Arsenal 2 West Brom 3

By Aashish Siwan

Arsenal 2 West Brom 3

Arsenal failed to make ground on league leaders Chelsea, dropping three points at home to West Brom. Arsenal.com has a detailed match report of a performance that will long be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Chelsea’s loss away to Man City gave to Gunners an excellent opportunity to reduce the points gap to just one point, but an abject performance put paid to that.

A disappointing performance all round, with the one exception being that of Samir Nasri who valiantly tried right till the end and his two goals gave us hope of a comeback from being three goals down, but it wasn’t to be as we suffered the first defeat of the season. Even the ever protective Arsene Wenger showed his disappointment at the team’s performance.  

Take nothing away from the visitors, as West Brom outclassed us at our own game and Roberto Di Matteo, the West Brom manager, should be proud of his chargers.

Well, it’s onwards and upwards. Arsenal face an extremely difficult away trip that takes the Gunners to Serbia to face Partizan Belgrade. Kickoff is 7:45 am this coming Wednesday.

 

Come on the Arsenal!!

Spurs 1 Arsenal 4 (a.e.t)

By Aashish Siwan

Arsenal dumped North London neighbours Tottenham Hotspurs out of the Carling Cup in this morning’s third round clash at The White Hart Lane. This fixture is always hotly contested no matter what honours are up for grabs and today was no exception. Keeping that into mind, Wenger opted to field a side composed of young and experienced players, where as usually, only the Young Guns would get a run out. Wenger’s selection paid off as his team rose to the occasion and delivered a dominating display to book a place in the next round.

The North London derby has always produced its fair share of heroes and villains and this match was no different. There was a very special guest in amongst the spectators at The Lane and that of course was the one an only Arsene Wenger himself, watching his teams every move from the director’s box. The Arsenal boss wisely admitted the charge of using insulting and/or abusive language and behavior amounting to improper conduct, laid on him by the FA in the aftermath of the Sunderland match last weekend. The boss copped a one match sideline ban and was fined £8,000.

Arsenal started with Fabianski in goal and his inclusion was enough to create major doubts about the error prone goalkeeper’s ability to cope in such an intense fixture where more than bragging rights were at stake. Nevertheless, Wenger persisted with Fabianski knowing that a good performance may yet give the Pole a much needed confidence boost and the Pole on the other hand would have taken this match as a chance to prove to himself and his doubters that he can turn in a big match performances. Eboue started at right-back while Johan Djourou and Koscielny (making his North London derby debut) started at centre-back while Kieran Gibbs started at left-back. Denilson and Wilshere were given the midfield role flanked by Rosicky and Young Gun Henry Lansbury. Samir Nasri started just in behind lone forward Carlos Vela.

The atmosphere at The Lane was electric with both sets of supporters up for it as expected.

The Gunners started brightly with Vela shooting over early on. The Arsenal midfield pressed hard whenever Spurs were in possession. Fabianski cleared a ball straight into touch where he should have at least found an Arsenal player with only a couple of minutes of the match played. Touch of nerves perhaps or a hint of distraction, knowing that Gooners worldwide were judging his every move. Another player looking to redeem himself was former Gunner David Bentley but, like Fabianski for Arsenal, he did himself no favours firstly wasting a cross and then firing over from a free kick, which was the result of Djourou’s foul on Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Referee Lee Probert then had to deny Arsenal a penalty in the 11^th minute as Benoit Assou-Ekotto seemed to barge into Lansbury as he made his way to goal. Replays show that the ref made the right decision.

Fabianski then composed himself enough to clear under pressure before Denilson fired over and Lansbury skewed his daisy cutter to the left as Arsenal looked to maintain their grip on the match.

Lansbury then wrote himself into the record books with an easy tap in to give Arsenal the lead in the 15^th minute, scoring in his first team debut. Some good build up play between Eboue and captain Rosicky saw Wilshere released on the left. Wilshere then fired in a low hard cross and Lansbury sneaked in behind as the Spurs defence failed to lay the offside trap. 1-0 to the Arsenal as Lansbury and the travelling support went wild with celebration.

