Seems as if Arsene Wenger was either very confident about today’s game or was praying very hard for a miracle because he decided to rest his leading goal scorer Adebayor for the first hour of the game. With arsenal already behind Manchester United in points could really use the points but history wasn’t on their side since they hadn’t won a game at Reebok since 2002.
Arsenal started to create chances early in the game. A nice pass from the midfield to Robin Van Persie saw him clear of the defense line and only the goal keeper to beat. But out of touch persie drove it right in to goal keepers hands. Soon after words, in the 14th minute, Bolton responded with a wonderful goal. Matthew Taylor headed it into the back of the net with the keeper standing right in his spot. The worried arsenal side changed their tactics quickly and started to play more aggressive soccer. Most of the men moved forward in to the oppositions half. But the aggressive tactic only back fired soon when Abou Diaby was sent off for his careless tackle on Steinsson. Even with the ten men, arsenal tried to drive the ball forward and make the most of the game. There were some nice passes to Nicolas Bendtner but weren’t fruitful.
Around the 43th minute we saw exactly how the Arsenal defense was against the Bolton’s attack as Matthew Taylor nailed another one. Bolton fans were singing on the top of their voices. Two up and one man down at the end of the first half; I wouldn’t be surprised if some televisions got thrown out of the windows.
At this point I would hate to be in Arsene’s shoes. I wouldn’t know what to say to the team that’s good and has all the talent yet has been doing so miserably and are on the verge of losing the title race when they had the lead on for the most part of the season. What ever he said, it worked. The second half had a few fireworks in store for the arsenal fans. Starting with the captain, William Gallas, leading from the front, he pinned one in the corner of the goal. Soon after that a Van Persie scored off of a penalty. Alexander Hleb was brough down by Gary Cahill in the 67th minute. With the second goal in place, arsenal fans were given hope but they had to wait for it because the next goal didn’t come till the very end of the game when Jlloyd Samuel put one in the back of his own net. The goal came from a corner from Hleb, took two deflections, the final one off of Samuel and gave arsenal a marvelous victory. Not only that but also re-ignited their hope for the title.
Else where, unfortunately Manchester United had convincing won over Aston Villa. The goals came from Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and a couple from Wayne Rooney. The heat is building up for the big game at Old Trafford and its going to turn out to be a fantastic season as we move closer to the end of it.
Tags: Arsenal, bolton, English Premier League, epl, fc, match, reebok, report
