Arsenal vs Bolton Match Preview
Arsenal’s injury troubles mount. Theo Walcott turned his ankle playing for England against Switzerland and will be out of action an estimated six weeks. He joins strikers Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bentner on the convalescent list. Van Persie is likely to be out through mid-October following the ankle injury sustained while in action against Blackburn Rovers last week. Bentner is out a further three to four weeks with a groin injury. Samir Nasri, however, is on the mend and is now back in training following surgery for a knee injury suffered against Liverpool, and may feature at some point in the match this weekend. Johan Djourou will be available too. Big news on the transfer front for Arsenal is the transfer in of French international defender Sebastien Squillaci from Sevilla on a 3-year deal. At 30 Squillaci is clearly approaching the ebb of his top flight career. But so too was Sol Campbell last season, and he came in very handy indeed for the Gunners when injuries decimated their defense. The other big transfer news is the non-transfer of goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from Fulham. The Gunners are now stuck with,…er, committed to, Almunia, Fabianski and Mannone as their goalkeeping options until the next transfer window opens in January.
Bolton have signed striker Rodrigo Moreno from Benfica on a loan deal for the season. Moreno, who had previously been on the books at Real Madrid, joins former Real teammate Marcos Alonso at Reebok Stadium. Nigeria international Danny Shittu, meanwhile has been released.
Arsenal vs Bolton Match Report
The 64th minute sending off of Gary Cahill sealed Bolton’s doom at the Emirates stadium on Saturday as the Trotters, behind 2-1 at the time of Cahill’s dismissal, were simply ill-equipped to overturn the deficit with 10 men.
Laurent Koscielny opened the scoring for Arsenal in the 24th minute. It was his first for the club. But the Frenchman also contributed to Bolton’s equalizer just before the end of the half when he failed to hit his back-header firmly enough, allowing Lee Chung-Yong to collect the loose ball and chip it back to Johan Elmander who headed the ball in. Arsenal 1-1 Bolton at half time.
Arsenal’s Marouane Chamakh gave the Gunners the lead again in the 58th minute when he headed in Fabregas’ cross. Arsenal 2-1 Bolton.
Cahill got his marching orders in the form of a straight red for a foul from behind on Chamakh. From that point on the match was Arsenal’s and the three points were guaranteed by additional goals from Alex Song in the 78th minute and Carlos Vela in the 83rd.