Arsenal continued to dominate their North London neighbours and it wasn’t long before the ole’s rang out as Spurs chased shadows before first Lansbury then Bentley shot over. Spurs seemed to resort to rotationally fouling Wilshere, who was involved with everything going forward. Jake Livermore ended up in the ref’s book with a foul on Wilshere.

Rosicky had a cross cleared by the Spurs defence and a shot saved by Spurs keeper Stipe Pletikosa before Pavlyuchenko managed to find the side netting with his effort. Pavlyuchenko then found himself in Probert’s book for a foul on Djourou as Spurs continued to be outplayed in their very own back yard.

Ref Probert was again under the spotlight as Gibbs was flagged offside. Replays show that Gibbs did well to get onto Wilshere’s delightful though ball and Wilson Palacios had clearly played Gibbs on side.

Djourou got in a strong challenge, in the Arsenal box, to deny Spurs before Kyle Naughton was cautioned for his foul on Rosicky on the 42^nd minute.

Arsene Wenger headed for the Arsenal dressing room for a half time team talk as halftime approached and there was no doubting who the happier manager would have been.

Spurs manager, Harry ‘Not a Wheeler Dealer’ Redknapp, looked like he’d seen a ghost during the first half, such was Arsenal’s dominance. So Harry decided to give his team some direction and brought on Robert ‘Robbie’ David Keane for Giovani Dos Santos and Aaron Justin Lennon for Jake Livermore.

The new arrivals seem to do the trick as Spurs started the second spell on the front foot, but still behind by Lansbury’s goal. Fabianski continued with his average display, failing to command the box in the 46^th minute, causing confusion between himself and Gibbs, with Lennon lurking close by. Not how you’d like to begin the second 45 away at Spurs and Fabianski, who saw this match as his chance to shine, was doing everything but.

Things only got worse for the Pole on the 48^th minute as Spurs equalised. There was more than a hint of offside as Keane latched onto a through ball and fired an early but weak shot, which went under Fabianski’s gloves. Regardless of the events leading up to Keane’s opportunity, Fabianski should have done better and his attempted save certainly did not cover him in glory. Not the stuff heroes are made off.

Needless to say, the early equaliser gave the hosts a boost as they started to dominate possession. A foul by Sebastien Bassong on Wilshere gave the Gunners a chance to relieve some pressure but Vela fired the resulting free kick over. Djourou then had to be alert to put in an excellent tackle to deny Keane, before Steven Caulker denied Vela with a good strong tackle at the other end as the Gunner’s looked to seize the initiative.

Eboue jinked his way free just before the hour mark but chose to shoot where Nasri was unattended to in the box. Vela headed over from Rosicky’s cross, before Rosicky stole in to feed Vela, but the Mexican’s attempt was well blocked. The ever-impressive Koscielny then had to clear the danger, being fouled in the process before Nasri had and attempt blocked and Wilshere had his attempt saved.

Lennon found himself clear on the 70^th minute but Koscielny raced back to put in the tackle of the match as Lennon took a bit too long to shoot (thankfully). Koscielny had to be absolutely sure of his tackle, as Lennon was the last man attacking, and so he did, showing Fabianski how to write his name in the North London derby hero’s book (if there is such a thing).

Wilshere had his shot blocked before Wenger passed on instruction from the stands to bring on Chamakh for Vela and Arshavin for Rosicky on the 72^nd minute. Chamakh then nearly gave Arsenal the lead as he failed (just) to get to the end of Gibbs’ cross before Koscielny was cautioned for a foul on Keane. Bentley stepped up and fired the resulting free kick straight at Fabianski. Lansbury then followed Koscielny into Probert’s book for a foul on Sandro on the 81^st minute before Keane hit the post with his attempt, but was flagged offside anyway.

The ever willing Chamakh then earned Arsenal a corner, which was wasted before Chamakh again won the ball back, only for Denilson to shoot horribly wide as tiredness crept in. Chamakh was foiled once again by the Spurs defence before the ref blew fulltime to take the match into extra time.

