Gunners crushed by Anelka brace
Nicolas Anelka scored in both halves for the Trotters
Also In The News
|
West Ham have made an official approach for Shaun Wright-Phillips, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has confirmed. |  |
Saturday, 25, Nov 2006 08:13
Nicolas Anelka scored in both halves to help Bolton to a 3-1 home win against Arsenal.
The match proved to be a frustrating one for the Gunners and it would not have helped that it was their old team-mate Anelka doing most of the tormenting.
Arsenal should have scored several times during the first half but none of their efforts succeeded, the team palpably lacking the presence of Thierry Henry.
Instead it was Bolton who took an early lead in the ninth minute, courtesy of Abdoulaye Faye. The Senegalese midfielder latched onto a corner kick from El-Hadji Diouf, giving the home fans something to cheer about for most of the first half.
The Reebok stadium was deafened yet again when, in stoppage time, Anelka scored the first of his two goals. A cross from Kevin Davies set up the Frenchman's powerful kick into the top-right corner.
Arsenal immediately struck back, however, thanks to Gilberto Silva. He headed in a cross from Theo Walcott from the right side of the six-yard box, keeping the game alive into the second half, which resumed with a period of intensive pressure on the Bolton goal.
Sadly for the Gunners their attempts to find an equaliser failed and it was Anelka again who would be next to score. A delicate move from Ivan Campo on the right wing set him up, Anelka kicking right-footed into the bottom-left side of the goal with a quarter of an hour left on the clock.
A threatening shot from Emmanuel Adebayor hit the woodwork in the 86th minute, as did a Francesc Fabregas effort as stoppage time began. Their failures meant Arsenal succumbed to another miserable defeat at Bolton, where they have now failed to win three successive Premiership games in a row.