Arsenal 4 Bolton 1:AGAIN Arsenal have begun the season as they mean to go on, but again there must be doubts about their means of maintaining a sufficiently serious challenge to win prizes at home or abroad.
The ultimately decisive win against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday was not always as straightforward as the result might suggest, for while Arsene Wenger’s side offered further evidence of their readiness to toughen up against more physical opponents, his defence still needs to tighten up and stop giving away cheap goals.
On Wednesday, Arsenal start another Champions League quest when Braga visit London, having finished second in the Portuguese league. So efficient were Braga at the back, conceding 20 goals in 30 matches, that their supporters dubbed them “The Arsenal”, presumably more from memory than recent first-hand experience.
Still, while there is Cesc Fabregas there is always a chance of glory, and on Saturday the Spaniard’s performance left the Arsenal fans even more thankful for Wenger’s powers of persuasion in continuing to keep the player beyond the reach of Barcelona. Fabregas set up three of Arsenal’s four goals and from the start punished Bolton’s readiness to push up with a series of through passes which caught Owen Coyle’s team square at the back. But for some agile goalkeeping by Adam Bogdan, the 22-year-old Hungarian standing in for the suspended Jussi Jaaskelainen, Arsenal might have led 4-1 at half-time.
Wenger believes Fabregas will continue to resist his native Barcelona. “I was always convinced that he loves Arsenal and that he loves to play football,” he said.
Bolton were unbeaten in the league before Saturday and began to show why when, having been overrun for much of the first half while conceding just the goal forced in by Laurent Koscielny from Fabregas’s pass, they drew level with a close-range header from Johan Elmander following a misplaced header by Koscielny which left Arsenal’s defence exposed. And even though Bolton fell behind again just before the hour, Marouane Chamakh nodding in Fabregas’s cross, they were still very much in the game.
They were swiftly undone, however, by what can only be described as a 30-second demonstration from Stuart Attwell on how not to referee. A clear foul on Lee Chung-yong by Alex Song on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area having been ignored, Attwell then sent off Gary Cahill for upending Chamakh in a manner that demanded a yellow card at most, compounding the misjudgment by stopping play as Andrey Arshavin was breaking clear into an empty Bolton half.
Song increased Arsenal’s lead with a skilful piece of close control before scoring their 1,000th league goal under Wenger. The 1001st saw Arsenal put together 24 passes, the last of which saw Fabregas lob through Carlos Vela.
Guardian Service