Both side had 1 spare substitution each and the longer the match went on the more likely it looked that Spurs would catch Arsenal on the counter, beating the high line held by the Arsenal backline.

Arsenal carried their dominance into the first spell of extra time and play was barely a minute old when Bassong pulled Nasri down in the box and Probert pointed to the spot for a stonewalled penalty. Bassong escaped a card (as Nasri was last man attacking) and Nasri stepped up and buried the ball past Pletikosa, all the while keeping composed as he faced the home supporters (while taking the penalty), who tried in vain to distract him.

Arsenal were in front and the Spurs defence seemed to go into complete meltdown when Caulker fouled Chamakh in the box three minutes later. There was still no card for the defender and Nasri again stepped up, held his nerves and sent Pletikosa the wrong way to give Arsenal a 3-1 advantage at the home of Arsenal’s fiercest rivals. Nasri’s brace was enough to send the majority of the Spurs fans heading for the exit with only four minutes of extra time played. The fan’s that did remain, where either commiserating or on the phone, amending travel arrangements (maybe, but they were on their phones). No Gooner was about to move an inch as the red half of North London completely and utterly dominated the other half.

Bentley again missed his header from close range when scoring would have been easier before Chamakh just failed to get to Arshavin’s cross.

Gibb’s was then seen hobbling off in the 11^th minute as Clichy made his way in. There were grave fears that Gibbs might have broken the second bone on his metatarsal, so a relief then to learn that his injury is not as thought.

The small man for big occasions, Arshavin, then rubbed salt into the open wounds of the hosts with a brilliantly taken goal, as he fired low and hard into the far corner. Arshavin’s goal coming from a quick free kick, taken by Clichy as it was 4-1 to Arsenal in the first half of extra time.

Keane did have an attempt cleared off the line by Nasri, but that is as close as Spurs came to getting their second. Probert put Spurs out of their misery 15 minutes later as Arsenal won with a dominating display that wiped out the memory of a 5-1 Carling Cup loss a couple of seasons ago.

Man of the match would have to be Samir Nasri. He showed nerves of steel, tucking away two penalties while facing the Spurs fans. He didn’t shirk away from his defensive duties either. An honourable mention too goes out to young Jack Wilshere who was very impressive in attacking play and did extremely well in a very daunting environment. It seems that there was no bringing the young man down as he was probably the most fouled Arsenal player out there and he simply got up and went on with the task at hand every time he was fouled. Almost all the Gunners played well and their performance was one that makes heroes and legends.

Fabianski would have been a relived man after seeing his team mates band together and rescue the result and come away with a win from White Hart Lane. One can only imagine response in the media had the error prone goalkeeper’s mistake (that allowed Spurs to draw level) lead to Arsenal being knocked out, but it wasn’t to be as the Spurs defence crumbled under pressure and Arsenal marched on to a famous victory.

Up next, it’s back to the Premier League when West Brom come to the Emirates. Kick off it as 3 am this Sunday morning.

Come on you Gunners!!

Sunderland 1 Arsenal 1

By Aashish Siwan

Goals: Sunderland – Bent 90+4:14’ Arsenal – Fabregas 13’

Ten men Arsenal were denied all three points by a second half stoppage time strike from ex-Spurs striker, Darren Bent. So late was Bent’s strike, that it seemed that the ref added time onto the four added minutes already signaled by the fourth match official. This draw also sees the Gunners miss out on the opportunity to go top of the table, albeit for the next 24 hours.

The gunners started with the same line up that demolished Braga midweek and whether it was the fatigue (having just 3 and a bit days to recover after the Champions League opener) or the arduous journey to the North East of England to the Stadium of light, but the Gunners started slowly.  All credit to Sunderland who pressed Arsenal all over the park and dominated possession in the first half.

Cristian Riveros shot wide in the first minute and Jordan Henderson’s cross was cleared by Fabregas a minute later before Arshavin shot over in reply. Henderson and Ahmed Elmohamady lead the onslaught on the Arsenal back four as Sunderland mounted pressure.

