EPL: Arsenal vs Bolton
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vs 
Match: Arsenal Football Club vs Bolton Wanderers Football Club
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
League: Barclays Premiership
Time: Saturday, 14 April 2007
Ref: R Styles -
Cesc targets Bolton win
Cesc Fabregas has issued a rallying call to his Arsenal team-mates, insisting they must beat Bolton and push on and claim fourth place.
The Gunners' season went up in smoke during February and March, as they were beaten in the Carling Cup final, knocked out of the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League and lost touch with Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premiership.
Arsenal seemed on course to secure a place in next season's Champions League less than a month ago, but three losses and a draw from their four most recent games have brought them back to the pack.
Bolton are Arsenal's nearest pursuers and the two teams lock horns at Emirates Stadium at the weekend.
Spanish midfielder Fabregas is aware of the task at hand and says it is imperative Arsenal clinch a place at Europe's top table.
"We have to beat Bolton because we have to fight for the fourth place and be in Europe next season, then forget about this season," Fabregas told the London newspaper.
"We cannot fight for anything else, so it is our job to make it."
Fabregas claims Arsenal have not had the rub of the green in recent weeks.
"We always try to win," he added. "I have never gone into a game without my mentality of trying to win.
"We fought really hard against West Ham on Saturday and again at Newcastle, so it has been 180 really hard minutes in less than 48 hours.
"It was a good challenge for us, it is just that the goals do not come." -
Sigh,can we do it? or cant we? Its up to the arsenal players. we the fans can just support and cheer for them. Good luck arsenal!
I predict it MIGHT be a 1-0 win for us or perhaps 2-1? -
tink it will be a draw or bolton win...
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think positive dude!!!Originally posted by BrUtUs:tink it will be a draw or bolton win...
but bolton is PARKING good in the air.especially kevin davies. I hope Toure shut his trap this sat. -
bolton is difficult to beat and with no good striker + working formula, cant expect much...Originally posted by felirox:think positive dude!!!
but bolton is PARKING good in the air.especially kevin davies. I hope Toure shut his trap this sat. -
Davies: Pressure on Arsenal
Kevin Davies has piled the pressure on Arsenal ahead of Bolton's clash at Emirates Stadium this weekend.
Bolton have played one game more than Arsene Wenger's men but can leapfrog them in the table if they inflict a fourth defeat in five games on the misfiring Gunners.
With just a month of the Premiership season remaining Bolton would then be in pole position to claim the final UEFA Champions League spot.
Davies believes Bolton have nothing to lose on Saturday, but is confident his side can once again thwart Arsenal.
"All the pressure will be on Arsenal, because they are expected to get into the Champions League," he explained.
"But we proved in the FA Cup that we can go there and get a result and we're really looking forward to Saturday."
Davies feels Bolton have learned from past campaigns and are strong enough this season to claim a European place.
He told the Bolton Evening News: "We are in a fabulous position with five games left.
"We could be stuck somewhere in mid-table with no chance, but we've hung in there and we're in fifth spot, right behind the big four, and we're going to give it a good go.
"We've said the same in past seasons when we've been in similar positions but this time we don't just want to talk about it, we want to go and do it." -
Same As Posted in Sports ForumOriginally posted by BrUtUs:tink it will be a draw or bolton win... -
Current score:
Arsenal 1
Tomas Rosicky 31'
Bolton 1
Nicholas Anelka 11' -
Line-ups:
Arsenal:
Lehmann
Eboue
Toure
Gallas
Clichy
A. Hleb
Cesc Fabbregas
Gilberto Silva
T. Rosicky
Freddie Ljungberg
E. Adebayor
Substitutes
Almunia
Diaby
Senderos
Julio Baptista
Aliadiere
Bolton:
Jaaskelainen
Hunt
Meite
Diagne-Faye
Gardner
Nolan
Ivan Campo
Gary Speed
Kelvin Davies
Anelka
El Haiji Diouf
Substitutes
Al Habsi
Giannakopoulos
Thompson
Teymourian
Vaz Te -
Originally posted by turbo_drift:
the nend arsenal. the end. uefa cup nxt season. bye bye.
Current score:
[b]Arsenal 0
Bolton 1
Nicholas Anelka 11'
[/b] -
Originally posted by felirox:the end arsenal. the end. uefa cup nxt season. bye bye.
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Gooners needs miracles now..
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oh rosicky! phewOriginally posted by turbo_drift:Gooners needs miracles now.. -
Lucky gooners..
