Arsenal secure thrilling win

Gunned down: Arsenal secure victory at the death

Related links

Teams

• Arsenal
• Bolton Wanderers

Players

• Matthew Taylor
• William Gallas

• More Players +

  • Robin van Persie
  • Cesc Fabregas

Also see

• Arsenal fixtures
• Arsenal stats
• Arsenal forum

Arsenal produced an astounding second-half comeback in miserable conditions to beat Bolton despite going two goals down and having Abou Diaby sent off after half an hour.

Despite The Gunners dominating the early stages, Bolton went ahead in the 14th minute when Matthew Taylor headed home from Gretar Steinsson's cross.

And the visitors' problems increased when Diaby was sent off after half an hour for a horror challenge on Steinsson.

Taylor then grabbed his second goal just before half-time when his shot took a deflection off William Gallas and went beyond the outstretched Manuel Almunia.

Bolton dominated the opening stages of the second half and could easily have had a third, but an Arsenal corner just after the hour gave Gallas the chance to bring his team back into the game as he fired home from close range when the ball.

When Gary Cahill brought down Alexander Hleb in the area minutes later following a neat piece of play, Robin van Persie made no mistake in drawing his team level, setting up a frantic end to the game.

And in the 90th minute, Cesc Fabregas's twice-deflected shot found its way into the Bolton goal to complete a remarkable comeback for Arsene Wenger's men.

Arsenal should have been ahead in the ninth minute when Hleb threaded a through-ball to Van Persie but with only the goalkeeper to beat he drove straight at Ali Al-Habsi.

Made to pay

Nicklas Bendtner then had a shot charged down by Cahill, before Arsenal were made to pay for not making more of their possession in the 14th minute.

From a throw-in El Hadji Diouf played in Steinsson down the right and the full-back curled in a superb cross which Taylor headed powerfully past Almunia from six yards.

Toure thought he had come close to scoring when his drilled effort from outside the penalty area took a deflection off Bendtner to wrong-foot Al-Habsi but as the goalkeeper watched the ball roll agonisingly wide of the post the assistant referee's flag had already gone up for offside against Gallas.

Arsenal's problems worsened after 31 minutes when Diaby dived in studs-up on Steinsson's ankle and referee Chris Foy had no hesitation in showing a red card.

And just when it looked like they would get to half-time without further mishap Taylor scored a fortunate second in the 42nd minute.

Gavin McCann robbed Mathieu Flamini on the edge of his own penalty and when Diouf squared the ball Taylor's left-footed strike deflected off Gallas and past Almunia.

Kevin Davies forced Philippe Senderos into conceding a corner in the second minute after the interval and when Taylor fired in his shot Cahill's backheel took it just wide of Almunia's near post.

Title hope

Cahill's header from a Taylor corner then produced a good reaction save from Gunners goalkeeper Almunia.

Out of nowhere the visitors got themselves back in the match from Van Persie's 63rd-minute corner when Ivan Campo jumped but missed his header and Gallas stole in unmarked to score at the far post.

Six minutes later the Gunners were level when Van Persie converted from the penalty spot after Cahill brought down Hleb.

It was harsh on Al-Habsi, who had saved well from Flamini seconds earlier after the midfielder had collected substitute Emmanuel Adebayor's backheel.

The confidence drained out of the hosts as Arsenal went for victory, although Campo did have one half-chance which he blazed over from outside the box.

Van Persie twice had opportunities to snatch victory but fired well over on both occasions, once from seven yards.

And with seconds to go Arsenal snatched victory when Hleb's cross from the left was helped on by Fabregas and took two deflections, the last off Samuel to give the Gunners' hope in the title race.