lot worse in the 63rd minute. Alex Song clearly tripped Lee outside the Arsenal penalty area, not all the blame can be aimed at Attwell, the assistant referee, linesman, man with the flag person was standing only yards away and should have seen the foul. Arsenal were allowed to break forward.

Arshavin touched the ball onto Chamakh and continued his run past the impressive Moroccan, his first time flick would have put Arshavin through against a lonely defender but Cahill went into the back of Chamakh and clipped his feet. Cahill received a straight red which left the Bolton players incensed.

Tackling from behind has been removed from the rule books, that isolated tackle should really have justified a yellow card but a similar tackle like that catching an opponents foot in the turf can lead to serious damage, just ask Bobby Zamora.

It wouldn’t have got to that situation had either one of the referee or the linesman seen the original foul.

The Bolton players were clearly riled up, and it seems like Abou Diaby got the brunt of that frustration. Paul Robinson went in with a horrific high challenge which caught Diaby and left him flattened on the ground in agony. Cue the ‘same old Arsenal always cheating’ around the northern pubs in Bolton.

Diaby only managed to stay on the pitch for six minutes after that and was replaced by Denilson. Robinson did not receive a booking, the referee didn’t even blow for a foul. Would love to hear him explain that one.

At 2-1 up the game wasn’t quite safe, and we were not as comfortable as perhaps we should have been. With Bolton a man down, Alex Song pushed forward to support the attacking players. He had hit the cross bar following a looping header but just over ten minutes later he managed to score his first goal of the season.

Arshavin fired the ball into his feet inside the penalty area, his first touch away from Zat Knight was swift but his finish was absolutely majestic. Song was racing goalkeeper Bogdan to get to the ball first, as Bogdan went down Song stubbed his right foot underneath the ball to delicately lift it over the committed keeper.

It was a finish that we see regularly from Lionel Messi and the finish that we hoped from many of our offensive players but it was not a finish that you would expect from a defensive midfielder. Well this is Arsenal after all, get used to it. Alex Song said in his post match interview that he wanted to work on scoring more goals, with finishing like that, we may witness a few more from Alex Song this season.

That goal was the thousandth Arsenal goal scored under Arsene Wenger. It was a fine goal but perhaps it would have been better placed at 999.

Chamakh being one of the only senior forwards available was replaced ten minutes before time, presumably to keep him fresh for many up coming games. Carlos Vela was the man to replace him, and a good chance to show the boss that he can be considered in that central role and not just a wide left substitute.

The reason why I would have preferred Song’s goal to have been at 999 is because the last goal of the game would have been perfect for the thousand mark.

Carlos Vela looked sharp and hungry as soon as he entered the fray. He began the move by showing great determination to chase back his man and win the ball. If ever there was an education video on letting the ball do the work then it was Arsenal’s fourth goal. Cesc, Denilson and Song were at the heart of it, short passes were being zipped into feet, each player already knowing which player to pass it to before they even received the ball.

You cannot buy a team like Manchester City have done and expect them to keep possession like that, it takes years of developing together, years of training together and years of experience on the pitch together. Over twenty four or so passes later, Cesc had the ball at his feet, he pulled out his 9 iron club and lofted another perfect pass into the bending run of Carlos Vela. The Mexican who has taken visible strides forward so far steadied himself and slotted past the outstretched keeper. A team goal that you will only see bettered by Arsenal in the Premier league this season.

With Van Persie and Bendtner out on the sidelines, Carlos Vela has just thrown his hat into the ring after a superb ten minute goal scoring cameo.

The score line may have been a little unkind to Bolton who came to the Emirates and fought from the first minute until the last but the Gunners could have scored plenty of more goals. The players stood up to the physical side from Bolton, even if some of the usual crew went over the edge.

A welcomed three points on a day when Manchester United, Tottenham and Manchester City all dropped points. Next up, the Champions league.

Almunia (7)
Eboue (7)
Koscielny (7.5)
Squillaci (7)
Gibbs (7)
Song (7.5)
Wilshere (7.5)
Cesc (8.5)
Rosicky (7.5)
Chamakh (7.5)
Arshavin (6.5)

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Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions