Arsenal Reaches Atop the Table with 3-1 Victory over Bolton Wanderers

Arsenal moved up at the top of the table in the weekend with a 3-1 easy victory away at Bolton Wanderers. Arsenal had previous record of stumbling at Bolton, and when the Gunners were forced to go 1-0 down thanks to the 14^th minute strike by Kevin Davies, it seemed to be alarming for the Arsene Wenger boys. However, Arsenal did not have problem to pull off an easy victory in the end as Wenger boys continued their high-flying premier league form of recent.

Kevin Davies headed a corner from the left to send the ball past Alumnia. The goal energized the Gunners and just minutes after conceding the goal, Arsenal found two goal-bound shot coming back off the post, first by Adebayor, and then Song got his shot hitting the post. Arsenal got their equalizing goal thanks to Emmanuel Eboue who scored his first ever premier league goal in the 24^th minute of the match. Just after few minutes of scoring the equalizer, Arsenal took lead in the match thanks to goal from Nicklas Bendtner who scored after receiving a cross from Denilson. Arsenal was leading by 2-1 at the half time.

Arsenal appeared with the same dominating form in the second half as well, but could not continue the same pace for a long time. May be, the midweek journey to Kiev started taking toll from Arsenal team. However, if Arsenal did not miss too many chances, the winning margin could have been bigger. Coming off the bench in place of Bendtner, Theo Walcott boosted up Arsenal attack and Arsenal ensured three points from the match when Denilson scored the third goal for Arsenal just five minutes from the time.

With this victory Arsenal reached at the top of the table with 12 points from five matches, two points ahead of Chelsea who can retain the top place with a victory over Manchester United on Sunday.

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Bolton Wanderers vs Arsenal EPL 08-09: Analysis and Live Score

Struggling Bolton Wanderers hosts confident Arsenal in a tea-time kick off today (20 August 2008) at the Reebok Stadium. However, the home advantage may not solace to Bolton’s recent stumbling form in the premier league that much, considering the fact that they must face Arsenal who have been playing with sheer dominance in their last couple of away fixtures in the premier league. Though Arsenal got off to a mediocre start against Dynamo Kiev in their Champions League campaign in the midweek, it is clear that Arsenal is favorite against Bolton Wanderers today.

Match: Bolton Wanderers vs Arsenal; English Premier League 2008-2009

Date: 20 September 2008, Saturday

Venue: Reebok Stadium, Bolton, England

Kick off: 17:30 (British Standard Time)

Live on TV: Setanta Sports

Well, Bolton Wanderers will play before the home fans and will have less pressure than what Arsenal will carry with them, given that fact that Arsenal has no other option, except picking up three points from the match in order to go hand-in-hand with Chelsea and Liverpool in the title race. Arsenal is currently in third place in the league table with 9 points from 4 premier league games, just a point shy of Chelsea as well as Liverpool. Chelsea has a tricky encounter with Manchester United on Sunday, while Liverpool will take on debutant Stroke City today in their respective fixture. If they lost points in their respective matches this week and Arsenal can churn out another away victory, then the Gunners might find them at the top of the league table by Sunday.

Since their defeat at Fulham last month, Arsenal has been in an excellent form so far. Last week they thrashed Blackburn Rovers away 4-0 and in the midweek they picked up a point from their visit to Dynamo Kiev in Champions League thanks to a late equalizer from Captain Williams Gallas. It is true that a ‘Big Four’ match-up yet to come in their way to face a real test of their strength in the premier league this season, but Arsene Wenger boys seem to be in the right with a number of key players currently playing some of their best football. England’s new hero Theo Walcott has been in a clinical form in the wing, while Emmanuel Adebayor pulled off a hat-trick in their triumph over Blackburn Rovers. Wenger might rely on young Dane Nicklas Bendtner to hand a place in the starting line up against Bolton Wanderers, considering Wenger’s indication to rotate his squad.

Bolton Wanderers, on the other hand, has not been at their prime over the last couple of weeks. Since their victory in the opening match of the league against Stroke City, Bolton Wanderers could not find their form back yet, standing in 13^th place in the league table with only 4 points from 4 matches. After the opening match triumph, Bolton lost to Newcastle United and Fulham, while drew against debutant West Bromwich Albion. However, the Trotters suffered perhaps the biggest blow last month when they lost to League One side Northampton Town in Carling Cup.

Bolton manager Gary Megson has said that his side needs to go about it in the right manner. He has also cautioned his players saying that Bolton would find tougher challenge from Arsenal than what they did from Fulham in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat.

Goal.com reported:

Gary Megson - "We have to go about it in the right manner. If we don't, then we'll get absolutely skated by them because they have even more quality than Fulham."

Arsene Wenger thinks Arsenal needs extra mental resources to pull off a satisfactory result away at Bolton Wanderers, but he has vowed that he has great mental strength as well as quality in the side. He has termed Bolton as a good side and thinks nobody likes to go to Bolton as they play with great commitment.

BBC reported:

"We are prepared for another away game where we will need extra mental resources to get a good result.

"We have a great mental strength in the side and also quality.

"We have either been really good or really bad there, lost or won, nothing really in between.

"But also Bolton for years had a good side - they still have - and that is why nobody liked to go to Bolton because everybody knows usually they give great commitment."

Arsenal will be without French midfielder Samir Nasri who is yet to recover from a knee injury that he sustained while on international duty. Another Summer signing Mikael Silvestre is also out with muscular problem with Eduardo, Tomas Rosicky and Amary Bischoff are among the long term absentees. Abou Diaby needs few more weeks to shake off his thigh injury.

Bolton Wanderers is still missing their record signing Johan Elmander as he needs one more week to recover from hamstring injury. Matthew Taylor is out with ankle injury, while Gary Cahill will miss Arsenal’s visit due to suspension. So, Bolton Wanderers’ attacking line up seems to be very week.

Online Live Score and Updates

Here, I am going to give some names of online live score websites from where you can get live score and updates of the match:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Goal.com

Footie Scorez

Arsenal will go into the match as a favorite, but Bolton Wanderers might play spirited football as they have nothing to lose against Arsenal. While Arsenal will play for three points, Bolton will be happy even with a draw against Gunners. So, the pressure, for sure, is now on Arsenal, but the Gunners have quality and talent, and most importantly, they have someone like Arsene Wenger behind them to guide. So, I think, it will be a competitive match today at the Reebok Stadium today.