Man of the Match: Arsenal v. Bolton

Bolton Wanderers, who have become our bogey team over the past few years, travelled to Highbury for the last time on Saturday afternoon. The visiting team, who before kick-off were just 2 points behind us, had the better start to the match and opened the scoring on 12 minutes through their captain Kevin Nolan. They deserved the goal and stayed in control of the game for the rest of the half. The second however was a completely different story; we came out very lively and created a lot more. The lads upfront were causing the Bolton defence all kinds of problems however we were unable to get through their last form of defence, keeper Jaaskelainen. That was until the 3rd minute of stoppage time when Cesc Fabregas found Gilberto in the area. The Brazilian midfielder's brilliant half volley beat the keeper to secure a deserved point. We could have taken all three points in the last minute of extra time had Thierry Henry's goal bound flick not been knocked away by Bolton defender Gardner.

Here's how the team performed:

Defence Lehmann was off his line for the first goal and that is the only big error I noticed in his performance all match. He came out of his area a lot in the second half allowing our defenders to get up the pitch and apply pressure on the Bolton defence. Djourou and Senderos have formed a really good partnership over the past few matches. Djourou in particular has really flourished during his time in the first team and I hope to see a lot more of him even when our first choice defenders are back. Larsson and Flamini were very good at full back once again and looked fairly comfortable in roles they would not normally take up.

Midfield Diaby and Gilberto made up our starting central defensive pairing and were doing very well. Gilberto took his goal superbly and looked solid in midfield, as was Diaby who is getting better each time I see him play. Fabregas started on the wing and looked very lively throughout the match. He shows a lot of passion for the club each time he plays and it is really good to see. Reyes looked bright out there up until he was on the receiving end of a VERY NASTY two-footed challenge, which might keep him out of our match against Liverpool in midweek. Píres, my man of the match, replaced the injured Reyes and had one of his best games in a long time. His impression of the referee in the second half was just priceless. Ljungberg came on at the start of the second half he looked vivid and got up front a lot.

Up Front Henry and Adebayor started the match upfront and to be quite honest didn't really create much. They were much better in the second half and if they had converted half the amount of chances they had the match could have ended quite differently. I loved Thierry's bow at the ref when he awarded him a free kick, another comical moment from the match.

Overall We took our time but finally got a deserved goal to grab a point from an entertaining match. I really liked the way the lads came out in the second half and gave there all to get a result. Next up we travel to Merseyside to face Liverpool, who are currently 3rd on the table.

The Official Arsenal-Mania Man of the Match for this game is Robért Píres who came on in the place of Reyes and made a telling difference to the team. Robert won the award with 49% of the votes; Cesc Fabregas came in second with 30% and Johan Djourou and Jens Lehmann shared third spot with 4% of the votes each.

Quotes from the MOTM voters:

I've gone for Seb Larsson. He is the epitome of what Arsenal means to me - whatever is thrown at you just get on with it and cope.
ExiledInNewcastle

I chose Bobby as well. I absolutely loved watching him play last night and hope to see more of him in that role again. He was in some way or other involved in practically all of our attacks in the 2nd half.
Gunner4Eva

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