Then, in a fortunate turn of events, Arsenal took the lead. Captain Fabregas, leading by example and trying to spur the Gunners into action, raced down and got a block in on Anton Ferdinand just as the Sunderland defender was about to clear. The ball then just seemed to ricochet off Fabregas, and ended in the back of the Sunderland net over keeper Simon Mignolet, who had no chance what so ever as the ball dropped in behind him from 40 odd yards. That goal has to go down and one of the most freakish goals of all time and had Ferdinand and Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce, looking towards the heavens. The goal even had the match score board confused as it read Sunderland 1 Arsenal 0 for about half a minute after the goal. A goal against the run of play for Arsenal that no Gooner would have complained about as it was 1-0 to the Arsenal within only 13 minutes of play. The lead though did come at a cost as Fabregas seemed to pick up an injury in the process, but being the leader he is, Fabregas decided to run it off to try and get his team going.

Looking to get back into the contest, Sunderland seemed to turn things up a notch as they mounted attack after attack which Arsenal dealt with just fine as the hosts seemed to lack the cutting edge in terms of strike power.

Song then had a shot saved by Mignolet on the 19^th minute before Jack Wilshere picked up a booking for a foul on Danny Welbeck as the Arsenal midfield tried gain control of the match. Clichy cleared from the resulting free kick before Almunia gathered smartly from a Henderson corner. Almunia was again on hand to deny Steed Malbranque on the 24^th minute before Nasri foiled Riveros while Arshavin’s attempt was saved by Mignolet at the other end.

Fabregas then gave in to his injury and was replaced by Tomas Rosicky just before the half hour mark. The injury to Fabregas was surely a huge blow to a battling Arsenal side but his replacement Rosicky, had been in fine form himself in pre-season and early season.

Arsenal withstood further attacks by the host with Song, Koscielny, Almunia, Clichy and Nasri all doing their bit to preserve the lead before Song was cautioned for a foul on Henderson on the 38^th minute but Arsenal held on to take their advantage into halftime.

Welbeck missed with his effort just after the restart as Sunderland looked to maintain pressure. Arshavin again fired over before Welbeck was cautioned for a foul on Sagna before Chamakh had a golden opportunity to extend Arsenal’s lead as the Moroccan seemed to take a touch too many after being found by Wilshere. Mignolet saved to keep his team in the match.

Unsuccessful attempts on goal were then exchanged by both teams before ref Phil Dowd sent Alex Song off for a second bookable offence, for Song’s foul on Malbranque on the 55^th minute. Song departed leaving Wenger rather unhappy at Dowd’s decision in sending Song off for a rather innocuous foul which Malbranque lead Song into.

Nevertheless, Arsenal had a lead to protect and Denilson replaced Arshavin four minutes later. Riveros then found himself in Dowd’s book for a foul on Chamakh.

Then came the moment when Arsenal could have made sure of the 3 points as the Gunners were awarded a penalty for Elmohamady’s foul on Nasri in the Sunderland box. With neither Fabregas or Arshavin (previous succesful penalty takers) on hand, stand in captain, Rosicky (whose name was the first to come to my mind as soon as Dowd pointed to the spot), stepped up to the spot. Rosicky fired over to the dismay of many a Gooner present at the Stadium or following the match around the world. The missed penalty seem to rejuvenate the home side and a slip by Denilson nearly let Sunderland new boy, Asamoah Gyan, in only for Almunia to get in off his line and clear. The Arsenal number one was alert enough to the danger and did extremely well to get to the ball before Gyan and cleared to an area where there were no Sunderland players waiting for a follow up shot as the net was left unguarded. A Sunderland equaliser with 10 minutes to go would surely have put the cat amongst the pigeons and so Almunia’s intervention was extremely important.

Malbranque picked up a caution for a foul on Denilson as Sunderland tried to turn their pressure into points but the Arsenal defence held strong as the regulation time drew closer.

The fourth official added on four minutes and the Gunners seemed to have held on for a well earned 3 points until ref Dowd allowed play to go on past the fourth added minute and Clichy’s clearance hit Koscielny and ended kindly for Bent to fire home. Sunderland finally had their equaliser they had been frantically searching for. The draw turned out to be a fair result in the end as both goals had more than a hint of fortune to them.

