Adebayor what’s the score? Adebayor what’s the score?

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham

Watching Emmanuel Adebayor walking off the pitch at full time, head down, as the Emirates crowd asked “Adebayor what’s the score?” “Adebayor what’s the score?” you didn’t have to look at the scoreboard to know that the Gunners faithful had witnessed a wonderful performance from their team. The man who had danced in front of the home stand, having sent Tottenham 2-0 up, now had the chants of “5-2, we beat the scum 5-2” ringing in his ears.

It had all started so well for the self-proclaimed best footballing side in England, as Louis Saha scored after only four minutes. Coming into the game on the back of two horrendous results in Milan and Sunderland, Arsenal began the match rather nervously with the home defence allowing the Frenchman far too much time and space in the area. In the end Saha’s shot took a wicked deflection off Vermaelen to leave Szczesny stranded as the ball sailed over his head and into the back of the net. In a strange way however, this goal seemed to relieve the pressure from the shoulders of the Arsenal players and they began to dominate possession and move the ball freely amongst themselves. Most importantly, the sideways, cumbersome passing we have witnessed of late was replaced with direct and incisive balls. As a result it was the team labelled underdogs by the media, Arsenal, who were the superior side as Tottenham just sat back in the hope of catching the Gunners on the counter attack. Funny how a team supposedly destined to win the league employed the tactics of a relegation threatened side. With only ten minutes on the clock, they were even wasting time, with Friedel taking an age over every goal kick. Wonderful stuff from the team managed by the next England manager.

Arsenal fashioned chance after chance but just could not find the equaliser as Van Persie twice shot narrowly wide and Rosicky had a wonderful header well saved by Friedel.  It seemed only a matter of time before Arsenal would restore parity, however in the 34^th minute disaster struck. Modric sent Bale through on goal and as the Welshman seemed to lose control of the ball, Bale did what he does best and took a dive over Szczesny’s outstretched hand. The linesman, who had a perfect view of the incident, indicated the ball had gone out for a corner. However the hopeless referee, Mike Dean, disagreed, even though he had a far worse view and gave a penalty. Up stepped Adebayor to send his penalty right into the corner and give Tottenham a completely undeserved 2-0 lead. The former Arsenal player did not celebrate at first but then showed just what a despicable, disgusting human being he is by twice dancing in front of the home end. Never mind Ade, as they say, he who laughs last laughs loudest!

The Gunners fans were clearly extremely frustrated at this point, not with their team, but with the situation at hand. How could we possibly be loosing this game having completely dominated it? The players however continued to play their game and simply refused to give in. With five minutes left before half time, it was vital to score at least one goal to get ourselves back in the game. However, they didn’t just get one, they got two! First Van Persie saw his effort agonisingly hit the post and travel wide towards the left touchline, where the ball was fed to Arteta on the edge of the box. His cross was then met by a powerful headed effort from Sagna, sending the ball past Friedel to give Arsenal hope of a comeback. The determination and hunger shown by the French right back in powering into the box and winning that header set the tone for the rest of the match. Arsenal just wanted it more and Tottenham could not deal with anything the Gunners threw at them.

Bacary Sagna heads Arsenal back into the game

Three minutes later and the game was all square. Alex Song’s lofted forward ball could only be cleared to Van Persie, who turned and swivelled, creating space for himself to unleash a wonderful curling effort past the desperate dive of Friedel. The Emirates erupted as the Gunners faithful, who have endured such a torrid season, smelt blood. Unfortunately their search for a third goal was halted by the half time whistle. Having gained such fantastic momentum, I was worried that half time would allow Tottenham to regroup and get back into the game. The future England manager was forced to make two substitutions at the start of the second half, such was Arsenal’s complete dominance in the first. However rather than try to win the game, Harry actually attempted to hold onto a draw, bringing on Sandro and Van Der Vaart as extra bodies in a midfield battle that Arsenal had comprehensively won in the first half.

