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 94 - 113 of 133

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  1. so why bother with the next one would not mean a thing

    From khalidallaoui, on Sun 11 Jan 5:16AM

  2. mocking mock of the week is more than allowed it is education those individuals should be invalid long time ago i m just trying to help putting them of mate!!!

    From khalidallaoui, on Sun 11 Jan 5:06AM

  3. I'm an open minded bloke from Bristol i'm into exotic things like the wurzels,nice cheese and strong cider. I have some photos mainly of me staggering out of the boozer eating kebabs and puking on me mate Stan. I,m very adventurous i once went to Weston Super Mare and even stayed there after it got dark. For photos and a chance to meet me mate Stan go to give i the Scrumpy.booze

    From cherie.shaun, on Sun 11 Jan 4:56AM

  4. can everybody stop thumbing down sussexdei...so he can not have any more orgasm... no hard feeling mate

    From khalidallaoui, on Sun 11 Jan 4:19AM

  5. hahah sussexdietcoke your a joke. well done arsenal today. we needed three points, we got. however we need to be more clinical when finishing now, and we need to attack like this every match...

    never give up hope. Gooner4life

    From ask me, on Sun 11 Jan 1:31AM

  6. you spurs remember who is on top of who since the champions league was formed all you can do is gloat on other teams that beat us because you can not come end of season you will sack your manager and waste money on players that you sold to other teams and buy them back they never done anything then and they will not again it does not make any difference to us not to win any thing as long as we finish above you

    From abdu, on Sun 11 Jan 12:53AM

  7. Some people on these pages should be given help, rather than scorned.

    From Rodney, on Sun 11 Jan 12:22AM

  8. Two main snags Arsenal had today;
    1st:Almunia shouldn't have come out and tried to head the ball when Toure was still there to deal with the ball.
    2nd:When Adebayor got that chance to score with only Jaaskelainen to beat, he should only have one quick tap on the ball and hit it instead of having two taps on it and taking his time like a @#$%, because no defender will give you that much time.

    From eddie idrus, on Sat 10 Jan 11:53PM

  9. ianvj you are a first class @#$% head, and you know nothing about football - @#$%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Bill, on Sat 10 Jan 11:41PM

  10. How far can Arsenal escape like this?

    From Half A Brain, on Sat 10 Jan 11:01PM

  11. Nasri did well playing in the middle. Adebayor should have scored on that beautiful pass

    From tom h, on Sat 10 Jan 11:00PM

  12. #102 ianvj,
    good effort........never allow your faith to shake, the north londoners will be back on track, its not yet over. the gonners will rise again, we have young talented boys on the pitch with a very wise old man...(wenger).

    From Ceesay, on Sat 10 Jan 10:41PM

  13. we need a tough midfield player.

    tally ho

    From , on Sat 10 Jan 10:36PM

  14. a supporter is a supporter. Arsenal will rise. we are on a trasition and will over come.

    From ihuoma o, on Sat 10 Jan 10:03PM

  15. arsene wenger guess how the arsenal defense would have been today if kolo was in man-city. old man be advised to rate kolo, he is committed to the gonners.dont just turn your back cos you got gallas and sil. remember injuries are inevitable, happen at any time of the season and to anyone. 2003/04 kolo was a legend admired by everyone and still a legend. he is a good man and will remain a good man. pls dont slip old man kolo is a hero.

    From Ceesay, on Sat 10 Jan 9:56PM

  16. sussexdietcoke,
    Born in, live in and will die in London. Once a Gooner always a Gooner! I'm not a glory hunter like some who change their teams like they change their pants.

    From IAN, on Sat 10 Jan 9:52PM

  17. ianvj - why do you and others like you take the piss out of Man U supporters 'coming from london etc etc' when in fact you come from another bloody country!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Mike S, on Sat 10 Jan 9:34PM

  18. ianvj, - You'll get no argument from me that there were tremendous happenings in the past from Arsenal but that is when they had a proper team. The point I am trying to make is that gooners on these pages simply will NOT accept the fact that the current team from cesspit emirates is not good enough to win anything.

    From Mike S, on Sat 10 Jan 9:32PM

  19. The standard of spelling from some of you Arsenal fans is not the best is it.

    From steven.howard1, on Sat 10 Jan 9:29PM

  20. Dear fattyfunnycokehead,
    AVEZ-VOUS sida? aller se faire.
    You are so right about me being from overseas! Who's a clever boy then? Does the coke give you a buzz? I'm off now to watch Arsenal highlights from the last century, that will take me a lifetime to watch. Now that's entertainment!

    From IAN, on Sat 10 Jan 9:24PM
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