Arsenal 3-0 Bolton: van Persie hits 100 as Gunners Finally Claim Big Win

Feels good to win again, doesn’t it?

After our last league fart, that awful rainy day against Blackburn, everyone, from Wenger to the average fan, saw this match as the true must-win. Robin van Persie said our season started today. The poisonous pundits smelled blood had we lost this one, and for the first time I was inclined to agree- losing at home to a sinking Bolton, with the second-worst EPL defense this season (try to guess who had the first), would have been just too much for us to bear. Thankfully, 105 minutes later, this wasn’t the case.

The game started in an almost awful fashion, with a Bolton free kick in the 1st minute resulting in a scramble in our box. The ball fell to the Pratley, who volleyed it and would have scored, only to be denied by yet another great save from Szczesny. Later, in the 7th minute, we got the other big chance of the half, with an incisive Arteta pass resulting in Gervinho being set up for a 1 v. 1 with Jaaskelainen, with van Persie in tow. Gervinho had many positive options- he could round Jaaskelainen, simply smash it past him, or pass to the alone van Persie for an open goal opportunity. Instead, Gervinho took a heavy touch and the ball was comfortably claimed by the Finnish GK, resulting in yet another golden chance ruined by Gervinho’s decision, for the second week in a row.

The rest of the first half settled into a boring lull. As the game grew on, Arsenal started to dominate possession, but the lack of meaningful final pass or touch was glaring. Bolton was slightly dangerous on the counter, but not as much as they would have liked. Arsenal players started taking some shots outside the box, and wouldn’t you know it, they came close! Gervinho sent one flying just above the crossbar in the 29th minute, and Walcott let one go that went just wide in the 44th. As half-time approached, Arsenal players started to try to speed up the tempo and find that crucial goal, but to no avail. Bolton, without Gary Cahill, were organized and competent when dealing with Arsenal’s many attacks.

Arsenal looked uninspired, slow, and dull for much of the first half, so it came to everyone’s delighted surprise when, less than a minute into the second half, van Persie started on a dribble in the Bolton box and lashed home, beating Jaaskelainen at his near post. The goal was as delightful as it was relieving- the atmosphere at the Emirates in the first half was one of anxiety, and this goal was like a big, big hug to the collective psyche.

It wasn’t too long before Arsenal got another welcome boost to the game. In the 55th minute, Walcott, put through on goal by Ramsey, was given a slight tug by David Wheather just outside the box and went down. Mark Clattenburg immediately gave Wheater a red card, reducing Bolton to 10 for most of the second half. The nature of the incident led to many concluding it was a harsh red, but Clattenburg got it dead on in my opinion- the actual law isn’t “last defender”, but “clear denial of goal scoring opportunity”. Walcott would have been one-on-one with Jaaskelainen were it not for Wheater’s pull, so the red was deserved.

After the dismissal, Arsenal got on top of the game and never looked back. The chances started coming and they never really stopped for the rest of the game. Arsenal were confident, walking all over Bolton, and a second seemed imminent. But Jaaskelainen was doing his best to make sure his side were still in it- doesn’t it always seem that average GK’s have the game of their lives against Arsenal? Anyways, it was pretty thrilling to see Arsenal play like the Arsenal of old. Arteta shot wide from a van Persie cutback, Jaaskelainen saved from van Persie, like, 10,000 times, and even Koscielny managed to get a decent shot in. The second did come, though, from a usual sight this season: Walcott-Van Persie. In the 71st minute, Walcott got behind Robinson and charged into the box, releasing a nicely placed pass for van Persie to touch home, and send the crowd into raptures. His celebration was nice, too- running across the goal end and spurring the fans on, a nicely appreciated gesture. 2-0, and the win was finally within sight.

After that, the game drew on with both Arsenal fairly assured of the victory. Subs appeared, the chances kept on coming, a pretty calm end to an Arsenal game- something we haven’t seen in a long time. There was even time for more- two minute from time, a Sagna cutback missed Ramsey but fell to Song, who stepped inside the Bolton defender and unleashed a powerful but accurate curler into the top corner. A delicious goal, and richly deserved for Song and Arsenal, who had a great second half. Full time came shortly thereafter, but not before Walcott worryingly pulled short and limped off the pitch. FT, 3-0.

