A nice victory yesterday. Plenty of positives to take from the game. Our captain, leading by example, back to his best. The turn on the halfway line and the following pass to release Arshavin was a complete joy to watch.
Wenger sprung a surprise I must admit when he dropped Clichy and Sagna for Gibbs and Eboue, didn't see that one coming against a tough team such as Bolton, but ultimately it paid off. Clichy and Sagna will now be refreshed for an important midweek game versus Braga.
We started reasonably well, knocking the ball back. If Arshavin opened the scoring first time, we could of easily hit double figures. Don't ridicule Arshavin for missing goalscoring chances, he's a genuine goal threat. I remember a young Thierry Henry missing barrel loads of chances before finally finding his feet. Furthermore, Arshavin is getting into these positions and on another day could easily have had a hat trick.
A first goal came courtesy of Laurent Koscielny bundling in a Cesc knockdown from a lovely floated cross from Jack Wilshere. I like what Arsene Wenger is doing with young Jack. He's restricting his play (I believe) and putting him more defensively to learn that vital discipline he needs gradually give him a more important role in the team. You better believe it, Wilshere will be a dominant force for Arsenal.
The Bolton equaliser came from a flick on from Kevin Davies and Koscielny got caught out, misjudging the headed pass back. For those who are blaming Almunia, do me a favour! Sorry, but Kos has to take the blame for this one, as the Bolton winger rounded Almunia and clipped a lovely ball for Elmander to nod into the net.
Koscielny is a fantastic defender, and what I like about him is he clearly has alot of mental strength, not shying away once he made the mistake.
Around the hour mark, Arshavin played Fabregas into the corner of the box, who then dinked a delicious ball for Chamakh to power home a bullet header. No one should underestimate the role Cesc played in the goal. He showed a magnificent turn of pace to control the pass, looked up and delivered a brilliant cross for our new striker. Oh, and it was with his weaker left foot. Brilliant!Seeing Chamakh's tireless displays you can't help but think ''what if'' we signed him a year previously. Wenger has worked his magic on this lad, on a free transfer it is an absolute steal. He works his socks off for the team, wins pretty much every header, tracks back and seems a down to earth geezer. Keep it up!
A minute later, Gary Cahill was sent off for a reckless challenge. In the build up to the challenge, yes we were fortunate to not concede a free kick (yes Coyle, outside of the box denotes a free kick, not a penalty) but in no way does that justify Cahill's from behind lunge. Two feet were off the floor, and he missed the ball. For me, a definite red. How many challenges such as those could be damaging indeed?
From then on, we won at a canter. But, even without the sending off, I feel we had enough to win the game easily. Alex Song, rocking the dyed blonde look, showed glorious footwork to poke the ball through the legs of the Bolton defender and deftly dink the ball over the keeper from a tight angle. A beautiful goal, and worthy of being the 1000th Premier League under Arsene Wenger.
How the Robinson tackle went unnoticed by the media and such is beyond me. They caused alot of fuss about the Song challenge going unnoticed but an eerily silence surrounding the potential leg breaker from Robinson. Arseblog has a great picture here displaying the recklessness.
The fourth and final goal, for me, epitomises the style of football under Wenger. 25 odd passes knocked about, spurred on by the oles of the crowd, before the inspirational Cesc chipped the ball into the path of Carlos Vela. The pass was so perfect, Vela needn't have taken a touch. He ran onto the ball, and chipped the keeper. I jest. He showed remarkable composure before sidefooting the ball into the corner of the net. Great goal. A lesson in finishing from a player who has alot to prove. How, at 21 years old he has his doubters is beyond me.
All in all, our season is slowly building momentum, we look well adapted to deal with the dirty tactics approach against us.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, thanks for reading!
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