Van Persie celebrates his wonderful equiliser

However the tactical genius of Fabio Capello’s future successor was nowhere to be seen yesterday, with his substitutions having absolutely no effect on the game whatsoever. Arsenal’s second half performance was simply outstanding. They pressed Tottenham high up the pitch, swarmed all over them and suffocated them as they rushed and harried their opponents, fighting and battling for every single ball. Song, Arteta, Benayoun and Rosicky were fantastic in the middle of the pitch; their work rate was simply phenomenal. Benayoun saw an early second half effort well saved by Friedel but Arsenal would not be denied, not today.  In the 51^st minute Rosicky fed the ball wide to Sagna, whose low cross was met by the Czech captain, who had continued his run into the box, to flick the ball into the back of the net and send the Emirates into sheer ecstasy. 2-0 down, 3-2 up and Arsenal were not finished yet.

Rosicky enjoys giving Arsenal the lead

Waclott, who had been poor in the first half, suddenly sprang into life, first seeing a low shot fly just wide of the far post. Then in the 65^th minute Van Persie slid the ball square to the Englishman whose first touch was not the best, but still he managed to chip the ball over the onrushing Friedel and give the Gunners a two goal advantage. Arsenal fans were now delirious, but there was still more to come from their side. Three minutes later, Song’s wonderful chipped through ball sent Walcott through on goal to score Arsenal’s fifth and send us all into dreamland. With each goal Arsenal scored, Redknapp's face had become redder and redder! The closing minutes of the match saw the boys in red and white stroke the ball effortlessly amongst themselves to the sounds of Olè from the crowd. On one occasion Van Persie was surrounded by Tottenham players, he swivelled and turned and still they could not take the ball off him. Arsenal did not only beat their supposedly superior neighbours, they had well and truly humiliated them.  



Theo Walcott makes it 4-2



At the final whistle while Adebayor walked off the pitch to the jeers of the home crowd, Arsenal’s players gathered together to enjoy the adulation from their fans. This was exactly the performance we had all wanted from our players. The departure of the lazy Arshavin may well have had a positive effect in the dressingroom as  the desire, hunger and passion displayed by the Arsenal players yesterday was absolutely fantastic. It would be impossible to pick out a man of the match as each and every one of them stood up and were counted when it really mattered. They gave their all for the fans yesterday and we can’t ask for much more than that. Arsenal need to display this will to win every time they step onto the field, they have shown that they can do it against all the odds; now they must build on this and go on a run from now until the end of the season.    

The Arsenal players celebrate at the final whistle

Gunners misery continues in Sunderland

Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal

The Gunners produced yet another lacklustre performance on Saturday, allowing Sunderland to dump them out of the only competition they had any hopes of winning. Following the debacle in Milan, several Arsenal players declared their desire to repay those beleaguered travelling supporters who had made the trip to Italy, with a positive reaction against Sunderland in the FA Cup. If this was the reaction they had in mind, they may as well never pull on an Arsenal shirt ever again. Their attacking play was painfully slow and ponderous, there was no fight or commitment as they allowed Sunderland to bully them off the ball and the defending was atrocious.

Wenger made five changes to the team he openly admitted had produced the worst Arsenal performance in Europe under his stewardship.  However nothing seemed to change, it was still the same old Arsenal playing the same old way, nonchalantly passing the ball along the backline and to the goalkeeper, having the lion’s share of possession but ultimately going nowhere and doing nothing with it. Arsenal just have too many similar players for any changes to have a real effect on the team’s performance.  For example on Saturday Walcott, who possesses great pace but whose final ball is terrible, was replaced in the starting line up by Gervinho, who also possesses great pace but whose final ball is just as terrible. The manager’s stubborn belief in his 4-3-3 formation only results in Van Persie becoming an isolated and frustrated figure up front as the two wide players generally struggle to support him, as Arsenal take far too long to move the ball forward.