The 1-1 draw is certainly an improvement on last season’s loss for Arsenal and only a lack of creativity in the final third stopped Arsenal from falling further behind in this morning’s match.

Much will be made of the Arsenal defence in the coming days but they held firm and defended superbly for most part, marshaled by Manuel Almunia, who would be a candidate for the Arsenal man of the match only to be beaten to it by Laurent Koscielny. Koscielny put in a marvelous shift, defending amicably and seems like a seasoned veteran at this level of football.

At the end of it all, I would consider it two points dropped as, to be honest, the Gunners were outplayed for a large part of that match as Sunderland played rather Arsenal like. Alex Song’s sending off could be looked at as a reason for today’s draw but even with a man down and the ref allowing play to continue for a fair few seconds more (in stark contrast to last week’s match when Everton were in on goal to take the lead against Man. United and the match ref called time), the basic rule of the game is to play to the whistle and the Gunners were guilty of not doing that. The missed penalty would have changed the outlook of this game completely but so did Almunia’s brilliant save.

Arsenal were found lacking by Steve Bruce’s Sunderland who would have identified some areas of improvement for Wenger in time for the next match.

The Carling Cup is up next where we travel to the White Hart Lane to take on Spurs. Wenger may opt for a mix of young and experienced Gunners for this special trip to the neighbors and kickoff is at 6:45 am, this coming Wednesday.

Come on you Gunners!

 

 

The Real Arsenal 6 The Arsenalistas 0

By Aashish Siwan

 

The Gunners, lead by an inspired Cesc Fabregas, put in a barnstorming performance, without even getting out of second gear for much of the game, to smash six goals past Champions League newcomers, S C Braga (also known as The Arsenalistas, which means the Arsenalists according to Arsenal.com). Braga also use kits similar to Arsenal and the history behind it all is explained better here.

Arsenal started with Almunia in goal (so none of the shocking goalkeeping in the first round of this season’s tournament as we had to bear in last season thanks to a jittery Fabianski). Sagna started at right-back, Koscielny and Squillaci both made their Champions League debuts for Arsenal at centre-back while Clichy started at left-back. Midfield was anchored by Wilshere and Song, both would have been given the responsibility of providing extra cover to the Arsenal back four in case of any counter attacks as expected by Wenger. Arshavin started on the left-wing and Nasri (recently recovered from a knee op) at right-wing while captain Fabregas started in just behind lone forward Chamakh (also making his Champions League debut in the red and white of Arsenal).

The Gunners started like a runaway freight train with Fabregas having two penalty claims turned down within the first six minutes. But there was no denying Chamakh’s claim which the ref rightfully awarded as he was brought down in the area by Braga goalkeeper Luiz Felipe, after being played clean through by Fabregas. The Brazilian was cautioned for his foul. Fabregas stepped up to the spot and it was one nil to the Arsenal with only 8 minutes on the clock. Felipe judged Fabregas’ spot kick correctly but the sheer power that Fabregas put behind the ball saw the Emirates faithful in good voice.

Braga looked for the quick reply after Wilshere and Arshavin had unsuccessful attempts on goal in quick succession but Squillaci got in to block a 20 yarder from Luis Aguiar before Almunia saved form a Rocha Cesar attempt from a similar distance. Almunia was on hand again to save from Cesar on the 20^th minute before Alberto Rodriguez was cautioned for a foul on Chamakh.

Arshavin, guilty of loosing possession on more than one occasion, doubled Arsenal’s lead just before the half hour mark when he beat the offside trap to latch onto a Fabregas (who went past two Braga defenders with consummate ease) through ball  to fire into the bottom left-hand corner. Filipe had no chance.       

Arshavin had a shot blocked by Pinheiro Moises before the Gunners went 3-0 up. Wilshere managed to make his way towards the Braga box, after a one two with Chamakh, before putting in a cheeky backheel that Chamakh ran on to and buried past a helpless Felipe. Arsenal were coasting at 3-0 within 33 minutes.