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half time score:
Arsenal 1
Tomas Rosicky 31'
Bolton 1
Nicholas Anelka 11' -
Fibreglass scores just after the 2nd half starts!
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2nd half score:
Arsenal 2
Tomas Rosicky 31'
Fabregas 46'
Bolton 1
Nicholas Anelka 11' -
phew.that was a nail biting match. arsenal still cant really finish balls. diaby should have scored a hat trick.
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yup... they reali lucky to finish tis match as winner... he should've pass to baptista to finish off for 1 of the chances... looks like big sam's prematch is jz trash tok...Originally posted by felirox:phew.that was a nail biting match. arsenal still cant really finish balls. diaby should have scored a hat trick. -
wad did fat sam said??Originally posted by BrUtUs:yup... they reali lucky to finish tis match as winner... he should've pass to baptista to finish off for 1 of the chances... looks like big sam's prematch is jz trash tok... -
he was boasting of confidence they sure win.. but bookies r the winners for tis match...Originally posted by felirox:wad did fat sam said?? -
Gunners race clear of Bolton
Arsenal came from an early goal down to defeat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 in the battle of fourth versus fifth in the Premiership.
Sam Allardyce's side trailed The Gunners by just two points coming into the game, and looked like possibly getting something from the match when Nicolas Anelka finished from close range.
But Arsenal enjoyed the better of the chances throughout and Tomas Rosicky pounced to level and Cesc Fabregas scored what turned out to be the winner just after half-time.
The result leaves Arsene Wenger's men in pole position to grab the final UEFA Champions League spot by opening a five-point gap on their opponents.
El Hadji Diouf sent an early shot well off target, but the game could not have started better for Bolton as with their next attack, former Gunner Anelka fired Bolton into an 11th minute lead.
Nicky Hunt's deep free-kick came all the way through to Kevin Nolan whose header had to be dealt with by Jens Lehmann, however he could only parry the ball out to Anelka and the Frenchman fired home from six yards out, beating William Gallas on the line.
From that point on, Arsenal dominated the half, with Rosicky the first of many to go close with a shot from distance which went over the top of Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal.
Jaaskelainen was soon into the action and made a great save from Emmanuel Adebayor with his feet after the Togolese international was fed in by Ljungberg. Moments later Ljungberg narrowly missed with a free-kick that curled just over.
Two rare forays forward for Bolton saw Anelka run at Arsenal's backline and shoot across goal before his ball was headed into the danger zone by Kevin Davies and had to be defended well by Gallas under pressure from Nolan.
Rosicky was a yard off target with his shot and Fabregas' teasing cross was about the same distance away from meeting Ljungberg's outstretched leg soon after.
Kolo Toure's powerful drive from distance forced a strong save from Jaaskelainen, and the pressure got too much for Hunt just past the half-hour mark as his mistake let in Rosicky.
Adebayor's dinked cross looked like being dealt with comfortably by the Bolton right-back at the far post, but he seemingly got caught in two minds, allowing Rosicky to pounce and beat Jaaskelainen from close in.
Anelka continued to work hard on his own up front for The Trotters but he shot wide, while at the other end Jaaskelainen was called upon to make another firm stop from Toure and Ljungberg dragged a shot wide as Bolton were holding on for half-time.
Allardyce will have wanted his side to keep it tight at the start of the second half, but his plan went out of the window seconds after the restart.
Gilberto's perfect through ball carved Bolton open and after making Abdoulaye Meite miss his tackle on the edge of the area, Fabregas composed himself before calmly dispatching into the corner of Jaaskelainen's goal.
Alexander Hleb's left-footed shot rolled just the wrong side of the post and Campo's drive from a difficult angle never looked like troubling Lehmann.
Abou Diaby could have put the game out of Bolton's reach with 20 minutes remaining when picked out by Adebayor, but unmarked the Arsenal substitute sent his header wide from the centre of goal.
Bolton's task was made harder on 82 minutes as Campo was shown his second yellow card by referee Rob Styles for a foul on Rosicky in the middle of the park.
Diaby fired a shot from the edge of the area wide and then wasted another glorious chance having fought off Julio Baptista to go through one-on-one with Jaaskelainen, but the Finn was up to the test as he made a fairly routine stop.
Bolton went straight up the other end and had strong appeals for a penalty when Emmanuel Eboue appeared to handle in his own box, but referee Styles was unmoved as he rebuffed the claims.
Baptista blazed over late in the game as Arsenal held on to take a comfortable advantage in the race for fourth spot in the Premiership and the last Champions League place.