There are serious issues throughout the team, for example the weakness in the Gunners’ defensive department was further exposed by the injury to Coquelin which led to the introduction of the useless Squillaci, who suffered an injury himself in the second half. With Squillaci and Djourou at the heart of the Arsenal defence it was difficult at times to believe you were watching a football match and not a circus act. As Sunderland hunted the ball in packs and applied great pressure on any Arsenal player with possession, Djourou dithered on the ball allowing his clearance to be closed down by Craig Gardner who was subsequently brought down by the Swiss international. The resultant free kick taken by Sebastian Larsson could only be cleared to the edge of the box where Kieran Richardson was waiting to pounce. Sagna’s half-hearted attempt to close the ball down was not good enough and Richardson’s well taken effort hit the back of the net, following a slight deflection off Squillaci. This summed up Arsenal’s performance for me. Sagna ambled towards Richardson and then stopped dead in his tracks as the shot was about to be taken. As an Arsenal fan I don’t want to see this! I want to see Arsenal players throwing themselves at the ball and putting their bodies on the line. Where’s the passion? Where’s the commitment? Where’s the hunger?

Clueless Arsenal

In short, this Arsenal team are a disgrace. Having gone a goal down before half-time you would expect a reaction in the second half. But there was nothing.  The Gunners continued to dominate possession but could not produce anything to break through Sunderland’s dogged defence. Yes they should have been awarded a clear penalty when Van Persie was bear hugged in the box, but World Cup Final referee Howard Webb did not see it or was not brave enough to give the decision. Instead Webb gave Wenger an excuse to hide behind as he later claimed that rather than the pathetic performance it was the penalty decision which had cost Arsenal the game. The beleaguered manager has since also claimed that to finish fourth would be like winning a trophy. That’s exactly why we moved into the Emirates, to finish fourth!! But then again I have never managed a football match so by Wenger’s reasoning I shouldn’t criticise him or his team, even if Arsenal’s deficiencies are blindingly obvious.

The second Sunderland goal owed much to the desire of former Gunners player Sebastian Larsson, who Arsenal could have signed for free in the summer, but why bother when we have Arshavin. The goal was indicative of the lack of hunger within the entire squad. As Arsenal poured forward in search of an equaliser, possession was lost, and the ball quickly played forward to Sessegnon. He easily brushed off Arteta’s feeble attempt to stop him, ran into the box, and squared the ball to Larsson, whose lung bursting run from well inside his own half was not picked up by a single Arsenal player. The Swede’s shot came off the post, hit the unfortunate Oxlade-Chamberlain and bounced over the line to send Sunderland through to the quarter-finals.

With Tottenham due to arrive at the Emirates on Sunday, Arsenal desperately need to improve as Spurs will be licking their lips in anticipation of dishing out a real drubbing. Needless to say the last two performances have not been anywhere near good enough. It’s about time this team showed some real passion and fight. Next Sunday is a battle we must win.  

Furious Wenger lets rip

According to today’s newspaper reports, London Colney yesterday witnessed Arsene Wenger reading the riot act to his underperforming squad, following their abysmal showing at the San Siro on Wednesday. Apparently, Wenger went crazy as he turned the air blue and the expectation is that he will finally accept what Arsenal fans have known for far too long, that this squad is simply not good enough. Football experts now predict a great clear out in the summer with Wenger removing the deadwood within the squad.

However before we all start to jump for joy, let’s not be too hasty.  Several so called experts also made similar claims towards the end of last season, but with the closing of the summer transfer window on 31^st August 2011, Arsenal had still not managed to sell off their most average performers, the likes of Almunia, Fabianski, Bendtner, Denilson, Vela, Squillaci, Rosicky, Djourou, Chamakh, Arshavin and Diaby were still on the club’s books. The major stumbling block preventing these players from securing a move away from the Emirates, is actually not their distinct lack of footballing ability but in fact the ridiculously high wages they are being paid by Arsenal. Bendtner for example is reportedly earning £50,000 a week, while Diaby is paid £60,000 a week. Who in their right mind decided these players deserved such high wages? What has Bendtner ever done to justify a £50,000 a week pay packet? While Diaby spends more time in the treatment room than on the field. In addition to this Carlos Vela has been sent on numerous loans throughout his time at Arsenal, but has never improved, and Denilson was this summer sent on loan to Soa Paulo for the entire season, even though the Brazilian season finished in December! What makes matters worse is that while playing on loan these players' wages are heavily subsidied by their parent club.

