Arsenal 2 Bolton Wanderers 1: Three points but no gold stars

Dennis Bergkamp - A sublime finish

Arsene had pretty well a full squad to choose from but appeared to make little or no provision for forthcoming matches with regard to today’s team selection. On the bench were Stack, Cygan, Kanu, Reyes and Ljungberg. The team itself was as you’d imagine, with Gilberto starting on the right and Edu central. The skies were grey and the swirling rain in a strong wind did nothing to make control easy, the conditions were difficult throughout the match with the wind mainly against us in the first half.

Allardyce has worked wonders for Bolton but since D’Urso allowed the Wanderers to kick shit out of us at the Reebok big Sam is one of the most despised managers by Arsenal fans. A fifteen-minute delay occurred due to some collapsed scaffolding near the ground, which required a road closure, it really was that windy! We finally kicked off towards the Clock End and it was nine passes before Wanderers were allowed to touch the ball. Graham Barber showed his game plan early on when Henry was taken late but nothing was given, then Cole was obstructed and nothing was given. A joke free kick against Campbell wide on our left ended up with Nolan making a pig’s ear of a shot. It’s good to laugh at Bolton. At the other end Henry rattled the bar with Jaaskelainen beaten from a shot where there was seemingly no backlift. Compo caught Pires late as Robert’s shot was deflected and could have gone anywhere. Bolton sat back and Barber usually stood in the way of any promising move. Pat made a mistake but Steilos couldn’t capitalise.

Kolo to Henry to Pires as we started to hit a groove. Henry had a low shot saved from range. Handball against Compo was not given. Bolton managed a two on two but Lauren sorted them out. Edu on the left side played one forward for Bergkamp who laid it off and moved away, Rob took it on, cut inside and hit a sweet side-footed bender into the top corner, far post. 1-0 Arsenal and a great goal with less than half an hour gone.

We won a corner after a shot that hit Charlton and could have gone anywhere. Compo hacked away at Gilberto and it was worthy of a yellow but Barber did nothing because Silva played on well. A strange back header by a Bolton player almost beat his own keeper but the wind took it away for an Arsenal corner. Henry saw his corner punched out from just under the bar. Dennis to Rob and onto Ashley quickly with a hard to take ball that Ash got on target but it was well saved. Stelios had a habit of hitting the ground all too easily but Barber bought it every time. Lehmann caught a high one well. Vieira to Pires with another great sweeping ball, and we were looking the part at this stage. To prove me right Pires found Henry breaking left with Dennis charging down the right, the timing, run and pass were perfect as the Iceman hit home our second low at the near post. 2-0 Arsenal. Some blinding play followed and we should have killed them off, but didn’t.

Stelios was down again as Okocha hit the wall from the free-kick and their attack petered out. Handball by Compo, blatant but no yellow card. Pedersen tripped Henry after he beat three men. There was driving rain now as we played some possession football. Nolan hacked down Edu after about twenty Arsenal passes; maybe we were knocking it around until the rain eased off. Davies had a limp effort from range. Cole saw off Jay Jay with a fine tackle. Compo was late on Pires, well worth a card. Henry set up Gilberto who’s low shot was well saved. Kolo was far too good for Nolan and won a goal kick. Bolton’s passes were going astray in the difficult conditions but they relied on their set plays anyway, needless to say they scored from one. The wind caught Lehmann scrambling to punch clear, the ball was shot back in by Okocha, cleared off the line but fell to Compo who hit it into the roof of our net. 2-1 with four minutes left in the half. We’d slackened off and tried to coast, which you can’t do against Bolton.

Time left for Stelios to obstruct Edu, he needed treatment. Okocha long throws became their game plan as Arsenal lost the plot for a while. A Pedersen cross from the left had Stelios get in a header that skimmed our bar. Arsenal broke through Kolo in the added minute and won a corner that Barber didn’t give. Consistency in referees is always welcome, but not if they are consistently crap.

Gilberto is tackled by Ivan Campo

The wind changed and blew more from the west but still swirled all over the place, the evidence being the flags on top of the stands, which blew every which way. Bolton had the first attack of the half and the first foul when Thome did Henry. Stelios popped up on their left and his cross landed on the roof of our net. Dennis was fouled but nothing given. Davies missed a chance for a header following a fine cross in from their right. Arsenal broke. Wanderers broke. But there attacks in the main it was the long ball hoof and we didn’t get to play it on the ground as much as we’d like. Compo hung onto Henry with both hands and gave Barber his fourth opportunity to book the chubby little twat with the shagpile haircut. Edu to Dennis; almost. Campbell and Lauren defended well but we needed to get hold of the game. Another free-kick on their left had the East Stand complaining bitterly.

Lehmann failed to get to the ball in traffic, one of numerous iffy moments for our man in orange. Pires almost got in as Cole broke but we were not at our best at this stage. Compo missed a ball that fell to Henry, who shot first time, but Jaaskelainen pulled out a fine diving save. Cole won what looked like a good tackle judging by the way the ball went away but got a booking. A spell of head tennis in midfield to shouts of ‘get the ****ing thing on the floor Arsenal’ ended when Gilberto broke and won a corner. Fine acting by Compo followed a Gilberto tackle, strangely the expected ambulance for his broken leg never arrived, instead he walked away unscathed. Henry hit the turbo and found Gilberto who held off players to set up Pires with a chance he had to take early, it was off target.

Dennis had a wild shot after some fine flashy stuff by the world’s best player. Vieira’s nutmeg on Compo was well received before Freddie replaced Gilberto who’d played well. Jens hoofed out with a bad slice. Stelios went into his swan lake routine once more before fouling Pat. An Edu solo was followed by an Okocha cross that Lehmann held. Henry and Pires broke once more but couldn’t find the required killer ball. Dennis gave Freddie a one-on-one chance and Freddie felt he was shoved in the back in the area, so did the North Bank. The prat Barber didn’t.

Nolan was replaced by Frandsen. Henry on a run found Cole on a run. Okocha aimed a cross at Stelios that Lehmann dropped for another brown trouser moment, thankfully he recovered. Kolo was the man in form at the back as the wind seemed to swirl even more and had the beating of both teams at times. Jens off his line and out towards the touch was spasmodically losing the plot. With six minutes to go Henry was through on goal, in the box and taken down from behind. No penalty, why I don’t know, it looked a nailed on cast iron certainty, but that’s without reckoning on a **** called Barber.

A Maradona style handball by Pedersen was actually seen by the apology for a ref and a yellow card was forthcoming. Dennis was taken out with his back to goal; nothing given by the man with the white stick. Kolo went on a mad solo down the right with no support, so he just kept going and going. Okocha screwed up a Bolton free-kick before Cygan replaced Pires. Kolo then had another blistering solo down our left. Two minutes of added time and a half-scissors kick by a player, wearing a kit similar to when we won the League at Anfield, went over Jens bar. Three points is three points is three points, and nine league wins in the last nine matches is more than impressive but we didn’t hit top gear today. Maybe their minds were on other things.

Today’s other new milestones included a record unbroken run (29) from the start of the season in the Premiership and a best consecutive run without defeat (31) which includes two games from last season. But Arsene doesn’t care and we don’t care because it’s the trophies we’re after, not the records. What it does mean though is that we are edging ever closer to a Championship, every game where we maintain the gap is one less opportunity left for our rivals to close it. Nine matches to go and Arsene Wenger; you require 19 points. Surely the fat lady is gargling in her dressing room and flexing her tonsils ready for her big moment.

I’d like to add a worthy note of special thanks this week to John who queued for two and a half hours in order to obtain our Champions League tickets for Stamford Bridge next week. Top man!