Arsenal 4-1 Bolton
* Koscielny 24————* Elmander 44
* Chamakh 58—————————-
* A Song 78————————-
* Vela 83—-——————
Even without Walcott, Clichy, Sagna and Vermaelen and Robin van Persie, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has sufficient depth to win 4-1 vs a hard Bolton side.
Laurent Koscielny put the gunners in front in the 24th minute but then the Frenchman’s defensive error allowed Johan Elmander to level a minute before half-time.
But Arsenal turned on the style as Maroune Chamakh headed in the first of three second-half goals from six yards.
Gary Cahill was sent off for a dangerous tackle before, and then Alex Song fantastic finish and Carlos Vela completed the rout.
The Frenchman also gave compatriot and £6m signing Salvatore Squillaci his debut with Thomas Vermaelen unavailable because of an Achillies injury.
Andrei Arshavin had a fustrating day being caught offside and missing a host of chances. Cesc Fabregas was back to his best and was opening up the visitors with easy.
Songs goal was Arsenal’s 1000th of Arsene Wenger’s rein.
Ratings
Almunia 7.0 : Did well, no chance for the goal Eboue, 7.0 : Great going forward Koscielny 6.0 : Scored the first but at fault for the Bolton goal Squillaci 7.0 : Didnt do anything wrong, looking solid Gibbs 6.5 : Could of done better for the goal. Arshavin 5.5 : Missed a host of chances but worked hard Fabregas 8.5 : Back to his best, Made everything happen [MOTM] Rosicky 7.5 : Picked out some wonderful passes with the outside of the boot Wilshere 6.5 : Did ok but not his best game Song 8.0 : Scored a wonderful goal, but his passing was off. Chamakh 8.0 : Scored a great header and worked the line very well.
Subs Diaby 6,0 : Came on for JW and then went off after a nasty tackle Denilson 6.0 : Came on for Diaby and slotted in well. Vela 7.5 : Showed Arshavin how to finish, took his goal very well
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Arshavin had a great game except for his finishing. Song too!
I thought 2nd half koscielny dominated kevin davies outmuscling him, sticking to him not giving him time on the ball thought he was really good just needs to cut out the little mistakes
I just hope that Diaby isn’t too badly injured as we can’t afford to loose another player this early in the season especially with the Champions League and Carling Cup against the lot up the road, coming up and also hard games against the likes of Man U and Chelsea in the league. I hope that Arshavin can start to score a few like he did in his first season when he was absolutely great, but his form seems to have dipped of late, Come on Arshavin keep up the good work you started.
Good game but i think wenger shuld start vela subsequently 2 prove d fact dt arshavin is despensable. Its obvious wenger is gonna prefer squillaci n vermerlen playin d centre bak n i tink eboue shuld b shifted forward awaitin theo’s return 4rm injury while rosicky always start ahead of diaby n denilson in d middle. Nice weekend
Song made it happen.
I admire Arsenal and arenal’s fans
Keep it up.
Chamakh-7.5(not an 8 class),Kos-6.5(bad error though)
otherwise perfect rating
Song and Cesc made it count
What keeps Arshavin in the team ahead of Vela is just the transfer money spent on him-15M
I gotta say that I’ve been berating arshavin for quite a while due to his “can’t be bothered” attitude. Nut today, although his finishing wasn’t great, he looked well up for the game and played much better than I’ve seem for a while. If he puts thatuch effort onto every game this season then I’ll be happy!!!
A good game in general but little mistakes can ruin us if we make them against the wrong team. Luckily we pulled it all together in the second half and looked in good form. Chamakh looked to be very tricky to handle for Bolton and Fab was fabulous! Squillaci did a pretty good job i think and its nice to have Rosicky in there opening up space. Its kinda like having two fab’s! I don’t know whats happening with Arshavin though, he’s one of my favorite players but just can’t get it together. He needs to stay on the left. Watching him constantly run offside just proves he’s no central striker, just keep him in his natural position and watch him improve. Over all, Looking at our line up while considering our injuries, it would seem that we do have good depth in the team!
cesc wasnt that good and koscielny was probably man of the match and arshavin was real good except for his finishing
Fabregas today playe wel and for sure next match he will be at his best.an entertaining match it was and i know, Rosisky and Asxhavin will open their scoring abiliities next match. Go the gunners! this time you are fantastique!
Totally agree with John. read on somewhere else that Koscielny isn’t cutting it. In the 2nd half, Davies decided to play him by falling over trying to win free kicks. It was him that backed off after the clash of heads not Koscielny. He is a real tough nut and will get better and better. Can’t wait to see him up against Drogba and Rooney.
Thought Chamakh was excellent held up the ball brilliantly and was a constant threat – on the ground and in the air. deserved a 9 in my opinion.
Thought rosicky was back to his very best in the first half but faded a little in the second – deserved at least an 8.5
Fabregas played well – but couldnt get it out of my head that he didint look 100% interested, compounded when I saw him pick player of the season award prior to ko where he genuinly didnt seem to give a toss – all that tapping up has affected him without any doubt.
great performance by arsenal. game should have been wrapped up in first half but glad to see us win so emphatically in what is usually a tough encounter. thought the ref was crap he lost control of the match and let the boltan players intimidate him davies should hav went in the first half.
fabregas and rosicky put on a passing display in the first half that few in the game can match. arshavin like everyone has mentioned at least kept trying to score instead of getting frustrated and giving up like he did last yr. i thought chamakh was brilliant again i really like his attitude he covers alot of ground tracking back to win the ball and to help out defensively. his passing is crisp and decisive and it is now great to have a player that is an arerial threat to the oppostion.
song had a good game again he is a strong big player and we need a player with his presence against bully boy tactic teams like bolton, his passing was a bit off but what a great goal that was thierry henry stuff. the defense was ok providing it was our 2 centre backs first game together gibbs was unlucky to be booked i think everytime an arsenal player now goes to ground he gets booked maybe there is a rule that we arsenal fans dont know about, that arsenal are only allowed to play pretty football but they are not allowed to tackle the opposition.
over all it is great to see that we can field a team that is missing a few key players and still hammer what was one of our bogey teams.
is it a new centre back pairing? Oh! I thought it is our new striking pair in the first goal. LOL
Man of the match was for me SONG. he cleared almost evrything in front of defense, thrived forward when Fab switched off or was marked, showed Arshavin how not called offside and finishing clinically.
What else we want ? … he makes me miss even Viera at his best not a moment.
ROSICKY!
No way Arshavins mark is 5,5. He should have at least 6,5 or 7. Missed chances yes, but his runs off the ball made Cesc’ job way way easier, not to mention Arshavins involvement in 2 of the goals.
song for MOM. asharvin scores just 5.5? what a joke….
Fabergas didn’t play that good… Yeah his passes were great and sublime but we’ve all seen him play 10 times better. I think he knows it was an average game for him. How good was chamahck? He is good in the air and hold the ball up perfectly and holds the line well, pretty good buy for a free transfer, i must appauld wenger for that one. Robinsons foul was fucking disgusting and should be killed by arsenal fans for it fucking cunt