The infamous eleven

Even if Arsenal were lucky enough to find a club willing to sign one of these players, the player’s exorbitant wage demands would scupper the deal. This is exactly what happened with Bendtner and Almunia in the summer; neither could agree personal terms with other clubs and so while these teams had a narrow escape as the deals fell through, Arsenal were essentially stuck with them. The truth is Arsenal’s band of mediocre players will never be signed by one of the world’s top clubs; the best they can hope for is a mid-table team, who would never be able to afford such wages. As a result Arsenal find themselves in an awkward situation as they will have to settle for significantly reduced transfer fees for these players, in order to make any deal attractive to the buying club. One thing is certain, before Wenger can bring in the players which he believes will rejuvenate this club, he will have to sell those who do not meet Arsenal’s high standards. Any transfer fees received will be a bonus; the main outcome will be to remove the burden of their ludicrous wages. Arsenal’s future prospects depend on Wenger’s ability to achieve this goal.  

Humiliation in Milan

AC Milan 4-0 Arsenal

AC Milan utterly humiliated Arsenal at the San Siro last night. The stadium where the Gunners had recorded two of their greatest European triumphs, (5-1 against Inter Milan and 2-0 against AC Milan) was on this occasion the scene for their worst ever defeat on the European stage.  From the very first minute to the last, Milan were absolutely outstanding; the hunger and appetite they had for the game, phenomenal. Having secured victory against Sunderland in the last minute, you would have thought the Arsenal players would have approached this tie with supreme confidence. Yet they appeared intimidated and inhibited as their opponents outfought and overwhelmed them, winning every battle and absolutely dominated the match with their supreme and intelligent movement. Arsenal just could not live with the Serie A league leaders allowing themselves to be completely and utterly outclassed.

Arsene Wenger decided to omit Oxlade-Chamberlain from the starting line-up, with Thomas Rosicky starting the game on the left flank and Aaron Ramsey coming into the middle of the park. Although you can understand the manager’s intention to protect the young Englishman from the high octane pressure associated with a last 16 Champions League away leg at the San Siro, in hindsight this was an extremely poor decision. In recent years Italian sides have proved susceptible to the searing pace that Oxlade-Chamberlain possesses; his removal therefore negated one of Arsenal’s key attacking outlets. This was further compounded with the decision to play with a midfield consisting of Arteta, Rosicky and Ramsey, none of whom are blessed with pace and all like to put their foot on the ball, therefore slowing the game down. Wenger therefore played right into Milan’s hands, as none of the midfield players made any forward runs to support Van Persie, leaving the Dutchman an isolated figure upfront, with Milan’s defence easily cutting out any balls played up to him. Essentially, Arsenal’s play was far too predictable as every time one of our midfielders had the ball the only forward pass available was to Van Persie and so time and again the midfield had to settle for a square ball, allowing our attacking play to stagnate. This was a game crying out for the inclusion of Francis Coquelin alongside Alex Song. The Frenchman is full of energy and his eagerness to press the ball and tackle the opposition at every opportunity would not only have helped the Gunners to win back possession, but would have also set a quicker tempo to Arsenal’s game. The deployment of Coquelin and Song  in central midfield would have provided a screen for the defence and allowed our attacking midfielders the freedom to get forward and support Van Persie.

As it was Theo Walcott was intended to be Arsenal’s attacking outlet with his pace down the right. However Walcott’s performance was an absolute disgrace. He was far too easily pushed off the ball time and time again, he never once picked up the ball and ran at the Milan left-back and looked completely disinterested. One moment in the first half highlighted this perfectly. With Arsenal having a throw-in, in Milan’s final third, you would expect Walcott to make a forward run, looking to receive the ball and get in behind the Milan defence. But instead Theo had his back to the ball as he slowly ambled forward. The fact he was taken off at half-time told its own story, although in truth Wenger could have taken off all eleven Arsenal players, such was their ineptitude. Even Vermaelen, playing in his favoured centre-back role, had a night to forget.

