Premier League - Wasteful Arsenal held by Bolton
Arsenal's aspirations of securing Champions League football for next season suffered further damage when they were held to a 0-0 draw in the Premier League at Bolton Wanderers.
Though Arsene Wenger's side arrested a sequence of three consecutive league defeats, their worst run of form for nearly five years, they were guilty of spurning a succession of chances as Robin van Persie hit both the post and crossbar in another frustrating 90 minutes for the London side.
Bolton could have scored themselves - most notably when Mark Davies had a strong claim for a penalty turned down in the dying seconds, only for Owen Coyle to be left furious when referee Chris Foy played on.
A draw moves Bolton one point away from the bottom three but Arsenal slip back to seventh place, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, after another unconvincing performance in what is becoming a long and difficult season.
Given this match showcased the team that had conceded the most goals at home in the Premier League this season and the team that had conceded the most on their travels, it came as little surprise when the first half at the Reebok Stadium proved to be a wonderfully open affair.
Van Persie, top scorer in the league with 19 goals to his name, was predictably influential and as early as nine minutes in had a header cleared off the line by David Wheater when he rose high to head down from a dangerous cross from Thomas Vermaelen.
The Dutchman also saw another firm effort blocked following a Theo Walcott pass and, in his usual accomplished style, also dropped off the front to elude his markers and try and influence play from deeper positions.
On one such occasion he took possession of the ball before threading an excellent pass through for Aaron Ramsey, who was at full stretch when prodding an effort into the arms of Adam Bogdan. Van Persie later fed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left before seeing the teenager thump his effort past the far post.
Arsenal, who had won nine of their past 10 games against Bolton in the Premier League, were firmly in the ascendancy but Van Persie wasted another chance when firing over the bar after Laurent Koscielny embarked on a surging from run from defence to feed his captain with a square pass.
It appeared to be only a matter of time before Arsenal went in front, but Bolton rallied and should have taken the lead themselves when lone striker David Ngog enjoyed two excellent chances.
The Frenchman first escaped the clutches of Koscielny all too easily on 21 minutes when driving into the box and forcing Wojciech Szczesny into a fine reflex save with his firm, low effort. Just two minutes later Ngog was in an even better position to control a wonderful flicked pass from Wheater and turn to shoot, but when presented with a golden chance to convert he instead poked his shot wide from 10 yards out.
Arsenal promptly committed an even worse error. When Oxlade-Chamberlain released Walcott with a fine through-pass the forward seemed certain to score. However, when he bore down on Bogdan in a one-on-one situation the confidence melted away from him and the goalkeeper deflected his poor effort wide.
With both defences looking vulnerable it made for an entertaining encounter, though the game did not need to witness a shameless dive from Bolton midfielder Davies that earned Vermaelen a yellow card before the break. The defender, predictably, was furious.
Arsenal's dominance increased in the second half and on 62 minutes they were desperately unlucky not to take the lead. The impressive Bacary Sagna, making his first start sustaining an injury in October, supplied a dangerous cross from the right and Van Persie eluded his marker to meet the ball with his instep, sending it thumping against the outside of the post from eight yards out.
But the Gunners always looked vulnerable, particularly in the air, and Bolton could have snatched a lead when both Gretar Steinsson and Nigel Reo-Coker only just failed to get the necessary connection to two dangerous crosses in the space of 60 seconds.
Arsenal threw on Thierry Henry as a substitute in an effort to secure all three points but the club's all-time record goalscorer was a peripheral figure, with Van Persie remaining their greatest threat. On 80 minutes, the Dutchman was desperately unlucky to see a delicious right-foot chip soar over Bogan and glance off the bar.
Having proved so wasteful in front of goal, Arsenal were almost punished to the full in the closing minutes of the game.
Davies was the catalyst for Bolton's late surge and, after 88 minutes, the midfielder tricked his way through the Arsenal defence only to be brought to ground by the onrushing Szczesny. Though Davies had shifted the ball sideways and away from goal, Szczesny got none of it but plenty of the player so Foy should have pointed to the spot.
He did not, and Davies was left frustrated again in injury time when he drifted inside from the left and thumped a low effort wide of the near post, as Arsenal finished with a whimper.
Comment 164 - 183 of 183
I fall in love with Arsenal starting from a long period of time and I still love Arsenal and I think Mr Wenger knows that the supporter of Arsenal is very huge in number but by now I am afraid of that the club may loose its supporter becuase of the relactant action of Mr Wenger since he did not act properly specially during the transfer window not only this season but every time . Mr Wenger let me ask you what are you waiting for?