There were no signs of any danger, to the Arsenal back four, from a side that navigated past Celtic and Sevilla in the qualifying rounds and the first 45 minutes ended with the Gooners in attendance well please with their side’s effort.

The Gunners seemed to ease into the second half but it wasn’t too long before Fabregas and Arshavin combined to increase the lead. Arshavin’s beautifully lofted cross was met by an unmarked Fabregas who made no mistakes from close range. The Arsenal skipper was now on a hat trick.  

Braga’s chances on goal were rather limited with Wilshere and Song doing their job well (the team defending and pressing the ball as a whole) and Koscielny and Squillaci comfortably dealt with whatever little filtered through.

Wenger then brought on Carlos Vela for Chamakh and Song was replaced by Denilson before Sagna found himself in the ref’s book with a foul on Cesar. Fabregas was denied his hat trick when his lob was cleared off the line and Arshavin then found the base of the post with a thumping drive from just inside the box before Vela opened his Champions League account with a Vela special. Arshavin released Vela in the Braga box and the young Mexican again showed a deft touch, lobbing Filipe with ease. One Champions League goal after only six minutes of action. Not too shabby.  

The home crowd were calling for Eboue to come on and the boss did not disappoint as Arshavin was taken off to give Eboue a chance to run at a tiring Braga defence.

Vela shot just over from outside the box with 10 minutes to go before smashing in Arsenal’s sixth goal of the night. The impressive Fabregas again the provider as he was closed quickly by the Braga defence when a shot was on but still managing to put Vela through who rounded off the scoring with a cool finish.

The ref blew for fulltime to end a great start to this season’s Champions League campaign for Arsenal.

Before the kick off, it was understandable for the Arsenal manager to pay his respects to this Braga team who finished second in the Portuguese League last season and a bit more counter attacking football was expected from the debutants and the new look central defence paring of Koscielny and Squillaci would have been on high alert. But the Gunners defended as a team and managed to keep a clean sheet which is quite pleasing. Six goals between four different players from a team missing van Persie, Bendtner, Diaby, Ramsey and Walcott is not too bad either.

Man of the match would have to go to captain Fabregas for his assists, his general plays and the brace of goals. Fantastic stuff from the World Cup Winner!

Up next, it’s back to the Premier League where we have an away trip to the Stadium of Light were Steve Bruce’s Sunderland await. Arsenal unexpectedly dropped 3 point in the same fixture last year and more of today’s one team mentality, while defending, will be needed if we are to improve on last year’s result.

In other news, the Arsenal management have not confirmed the extent of Diaby’s injury yet with Arsene Wenger being vague about Diaby’s absence. One can only wish that Diaby was not too badly hurt in that reckless challenge from Paul ‘…and the award goes to…’ Robinson. We all know that Wenger has been on a one-man crusade to get the officials and the F.A to protect all players (not just Arsenal players even though the Gunners seem to be targeted more) a lot better than what they are now. The Arsenal boss has called for the F.A to make use of the modern day technology available (i.e. video replays) in the 21^st century to punish people like Robinson who get away with what was basically an assault on a player who did Robinson no harm. Now, away from the football pitch, someone like Robinson could be looking at time behind bars but on the pitch, he gets away with it. If Rugby and Rugby League can use video match official’s only god knows why that technology cannot be implemented in the most recognised sport in the world. How many more injuries of the types to Diaby (ankle smashed in by Dan Smith of Sunderland), Eduardo (double leg break thanks to Martin Taylor of Birmingham) and Aaron Ramsey (double leg break last year thanks to Ryan Shawcross of Stoke City) do we have to go through for someone to take notice?. Promising England and Fulham striker, Bobby Zamora, was last week put out of action for a few months with a broken leg thanks to Wolves captain Karl Henry.

Even more physical sports of Rugby and Rugby League don’t have such a horrendous track record of opposing players maiming opponents without paying severe penalties. The maximum one can expect for a straight red, which is quite often the penalty for a reckless tackle in football, is a 3-match ban where as the players on the receiving end of the tackle and their clubs come far worse off. There is a lesson to be learnt here so take note whoever is in charge and fair play to Arsene Wenger for sticking to his guns even though is pleas fall on deaf years.

