Premier League - Arsenal go top

Eurosport - Sun, 21 Sep 11:10:00 2008

Arsenal went top of the Premier League after coming from behind to beat bogey side Bolton 3-1 at the Reebok Stadium.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Arsenal Song Sagna Denilson - 0

Kevin Davies headed the hosts ahead on 14 minutes before Emmanuel Eboue and Nicklas Bendtner netted in quick succession to hand the lead to Arsenal before half-time.

Theo Walcott, on as a substitute, created a third late on for Brazilian midfielder Denilson who secured all three points for Arsenal to make it four wins out of five so far this season.

Arsene Wenger's side will now stay top of the table overnight with Chelsea not taking on Manchester United until Sunday.

Bolton had won four of their previous five encounters with the Gunners at the Reebok and the match appeared to be following that rather well-worn script when Kevin Nolan forced a good save out of Manuel Almunia with a dipping 25-yarder early on.

That feeling continued when Davies opened the scoring on 14 minutes, the flat-track bully - so often a thorn in Arsenal's side - netting a simply executed goal by rising above Kolo Toure and heading Joey O'Brien's corner past Almunia.

But that was about as far as the story followed the script, as Arsenal immediately asserted themselves on the game and gained the upper hand during a thrilling 10-minute period of play which culminated with two goals in a minute.

Eboue registered his first goal in an Arsenal shirt when he slotted home from close range on 26 minutes. Replays showed the Ivorian was in an offside position when Bendtner's cute pass found him, but the linesman's flag stayed down and the goal stood.

And then just a minute later Arsenal took the lead, this time Bendtner sliding in to finish from Denilson's centre from the left.

Perhaps Bolton had not been prepared for the ferocity of the fight-back, but there was no doubting that it had been coming. The woodwork had twice been struck in the immediate lead-up to the goals, Adebayor hitting the base of an upright when put through on goal moments before the post denied Alexandre Song a header from a corner.

Bolton were simply blown away by Arsenal's fluent passing game but Gary Megson's side are a tough proposition, especially on their home turf, and they managed to carve out a couple of chances before half-time.

On both occasions, it was Nolan who went close to restoring parity, but the Bolton skipper was first denied by an excellent Almunia save before seeing a sidefooted volley bounce the wrong side of the post.

Bolton's frustration was borne out as the first half neared its conclusion, Davies lunging in on Gael Clichy with a shocking tackle that resulted in the Frenchman heading to hospital for a check-up and the Bolton striker picking up a yellow card. It could easily have been red.

Fortunately Arsenal confirmed later that Clichy only suffered minor injuries and was able to return to London with the rest of the squad.

Arsenal started the second half brightly, Song forcing Jussi Jaaskelainen into making a sharp save soon after the restart, but Bolton - backed by a constant wall of sound from what was a disappointingly small gate - began to come back into the game.

Mustapha Riga was introduced as a 56th minute substitute and summer signing from Levante nearly made a big impact soon after when Almunia had to be alert to tip his well-placed effort round the corner.

But Bolton's best chance of the game fell to full-back Gretar Steinsson, who was afforded a free header from a corner with seven minutes remaining. The Iceland international could only plant his header over the bar though.

Bolton were made to rue his profligacy as Walcott burst through the hosts' defence on 87 minutes before feeding Adebayor, who in turn centred for Denilson. The youngster had the easy task of sweeping home from close range to seal just the Gunners' second win in six attempts at the Reebok.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

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  1. delighted with the arsenal bolton results
    especially as­ tottenham are bottom after all the monies
    millions they­ spent!

    MARGARET NOLAN (arnos grove)

    From Margaret, on Sun 21 Sep 7:39AM
  2. delighted with the arsenal bolton results
    especially as­ tottenham are bottom after all the monies
    millions they­ spent!

