You believed, you got it, 6-2 on aggregate as Coyle’s Bolton outplayed

After our win at Bolton, Wenger saluted the fans who made the trip up north. Why? Because even before Fabregas scored the first goal, our fans were out-singing the Trotters. And then just as the majority at the Emirates were meant to feel disgruntled at being 2-0 against the 19th best team in the Premiership, Gooners continued to chant “We love you Arsenal, we do”. With support like that, Bolton were in the end lucky to escape with just a 4-2 defeat.

Going one nil down wasn’t a shock for me. Arsenal have been notoriously slow starters (count the number of games where we have scored within the first 20 minutes). Bolton had nothing to lose after being largely outplayed on their own turf.

Going two nil down was a shock. This was turning into a nightmare. Even more so when you consider that it was our first choice defence playing. Safe to say, I didn’t share the same level optimism of those at the Emirates.

However, going two nil down was the best thing that happened. We knew that we had history on our side. The media like to talk Bolton up when they are due to play us, but conveniently forget that we did the double over them last season. And they couldn’t get their heads around to realise that our last comeback from two goals down came against Bolton. Once Bolton found the wrath of Rosicky’s right foot, it looked inevitable.  From there on, came wave after wave of unapologetic attacks until the final whistle went. The second and third goals were fortunate but you make your luck.  The fourth was beautifully worked, similar to the first we scored at the Reebok. It was fitting end to the goal glut.

I should put my two cents forward on the Gallas tackle. Sympathy is sparse for Mark Davies and even more sparse for Bolton. You can criticise the timing of the tackle but no more. But you can say an awful lot more about Matty Taylor pulling Cesc’s hair and then standing on him. So, let us leave it at that shall we?

Commentators during our home game praised Bolton. Let us get this right, Bolton weren’t good. We didn’t start well at the Emirates and the reason they had a semi-decent game at the Reebok was because Traore had another off day. They are 19th in the table for a reason. Coyle and Co can come out and say they performed well but where ? We dominated possession, created more chances on both games and won 6-2 on aggregate.

Maybe it is a Lancashire thing. On the same day Bolton conceded 4, Blackburn conceded 6 and Sam Allardyce blamed the referee.

And that was our first double over a team. We could end up with 11 more doubles.  Last year we only did the double over 6 teams and two of those were over Newcastle and West Brom. Surely we have to do better than last year?

For us, being top is a great achievement. For now. The next few games, thanks to the random fixture generator will be the toughest. At worst case scenario, I’m hoping we don’t lose to any. If we can’t win against Chelsea, Utd that’s fine. But no way should we lose to them. Let them get their wins against the others. Keep the spirit, Gooners.

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