Arsenal’s performance was littered with errors. For the first Milan goal, Szczesny needlessly played the ball out to Sagna, who was under pressure and so passed it back to the goal keeper, whose poor clearance fell straight to a Milan player. Kevin-Prince Boateng was then played through to fire a wonderful effort past the Arsenal goalkeeper. The second goal came as a direct result of Sagna not playing to the whistle, as he slowed down, believing Ibrahimovic to be off-side when he wasn’t, allowing  the Swede to get to the by-line and cut the ball back for Robinho (who Arsenal had failed to pick up) to head home. Four minutes into the second half, Robinho had scored again, following Thomas Vermaelen’s slip (the umpteenth time an Arsenal player had slipped over).  And then it was the turn of the accident waiting to happen, Djourou, to get caught square-on, needlessly hauling down Ibrahimovic to concede a penalty which was duly converted to compound Arsenal’s misery. It could well have been more. Milan looked dangerous every time they attacked, easily slicing through Arsenal’s midfield and defence.

There are absolutely no positives to take from last night’s game and it may well prove to be a watershed moment as for the first time I can remember, Wenger did not reel off a list of feeble excuses in defence of his team. He finally called it as it is and described the performance as horrendous. All Arsenal fans can only hope that this display will ultimately lead to the significant changes in personnel we have all been demanding for several years now. With crucial league games set to follow in the weeks ahead, we must see a reaction from the players in the FA cup tie against Sunderland or risk seeing our season implode once again.

King Henry sinks blackcats

Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal

It just had to be Thierry Henry who scored the winner against Sunderland. On his last Premier League appearance for Arsenal, before heading back to New York, the man who has made countless headlines throughout his illustrious career had just enough time to make one more. Having been introduced as a second half substitute, Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer had struggled to get into the game, but in the 90^th minute he was in the right place at the right time to meet Andrey Arshavin’s wonderful cross, with a deft touch, to secure victory for the Gunners and send all Gooners wild in celebration.  

Many had claimed Henry would tarnish his fantastic reputation by wearing the famous red and white shirt once again, if anything his brief second stint with the Gunners has merely enhanced his status further. Although he is clearly not the same player he once was, Henry’s tally of three goals proves he has not lost any of his finishing ability. Gone is the lightning quick speed, which would send the Highbury faithful into sheer ecstasy time and again, but his movement  and footballing brain are still first class. It was this ability which allowed him to sneak into the Sunderland six-yard box unmarked to win the game. From this moment on, he was centre stage once again, from chasing the ball down, on the right flank, with all his might, to win a throw-in near the corner flag, to telling Martin O’Neil to be quiet and stop moaning. This was Thierry Henry, giving his all for the club he loves.

O’Neil would later preposterously claim that his side deserved something from the game. How he arrived at this conclusion is completely beyond me. For the entire 90minutes Sunderland sat back, deep in their own half, all eleven men behind the ball, in the hope that Arsenal would not break them down and they could hit the Gunners on the break. (This seems to be O’Neil’s only tactic as he employed it throughout his Aston Villa tenure and then took offense when Wenger pointed this out).  In truth their plan had worked very well as Arsenal did struggle to break through the Sunderland backline, but this owed much to the horrendous condition of the Stadium of Light’s pitch. It was cutting up terribly and so every time the Gunners attempted to establish their passing game, they simply couldn’t as the ball would bobble about all over the place. Unsurprisingly Oxlade-Chamberlain found it difficult to get into the game as every time he tried to make a forward run it appeared as though he was ploughing a field as lumps of turf flew up around him.