    MARGARET NOLAN (arnos grove)

    From Margaret, on Sun 21 Sep 7:39AM
  3. Go the gunners! well done you do us proud here down in­ South Africa!!

    we just love you!!
    JASMINE

    From jasmine, on Sun 21 Sep 7:31AM
  4. Good result Arsenal,trust Liverpool to faulter after­ beating Man United.To days the day were the title could­ be over or will Man u bounce back after Xmas and take­ it like they normally do.Its going to be another close­ season im afraid he who dares wins.Can any one predict­ the finale top six yet.

    From martin, on Sun 21 Sep 7:23AM
  5. It doesn't get better than this. ARSENAL TOP -­ TOTTENHAM BOTTOM!

    From slivatree, on Sun 21 Sep 6:51AM
  6. Go Arsenal. Lets get Nasri fit and win the Champions­ League

    From tom h, on Sun 21 Sep 6:44AM
  7. the mighty arsenal back where they belong top of the­ pile! it makes me proud to be arsenal fan the way­ arsene wenger runs the club he refuses to be held to­ ransom by greedy players and plays great football­ without being bankrolled by a multi billionare. arsene­ you are 1 in a million keep it up son.

    From kurzy11, on Sun 21 Sep 6:25AM
  8. arsenal has the highest percapita entertainment and­ gross domestic entertainment value in football.if i am­ given the opportunity of watching only one match before­ i answer the final call,i will watch an arsenal match­ then rest in peace.those kids play the kind of football­ that make you believe they invented football.

    From franklin b concience, on Sun 21 Sep 6:01AM
  9. All football fans (not the moronic idiots that only see­ their team) want to see Arsenal do well.
    Arsenal play­ good football and will make a great contribution to the­ competition.
    Manchestr, Chelsea and Liverpool spend­ MEGA bucks and the likes of Wenger with fantastic­ management on much less should be respected, not­ slagged off.

    Why can't we have a forum free of the­ cowardly, rude and juvenile comments made?

    From El-Tony., on Sun 21 Sep 5:26AM
  10. its good to see them gunners where they belong #1­ position!!!!

    From chicken salad, on Sun 21 Sep 4:17AM
  11. gaybo honestly with a name like that, bet you fancy­ half of the arsenal squad.

    From Fabien, on Sun 21 Sep 4:03AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    who cares arsenal win or not...people want to watch man­ united vs chelsea.not arsenal vs bolton

    From zulhilmi, on Sun 21 Sep 4:02AM
  13. Stuff the Gunners !!! Start good & end badly as­ always !!!

    From Gaybo, on Sun 21 Sep 2:33AM
  14. YOU ARE TALKING PATRIOTIC NONSENSE..
    IF YOU SEND HOME­ ALL FOREIGN PLAYERS,COACES,
    OWNERS,WHAT IS LEFT OF EPL­ IS A PILE OF DIFERENT
    COLOR RAGS......

    From dorin c, on Sun 21 Sep 12:30AM
  15. Scum.

    From Ben C, on Sun 21 Sep 12:21AM
  16. This is quite interesting, We r on top after all these­ negative prophesies about us being at the bottom and­ that tottenham/mancity would be the team to take our­ place? U false prophets please shut up... u got it­ wrong so far, what makes u think we gunners gonna­ listen to anymore of ur @#$%... GUNNER-4-LYPHE!!!

    budz

    From LilShorty5, on Sun 21 Sep 12:20AM
  17. GUNNERS COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!

    From maskulin, on Sat 20 Sep 11:23PM
  18. Now ya know Arsenal's God is alive. playerhaters­ die the game cant be reversed. sorry. And thank u­ fergusson fir believing in us

    From edwinclarkandassociates, on Sat 20 Sep 10:58PM
  19. UP THE GUNNERS!

    From Eluive, on Sat 20 Sep 10:36PM
  20. Post 69
    Get a life you pathetic idiot, do you kiss your­ mother with that mouth then ? Probably not , bet she­ disowned you long ago ....mouth like a sewer...if­ Liverpool deserved to be top, then they would be­ so....go back to school and learn some grammar....

    From kpb, on Sat 20 Sep 10:27PM
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