Arsenal 4 Bolton Wanderers 2:HERE IN the house of eternal promise they found that seizing an opportunity is sometimes harder than not having one at all. Arsenal's unlikely return to the top of the Premier League would, Arsene Wenger said, have "psychological meaning" for the other contenders.
But the thought of it had a mental impact on his own players too as the dark horses succumbed to dark thoughts.
The concession of two first-half goals to a Bolton Wanderers side Wenger’s men had beaten comfortably four days earlier showed that the dynamic has changed for “More-to-Come FC”. To be “written off” has its advantages. It removes the burden of expectation that was apparent when Arsenal made such a fretful start to this game and allowed Owen Coyle to put early gloss on his managerial move from Burnley.
But led by their redoubtable captain, Cesc Fabregas, who was about 18 years old at birth, Arsenal surged back into the reckoning with a curling first-half strike from Tomas Rosicky and then a Fabregas equaliser as they showed they are not all poetry and pretty patterns.
The lunge by William Gallas at the standing ankle of Mark Davies escaped the attention of the referee but put the Bolton midfielder on a stretcher.
Gallas can expect to see endless replays of this unsavoury challenge and Alan Wiley should be asked to explain why he waved play on, especially as the phase ended with Fabregas’ goal.
The animating force of Arsenal’s play, though, was the desire not to let a chance go floating by. Wenger would not have wanted to spend the rest of the evening explaining that the class of 2010 were just too callow to defeat a relegation-threatened opponent twice in four days.
His half-time team talk would have been of the non-professorial variety. Sure enough, Arsenal took the lead when Thomas Vermaelen prodded a chance past Jussi Jaskelainen and the victory by two or more they needed to depose Chelsea sprang back into view with Andrey Arshavin’s goal, Arsenal’s fourth.
After their 3-0 thumping at home by Carlo Ancelotti's team at the end of November, Arsenal had been granted time and space to persevere on the long path to maturity. The Champions League seemed their only major target as another title challenge fell down the well of youth and inexperience. But like the two louche thespians in Withnail and I, who went on holiday "by mistake", the Gunners ended up with a chance to go top without really planning it, as a run of six wins in eight afforded a chance to stand on the summit in January for the first time for two years.
Wenger’s glittering array of ball-sprayers were last there back in August after a 6-1 win at Everton and a 4-1 demolition of Portsmouth. To lead the title race before September 1st hardly registers, though, and after defeats to the two Manchester clubs Arsenal plunged to ninth. So resounding was Chelsea’s conquest in this stadium that another set of domestic hopes were packed away as Wenger began a new round of lectures on patience and faith.
“Everyone wrote us off, but we are back in it,” he said this week. That sent tremors through his squad. But not for long. Fabregas, the top scorer with 14, has added composure in front of goal to his formidable repertoire. Arshavin is forever primed to inflict maximum hurt and the absence of Robin van Persie has been concealed by artistry in midfield.
These Arsenal graduates must sense the opportunity to exploit vulnerability elsewhere. They have no excuse to deviate from the simple task of trying to play the best football in England.
Just when Wenger had persuaded us that the league title is not a life-defining obsession (that anytime would do), the future came early. But they will need a lot of nerve.
ARSENAL: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Fabregas, Denilson, Diaby (Eastmond 76), Rosicky (Vela 88), Arshavin, Eduardo (Walcott 90). Subs not used: Fabianski, Silvestre, Traore, Emmanuel-Thomas. Booked: Clichy.
BOLTON WANDERERS: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson (Ricketts 90), Lee (Klasnic 81), Mark Davies (McCann 56), Muamba, Cohen, Taylor, Kevin Davies. Subs not used: Al Habsi, Samuel, Elmander, Andrew O’Brien. Booked: Muamba, McCann.
Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).