Arsenal 4 Bolton 1

 

By Aashish Siwan

Goals Arsenal: Koscielny 24’, Chamakh 58’, Song 78’, Vela 83’ Goals Bolton: Elmander 44’

Arsenal comfortably dispatched Bolton at the Emirates on Sunday morning. Robin van Persie (out for up to 6 weeks), Vermaelen (could feature against Braga on Thursday), Bendtner (could be back by the end of the month), Ramsey (has started running and could be back in a couple of months) and most notably an in form Walcott (out for 6 weeks thanks to international duties) were all not available.  Sebastien Squillaci was handed his Arsenal first team debut and was given the arduous task of marking Kevin ‘Elbows and Divey’ Davies.

The Gunners, not to be fazed by the Elbow of Davies, started with Almunia in goal, Eboue at right-back while Koscielny partnered Squillaci at centre-back, young Gibbs at left-back, captain Fabregas, Song’s new hair-do and Rosicky in midfield while Wilshere, Arshavin and Chamakh headed the attack.

Fabregas had an attempt blocked by Zat Knight in the first minute but Arshavin should really have put Arsenal ahead in the third. Arshavin was put through by a sumptuous cross-field ball from Rosicky but the Russian dwelled on the ball too long giving Adam Bogdan (Bolton’s debutant goalkeeper) enough time to compose himself and save. Arshavin should have done better with an opportunity which looked far easier than the one he did actually score from at Ewood park.  

The early opportunities set the precedence for the rest of the half as there was no sign of the rustiness so often expected after an international break. 

Squillaci headed over from a corner, before Rosicky saw his effort sail wide from just inside the box inside the first 10 minutes. Almunia did well to save a shot from Davies and Fabregas cleared from a corner as Bolton looked to respond to the early pressure. True to form, Divey Davies then left Wilshere in a heap and needing treatment on the pitch. As heavy as Davies’ challenge was, ref Stuart Atwell allowed for play to continue (no doubt waiting for play the ball to go dead before brandishing his yellow card) but the ball stayed in play and Davies fouled again. This time Rosicky was on the receiving end and the ref had no choice but to show Davies a yellow. One has to wonder if Davies would have been sent off if he had received a yellow for his first offence (on Wilshere). Thankfully, neither tackles put either one of the two Gunners out of action and the Gunners dusted themselves off and carried on to take the lead.

In the 24^th minute, Wilshere found Fabregas via a lovely ball, now whether the Arsenal captain fluffed his attempt or genuinely laid the ball on is debatable, but Koscielny was on hand regardless and scrambled the ball in. Koscielny was rumoured to have an eye for goal but what was impressive was that he was in there amongst the Bolton defenders and reacted first to the second ball. One nil to the Arsenal!!

Looking to build on the lead, Fabregas and Rosicky both had attempts saved by Bogdan while Arshavin missed his attempt again. Almunia then saved an attempt from Martin Petrov before Gibbs was shown a yellow for a foul on Petrov.

As with the match against Liverpool, Koscielny again had mixed fortunes as he headed back to no one (in particular) under no pressure leaving Almunia stranded. Try as they might, both Koscielny and Almunia failed to stop Chung-Yong Lee from providing an assist from which Johan Elmander levelled matters. A silly goal to concede and Wenger would not have been please as it sounded all too familiar where the Gunners had an abundance of possession but still conceded under no considerable pressure.

The equaliser would have given Bolton an unwanted boost to come back in the second half and try and make a game of this match yet.

Gretar Steinsson was the next name in Atwell’s book as he illegally stopped Wilshere breaking away before Bogdan saved an attempt that Chamakh fired straight at him.

The longer the match remained at 1-1, the more confidence Bolton would get and there was always a risk of another attack or elbow or dive that would unsettle the Gunners so a collective sigh of relief was breathed when Chamakh rose and met a Fabregas corner to power home his second goal in the red and white of Arsenal. Bogdan tried hard but had no chance such was the power behind the header as Chamakh scored a typical centre forwards goal but his power and positional sense was there for all to see and suddenly we weren’t missing van Persie as much.