Looks like there is very little chance of Arsenal winning anything again this year, how is it that most other unsuccessful clubs manage to dispense of their Managers when things do not go right for their Clubs, but dear old Arsenal continue to persevere with, what now now only be termed, as a very single minded arrogant Manager who has not only lost the plot but has lost his players determination, respect and will to win.
The seriousness of this is that the only way forward is without Wenger, he has become a liability.
Dave
True die-hard Gooners were saying Wenger should've gone 5 years ago...
There's enough black clouds over the Arsenil's Emigrants ground already??
*Adams* typo
Arsenal started going downhill when David Dein was ousted. He was Arsene's mentor and he is sorely missed. Danny Fizman is also a loss. Maybe the Adama family could by an interest in the club? ;-)
Really looking forward to Arsenal's return to the Woolwich and Eltham Sunday Football League especially the big derby match v AFC Woolwich!
As ze French on Eurovision say....'null-null est seulement un poin'... (Last one out...turn-out the lights...lol).
My beloved Arsenal have gone from league winners, to contestants of champins league place and now they are struggling for mid-table, the next step maybe next season, when they must have sold all the good players and left with the injury prone ones is to fight against religation.
Loose: shareholder/owner however you want to call it, point taken Im just meaning the concept of an owner, as in we dont have an owner that is gonna stick his millions into us to beef up our squad. Kroenke or Usmanov wont stick any money into us (other than their shares) unless they own us outright. And we dont have that...currently. Patronising i can be, but you are one who writes pr**kish comments.
Without RVP, it's RIP Arsenil...QED. Simples....
ANYONE ELSE NOTICED WHEN GOONERS SING THAT THEY ARE THE GREATEST....THEY CONCEDE A VITAL GOAL?? Funny really...keep singin boys...lol.
Look behind you gooners...yes it's...SUNDERLAND....lolsers.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't seem to see any other EPL teams' defenders stroking the ball amongst themselves in their own half and also back to their goalkeepers so often as Arsenal. Anyone noticed that? Any statistic anywhere?
I am a very rare breed...A spurs fan that actually dosen't mind Arsenal(wish we had Bergkamp).
The problem is that Arsene is stubborn and thinks he knows best, well maybe a few years ago he did but now I feel he is losing the plot and dosen't know what to do or listen to what the fans think.
When you get to the top the hardest thing is improving and staying there.(williams F1 team is an example).
Man utd have always kept up because they Buy the players they need and not some unknown youngster and hope in 5 years time he will come through.
Arsenal fans have waited too long and want action NOW and not in a few years.
I know die hard fans will keep bringing up the past to us Spurs fans but we are interested in now and not days gone by and boy have we suffered.
Stop worrying what spurs are doing and concentrate on the team in front of you and take it 1 match at a time.
If this continues I cant see RVP staying in the summer and that's a shame that he has to look elsewhere.
Come on Arsenal board get MOANriniho in and refresh the fans and players.
Wenger has done a fantastic job but any other manager would have gone by now.
Arsen Wenger is a fantastic manager!!!! Its the players not him at blame for these poor run of results.
#166 Radge2def:
A limited liability shareholder is an owner! What on earth do you think people buy shares for? The answer is capital gain when the value of the company they OWN goes up, and dividends that are paid out of profits, or even just surplus cash. Furthermore, if the schedule of debt repayments is covered there is nothing stopping the Board from paying dividends to themselves out of profits made in the transfer market.
If you doubt this then phone up a stockbroker and ask them whether owning shares is owning the company. Patronising prick!
Stop knocking Arsene - he is doing a great job. At the end of next season should have sucesfully got Arsenal relegated and good riddance to them!!!!!
I feel pity for rvp. he is surrounded by championship side players like ramsey, walcott, chamberlain, jenkinson and who are disgrace to sear the famous red shirt. senile arsene wants to win the world's most competitive football league no chance. This arsenal side jittery at back and goal shy in front expect for rvp is no more than a mid-table team unless some mini miracle happens. When a team cannot beat relegation bound and mediocre sides like blackburn, bolton, swanse and fulham how they stand against the top sides manu, spurs, man city and liverpool.
lanesra we dont have any owners we only have shareholders. And they dont pocket any funds fro transfers as it goes back into paying off our debt. Shareholders not owners!!! time and time again epeople just dont understand the concept
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