I find it very difficult to understand how a Premier League team can be allowed to spend millions on acquiring players and then let their home ground deteriorate to such an extent. This is supposed to be the best league in the world and we are playing on a surface which is simply not fit for purpose. It was a direct result of the disgusting condition of the pith that Per Mertesacker suffered a terrible injury, believed to be ankle ligament damage, enabling James McClean to race through and fire an unstoppable shot past Szczesny. However the Gunners refused to give in, they kept calm and showed tremendous spirit and strength of character to get themselves back in the game only five minutes later. Arteta’s blocked shot fell straight to Aaron Ramsey who saw his first time effort hit both posts before going in.  

Arsenal continued to press forward in search of the winner, but it appeared they would be frustratingly undone by Sunderland’s negative tactics. The stage was set for Thierry Henry and once again he did not disappoint, scoring in the 90^th minute and then celebrating wildly with his teammates and the travelling Arsenal supporters. If we were fighting for the championship, football pundits would have been falling over themselves to proclaim this victory as one which proved our title credentials; such was the strength of character shown by the Arsenal players. This was a crucial win for the Gunners as all the clubs fighting for fourth place lost over the weekend, enabling us to move into the top four courtesy of goals scored. The race for Champions League football will take numerous twists and turns between now and the end of the season, needless to say the team who achieves the most consistency will finish in the top four. Let’s hope we are that team.

Seventh Heaven

Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn

Arsenal finally gave their supporters something to smile about on Saturday with the demolition of Blackburn Rovers. The 4-3 defeat suffered earlier in the season at Ewood Park, vanquished with an excellent 7-1 victory at the Emirates. Although Arsenal were helped on their way thanks to Gael Givet’s red card, for a horrible two footed lunge on Robin Van Persie, towards the end of the first half, the Gunners’ hunger as they continued to push forward in search of more goals was highly impressive.

Arsenal signalled their intent from the very first minute and duly took a second minute lead as Theo Walcott raced through, on the right flank, before squaring the ball to Van Persie for an easy finish. The Blackburn defence were in total disarray and simply could not cope with Arsenal’s attacking fluidity and in particular the strength and speed provided on the wings by Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain.  It was like watching Arsenal of old as they looked extremely dangerous with every attack. However they could not find a second goal to effectively kill the game off and as so often happens to Arsenal, they were made to pay with Blackburn’s first attempt on goal, as Szczesny could not prevent Morten Gamst Pedersen’s excellent free-kick hitting the back of the net despite getting his hand to the ball. This was a crucial point in the game; the Gunners could have easily felt sorry for themselves and bemoaned their misfortune, allowing three points to once again slip through their fingers. In fact the players showed great belief and character , took control of the game once again and six minutes later were back in front with a carbon copy of their first goal. Walcott again racing through, on the right, before laying the ball back for Van Persie to beat Paul Robinson easily. Two minutes later the Dutchman turned provider as his through ball sent Oxlade-Chamberlain bearing down on goal, the young Englishman showing excellent composure to round Robinson and slot home, following a bad first touch. With the score at 3-1 and Arsenal in total control, the game was already effectively over before Givet’s needless lunge led to his dismissal.

Oxlade-Chamberlain celebrates his first goal

In the second half the Gunners could have easily rested on their laurels safe in the knowledge that the three points were theirs. However they showed great hunger and desire in the search for more goals. In the 51st minute Blackburn could only clear Van Persie’s corner to the edge of the box, allowing Mikel Arteta to fire home his fourth Arsenal goal of the season, before Oxlade-Chamberlain capped a truly wonderful performance with his second goal of the afternoon. Once again the young man showed great composure in the box, evading a last ditch challenge from a Blackburn defender and then slotting the ball past the helpless Robinson to make the score 5-1. Oxlade-Chamberlain has been a real revelation in the past three games, his direct forward runs remind me of a young Thierry Henry, as fans automatically jump up from their seats in excitement whenever he has the ball at his feet. He certainly has a very bright future ahead of him.

