Arsenal 2-0 Bolton – 20/10/07 – (Premier League) 21 October, 2007

Again, not the prettiest of wins, but we’re grinding out results. And results are what counts. Bolton still look the same sort of physical side there were under Fat Sam but lacking the any talent they once had or the ability to create good football. They’ve been our bogey side over recent years and I would always dread to trip to the Reebok Stadium but times have changed.

Yesterday they still found enough in them to hold us back and not let us create anything. This was mostly achieved by getting all their players behind the ball and kicking us. We did kick back though; Cesc was lucky not to be sent off to two yellows in quick succession.

Nothing was really going our way in the first half, everything we tried was just going nowhere and it was frustrating to watch. It was pretty much the team I expected but Eboue started ahead of Rosicky and Hleb switched to the left. Eboue didn’t have a great game to be honest, he was making some decent runs but his passing and composure was lacking at times and I think he realised it. The best chance in the first 45 was probably right towards the end when Adebayor had a good chance for a header but he didn’t get enough on it and we went in 0-0 at the break. Hleb was decent out wide but he only really made an impact on the game when he was moved centrally at the start of the second half. This is when things started to work for us.

Wenger said he saw there wasn’t much space in the opposition half and thought that Hleb’s ball control would be better than Eduardo’s goal scoring instinct in the middle. Eddy moved out to the left wing but did cut inside when he got the chance. Right from kick off we nearly got the opener. Eboue found himself with the ball on the right; he cut into the box and lashed a shot way over the bar. The crowd’s reaction can’t have helped his confidence and he was substituted along with Eduardo just after the hour. Before that though Cesc took a long-range shot which the ‘keeper did well to save; however from my seat I could see the shot was going over anyway.

Eduardo and Eboue were replaced by Rosicky and Walcott. These changes turned the game in our favour; Tomas’ flair and control with Theo’s pace and skill was too much for the tiring Bolton defence and we were creating chances. However, we still weren’t at our best and I did worry if we would find that goal. In the end it came from a set piece. With 22 minutes left we won a free kick 25-30 yards out and you could see Toure fancied it. We’ve all seen his powerful efforts before but he has yet to score one. This time his shot was low and accurate sneaking into the bottom-left corner beating Jaaskelainen. Kolo’s celebration was almost as wild as the 60,000 relieved Gooners.

Once that goal went in it was really game over for the visitors. They hadn’t created much at all in the game up to now and it looked like we were going to take the win. They had to push forward though and we were then able to pick them apart with ease. Walcott was getting down the right well and creating chances. Adebayor had a decent chance one-on-one but fell over. And Clichy blasted a shot from the left but it wasn’t on target.

We did make sure of the points in the 81st minute when we got the valuable second goal. The two substitutions combined to score a nice, easy goal. Walcott got the ball on the right, drove forward and played a cheeky little low cross which Rosicky just managed to meet. It was a smart little finish from Tomas and that was it, 2-0, no way back for Bolton now, 3 points in the bag.

As I said, it wasn’t the greatest performance, but we came away with the win. Since West Ham I don’t really think we’ve been our normal selves; that good form we had has gone. However, we’ve still won every single game since then, and that’s the difference from last year. We’ve got Liverpool next weekend which will take a good performance but before that it’s Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Preview to come. See ya.