The return of the cute dog... to celebrate our win!

Match Stats
Possession: Arsenal 62%-38% Bolton
Shots (on target): 23(14)-3(3)
Corners: 9-2
Fouls: 7-9

On to the ratings:

Szczesny: 7 Saved our skins in the 1st minute with a great save from a Pratley volley. Conceding in the 1st minute would have been disastrous, so big props to SZCZ for making that save. After that, he had little to do for the rest of the first half and much of the second half, except getting down well to save Eagles’ shot on a Bolton counter.

Sagna: 7 As usual, competent at the back and was heavily involved in our attack when we went forward, particularly in the second half.

Mertesacker: 6.5 Was somewhat troubled by Bolton’s spirited start, but regained his composure and saw out the game with no real problems.

Koscielny: 6.5 Same as Mertesacker, seemed to play through the game with a slight limp, but still managed to play a decent game with no real worries.

Gibbs: 7 Good performance from Gibbs, who seems to be winning the LB spot from Santos in the last few days. Decent at the back, and showed enough pace to force Eagles into an early shot in Bolton’s best counterattack of the second half. No offside trap wobbles from him, also.

Song: 8 In the first half he was average, but in the second, he was immense. Ran the midfield, especially after Bolton went down to 10 men, and had a couple of pretty sweet passes, something he has been working on all season. Scored a peach of a goal 2 minutes from time to put the cherry on top. Easily our best midfielder right now. Wenger, resign this man!

Ramsey: 7.5 Just like Song, Ramsey was pretty anonymous in the first 45, preferring to drop deep and not venture forward. In the second half, we got a better taste of Ramsey, building up our first goal, and passing the through ball to Walcott that led to Wheater’s sending off. Far more adventurous in the second half as well. Is starting to improve, little by little, and it won’t be too long before the pre-injury Ramsey starts to emerge.

Arteta: 7 Had a couple of those glorious passes, including one early in the first half, which Gervinho botched. Missed a good chance in the second half, but had a decent game nonetheless.

Gervinho: 6 His running is good, but he really needs to work on his decision making- and his intelligence. Had a golden chance to put us 1 up when presented with a one-on-one with Jaaskelainen, but out all of the things he could have done, he gifted the ball to the goalkeeper. After that, played the rest of his game in the usual game- promising runs and shots, but no meaningful end product. He needs to improve on that.

Walcott: 6.5 Walcott seems to have only one type of game- the “mostly mediocre save for 3-4 moments of brilliance” game. As usual, his pace was a problem for Bolton. Claimed a good assist for RvP’s 100th goal, and second goal of the game. However, he didn’t do his yelps to be put in a central position any favors by missing not one, but two golden chances to put us 3 up. Injured his knee in injury time, which will add yet another player to our increasingly large injury room. Sigh.

van Persie: 8.5 Man of the Match What a day to score your 100th goal for your club. An Arsenal team in desperate need of confidence, points, and goals- and van Persie provided all of that today. At the precipice of a welcome victory or a dreadful loss against a similarly out of form Bolton, van Persie pulled us into the positive side and made sure we never looked back. A great goal that he made up on his own, beating Jaaskelainen at his near post, was followed by a simple shin touch to score the second. His celebration for the second goal was heart-warming, too. Had a chance to get his hat-trick, but missed. Who cares. Stunning contribution today for Arsenal, and it would be even better if he followed this up by signing a contract extension. Wenger, do whatever it takes- chocolate, money, pink ponies, money- to get this guy in for the long haul.

Subs:

Arshavin: 6.5 Came on for an average Gervinho. Had a couple of promising passes.

Rosicky: 6.5 Came on for a tired Arteta in order to shore things up in midfield. Solid passing.

Chamakh: N/A Came on for van Persie in order to let our Captain get the standing ovation he deserved.

3 delicious points, and a clean sheet to boot. Let’s hope this is the beginning of our revival. Next up is Olympiakos, at home in the CL. Have a good Saturday!

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Category: Match Review, Players