Wilshere was taken off and Diaby was brought on in the 58^th minute as Wenger looked to add some steel to the midfield and provide more cover for the back four. Not so much Elbowey then Divey Davies’ foul on Koscielny then riled Eboue so much that the Ivorian picked up a yellow for dissent.

The combative nature of both teams, especially some of the rough tackles, had players on the edge and rather inexplicably, ref Atwell sent off Gary Cahill in the 63^rd minute for a foul on Chamakh who showed some neat skills to release Gibbs down the left only to be bundled out of play by Cahill. In all fairness to Cahill, his foul deserved a caution at the most but the red card to Cahill might have also been shown to calm simmering tensions between the players but was harsh on Bolton none the less, not that I am complaining.

Diaby then hobbled off on the 70^th minute due to a crude challenge by Paul Robinson, which Diaby wasn’t too pleased about as the pair exchanged words and the hand bags were duly brought out. Replays showed Robinson’s challenge was a more likely candidate for a straight red compared to that of Cahill but Robinson didn’t even get a caution. Now, if there are any aspiring actors out there, they will do well to take a look at the aftermath of Robinson’s tackle on Diaby in how Robinson tried his best to fake injury to himself to try and get away with it and was ultimately successful. Robinson knew he was in trouble and was seen to do a Roy Keane over Diaby to which Diaby (who we all know has come back from a horror injury himself and seen Eduardo and Ramsey go through that same type of injury due to reckless tackles) took exception. Fair enough Diaby (who I thought had a far enough reach to sock Robinson despite the best intentions of his teammates to keep him out of trouble).

The match was very much delicately poised regardless of Chamakh’s goal and Alex Song’s hair took onto itself to ease any concerns. Arshavin put Song through but Song seemed to have lost the clear shot at goal in nutmegging Robinson and trying to avoid an onrushing Bogdan and all seemed lost as Song went dangerously close to the touchline. That is the point where Song’s hair took over, gave Song some magical powers, which enabled him to lob the ball over Bogdan from the tightest of angles all the while falling to the ground. Pure magic, but nothing less would have done for Arsenal’s 1000th goal under the management of Arsene Wenger! Song’s goal put a bit of daylight between Arsenal and Bolton and relaxed a few squeaky bums (mainly mine).

Denilson, out of action since March, tried his luck from long range but Bogdan was equal to the task this time and pushed Denilson’s effort out for a corner, which Squillaci headed wide.

Carlos Vela then made a rare league appearance when he replaced the easer of tense moments, Chamakh. Within minutes of his arrival, Vela scored Arsenal’s fourth as Fabregas picked up his run and put in a killer through ball that ripped the Bolton defence apart. No to let his captain down, Vela controlled the pass amicably, composed himself and fired in a goal that Thierry Henry would have been proud of.

The match ended at the end of five added minutes and match referee would stand to come under heavy criticism in the coming days for the sending off of Cahill but take nothing away from a battling Arsenal side that did not let Bolton’s equaliser get them down and stuck to their task. Even though the goal conceded was not welcome, the four scored from four different players (and not just attackers) bodes well but let’s not get too excited. An honourable mention too has to be made to Squillaci who put in a solid, consistent and reassuring performance in the face of what a lot of Gooners would consider a defensive nightmare, which came in the form of the absence of Vermaelen. The new centre back pairing of Koscielny and Squillaci did well and so did Eboue and Gibbs. Also a mention to Kevin Davies who wasn’t really as elbwey and divey and had a good honest game. Yeah right!

My man of the match has to be the one and only Alexander Dimitry Song Billong. Not only was his goal brilliant and amazing and befitting the significance, he was up to his usual best defending, dispossessing, protecting the ball and his team mates all across the pitch. He put in a powerful performance and contributed well in the attacking play as well.  

Up next, we kick off the new Champions League season when Braga come to the Emirates. Kick-off is as 6:45 am this Thursday and Sky has the match live.