Hat trick hero: Van Persie

There was also still time for Van Persie to seal his hat trick, this time the assist being provided by the impressive Francis Coquelin, filling in at right back. The young Frenchman’s powerful forward run and square ball were seized upon by his grateful Dutch teammate, as he effortlessly steered the ball into the back of the net. With the Gunners now leading 6-1, it was left to Arsenal legend Thierry Henry to put the icing on the cake, in the 90^th minute, with his first premier league goal since his return to the club. 

At the final whistle the Emirates rose as one to acclaim a truly outstanding performance. Arsenal’s central midfield trio of Rosicky, Arteta and Song were excellent; their wonderful, seamless interplay providing the perfect platform for Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain to torment Blackburn.  The Gunners must now build on this performance and find the consistency required to carry the fight for a top four finish.  When Arsenal perform as they did on Saturday, they are more than a match for any team in this league.

Stalemate at the Reebok

Bolton 0-0 Arsenal

Arsenal were left frustrated last night by their inability to break down Bolton’s stubborn defence, leaving the Gunners languishing in seventh place in the league, as both Newcastle and Liverpool moved above them. 

Following Sunday’s great comeback win against Aston Villa, several Arsenal players expressed the need to build upon that result and in particular the second half performance. Yet while the Gunners did start the game brightly and created several chances in the opening twenty minutes, they could not convert any of these into a crucial goal which would have forced Bolton to abandon their defensive tactics. In the end Arsenal simply ran out of ideas. Inevitably Robin Van Persie was at the heart of the Gunners’ attacking play, having a header cleared off the line, before slipping a through ball to the sliding Ramsey who was agonisingly close to connecting with the ball. The Dutchman then played a ball square to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose unfortunate slip as he shot, led to his effort flying harmlessly wide of Bogdan’s goal. The best chance of the first half however fell to Theo Walcott. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s impressive vision enabled the young Englishman to pick out his compatriot with a wonderful through ball. Yet with only Bogdan to beat, Walcott inexplicably shot straight at the Hungarian goalkeeper. Had Arsenal taken their chances in this early spell of pressure, all three points would have been heading back to North London, but their lack of composure in front of goal allowed Bolton into the game; with David Ngogg first denied by Szczesny and then firing wide after outmuscling Koscielny on both occasions.

Arsenal began the second half as they had the first, applying pressure to the Bolton goal. The returning Bacary Sagna saw his wonderful cross headed against the post by Van Persie and Bogdan Saved well from Oxlade-Chamberlain. But once again, having failed to score, the Gunners’ attacking threat fizzled out. The midfield just seems to lack that creative edge which has always been synonymous with Arsene Wenger’s teams. As a result the team keeps the ball well, passing from left to right as they seek to move the opposition and create an opening. But we are then unable to exploit it as we do not possess a player who can supply through balls on a regular basis; a player who can create something out of nothing. This is where Jack Wilshere’s presence has been sorely missed. Without such a player, Arsenal are very easy to defend against, as their attacking threat only ever comes from one source. Stop Van Persie scoring and you stop Arsenal from scoring. A player such as Theo Walcott, who talks a good game in the newspapers, needs to help shoulder the goal scoring burden, but once again he was anonymous and on the periphery of the Arsenal’s attacking play. Walcott has simply not developed his game at all and his performances of late have been especially disappointing, considering he is hoping to convince the club he is worth a new and improved contract.  As a result it was left to Van Persie to create another opportunity for himself as he turned on the edge of the box and lifted the ball over the helpless Bogdan, but unfortunately saw his wonderful effort hit the bar.

Wenger’s decision to leave Walcott on the pitch and instead replace Oxlade-Chamberlain, who once again had a good game, resulted in the Gunners’ attack becoming increasingly flat. As the game entered into the closing stages it was Bolton who looked most likely to win the game and the Trotters could have had a penalty as Szczesny had to make a last ditch challenge to deny Mark Davies. In the end a draw was simply not good enough as Arsenal’s 2012 league nightmare continues. With every dropped point the fight for fourth place becomes more and more difficult and the fact Wenger has allowed yet another transfer window to pass by without addressing the clear deficiencies in his side, does not bode well for the rest of the season.