Premier League - Bendtner downs Bolton

Eurosport - Sun, 11 Jan 08:10:00 2009

Nicklas Bendtner's late winner broke a stubborn Bolton resistance at the Emirates and gave Arsenal a hard-earned 1-0 victory.

Nicklas Bendtner celebrates scoring the winner for Arsenal against Bolton at the Emirates, January 10 2009 - 0

The Danish striker, on as a second-half substitute, slid in to meet Robin van Persie's clipped cross on 84 minutes and beat Jussi Jaaskelainen at his near post to earn the home side three vital points.

The result means Arsenal remain above Everton in fifth place in the Premier League, and are now level with fourth-placed Manchester United - although the champions have three games in hand.

Bolton had withstood a barrage of attacks from Arsene Wenger's team before the breakthrough, with Van Persie hitting the post and Emmanuel Adebayor denied by a fine block from Andy O'Brien in the second half.

The encounter was a heavily one-sided affair, which saw Arsenal camped in the Bolton half for long periods and dominate possession.

It was quickly evident that Gary Megson's visitors had come to defend. With Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander set far adrift from their eight outfield team-mates Bolton failed to muster a single attempt on goal in the opening period.

But with Gavin McCann and Ricardo Gardner toiling tirelessly in midfield Bolton succeeded in frustrating a strangely subdued Arsenal, who for all their dominance could not fashion a clear-cut opening.

The home side were not without intent. When Samir Nasri found Van Persie with a driven pass on 13 minutes the Dutchman controlled instantly with a knee and swivelled to drive just over the bar from 20 yards.

Van Persie blazed another shot over on 27 minutes, this time latching on to a weak clearance from Bolton's otherwise immaculate defence.

Arsenal could get no closer than speculative long-range efforts, however, and went into the break to a muted reception from the clearly frustrated home support.

With the second half finally came an attempt on goal for Bolton, but Matthew Taylor's header from Mustapha Riga's cross on 52 minutes barely troubled Manuel Almunia in the Arsenal goal.

After their brief sojourn forward, Bolton reverted to type for the rest of the match - packing bodies behind the ball and inviting Arsenal to come forward.

On the hour mark Gael Clichy crossed low for Adebayor from the left. The striker turned sharply, but his low shot was straight at Jaaskelainen.

Minutes later Nasri released Adebayor inside box with an exquisite pass, but this time O'Brien was on hand to block his goal-bound shot with a fine piece of defending.

On 70 minutes Arsenal came closer still. Van Persie twisted and turned to create space inside the area and shot against the right upright with Jaaskelainen beaten.

When the breakthrough finally came it owed much to the vision of Dutchman, who was without question Arsenal's best player.

Clichy found Van Persie on the left and he found Bendtner with a curling left-foot cross that invited the forward to lunge forward and poke past Jaaskelainen.

Having shown virtually no ambition throughout, Bolton suddenly found themselves behind and were forced to change tact. Almost immediately a chance presented itself to Davies, but the striker shot straight at Almunia.

With that ended Bolton's hopes of salvaging a point, but in truth victory for Arsenal could hardly have been more deserved.

Will Tidey / Eurosport

Comment 114 - 133 of 133

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  1. littlemoneysoonestspending from 9ja,naa so adebayor dey­ always do,very stupid and slow at goal scoring

    From Daniella, on Wed 14 Jan 9:36AM

  2. wel done arsenal always a hard game bolton!
    gooner 4­ life!!

    From d.cloake, on Sun 11 Jan 8:03PM

  3. LOL I canny take it captain...the stress is too­ much..lol

    From tony439, on Sun 11 Jan 6:16PM

  4. Tee Hee,Arf Arf.Up the Villa.Take a chill pill you­ guys.

    From roger h, on Sun 11 Jan 4:57PM

  5. sussexdietcoke your a Pr**k

    From VERONICA P, on Sun 11 Jan 4:43PM

  6. Gooners dont like to @#$% good too early, Gooner for­ life!!!!!!!!!!

    From VERONICA P, on Sun 11 Jan 4:41PM

  7. sussexdietcoke i see that you kept away i hope my­ wishes come true and you did have an hart attack and­ died GOONER4LIFE

    From The Dobbo, on Sun 11 Jan 12:58PM

  8. ....and I'm guessing you had to look up at least 3­ words in a dictionary before you posted your comment...

    From tony439, on Sun 11 Jan 12:53PM

  9. warren.stephens whats the queen's importance got to­ do with my remark and no capital Q is required in my­ quote. If you're so niggled by my post, maybe you­ should read some of the others. Some of the spelling is­ just down right lazy considering that they have some of­ the words/names printed in front of them on the screen­ and some post's are quite hard to understand.­ I'm just stating a fact, it's got nothing to do­ with me taking the piss and if other people's­ grammer worries you so much maybe YOU can bring it to­ their attention. please let me know if the grammer on­ the post is upto your standard...oops I missed the­ capital P on please.... I'm soooo stupid

    From tony439, on Sun 11 Jan 12:52PM

  10. to be honest i dont actually see why bitter, discontent­ and insecure man utd fans bother posting on our pages.­ why not just use your computer orientated lives to post­ rubbish to others like yourselves on your OWN pages!­
    gooners for life!!!!!

    From balkinsnet, on Sun 11 Jan 12:00PM

  11. HOW COME COMMENTS FROM SUSSEXDIETCOKE GET PRINTED WITH­ ALL HIS OR HER DISCUSTING FILTHY DIALOGUE, YET MY­ BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTIVE UNBIASED COMMENTS ARE REFUSED AS­ "INVALID" PERHAPS I SHOULD ADD THE ODD­ EXPLETIVE. THE ODD UNPOLITICAL GESTURE. THE ODD­ JUVENILE POORLY SPELT WORD PHRASE OR SAYING, THEN­ PERHAPS I MIGHT GET A MENTION. A GOONER SINCE NAPPIES­ AND WILL ALWAYS BE A GOONER TILL I PUSH UP DAISIES, IN­ GOONER COLOURS OF COURSE..NOW PRINT THIS IF YOU DARE.

    From esther.melvyn, on Sun 11 Jan 11:19AM

  12. I thought the Queen was important - capital Q please­ and the possessive apostrophe. Please don't rag on­ people who have difficulties with English especially­ when there are a few grammatical errors in your post. ­ Stones and glass houses?

    From warren.stephens, on Sun 11 Jan 10:20AM

  13. can anyone speak the queens english here...?

    From tony439, on Sun 11 Jan 10:07AM

  14. ARSENAL 4 LIFE !!!WELL DONE BOYS !!!

    From Paul H., on Sun 11 Jan 9:34AM

  15. Adebayor is arsenals failure upfront.. non performing­ players should be allowed to leave.

    From Kennedy, on Sun 11 Jan 9:32AM

  16. once a gooner... always a gooner... or then a­ traitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From aps_holdingcourt, on Sun 11 Jan 8:03AM

  17. this bammy from NIGERIA
    I think winger need to talk to­ ADEBEYOR verry well
    its not easy for thos guys to­ finish the work for him and just west the BALL
    somebody­ like vepersy was angree with him in that mach
    so he­ need to do well to encourage the other players
    thanks.­ GUNERS FOR LIFE 4 all arsenal fans all over the WORLD.

    From bammy, on Sun 11 Jan 7:53AM

  18. Jealousy is such a terrrible emotion to suffer.

    From El-Tony., on Sun 11 Jan 7:19AM

  19. Still hurting, still under strength, still playing­ below average and still up at top end of the table.

    From El-Tony., on Sun 11 Jan 7:17AM

  20. 99 did you notice how arsenal midfield turned around to­ make those bolton's legs starting with diaby who­ can do damage in attaques and safer at the back,eboue ­ almost the same thing nasri from winger to guiding the­ manouvres from the top of the crop so can you catch­ me with out fouling c.vela+are you tiered run run.some­ physical presence in that bolton's mele and enough­ skill bendtner finely ramsi...try to watch the games­ without nerves and leave the rest to arsene

    From khalidallaoui, on Sun 11 Jan 7:17AM
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