Arsenal 3 Bolton 0: Wenger pleased with ‘welcome’ victory

Arsenal record their second league win of the season thanks to goals from Robin van Persie and Alex Song

By Martin Caparrotta
Saturday 24 September 2011, 18:15 UK

Premier League, 24 September 2011, Emirates Stadium

Arsenal

3 - 0

Bolton

Arsène Wenger was thrilled to see his side secure a “welcome and deserved” three points after Arsenal overcame 10-man Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

Robin van Persie scored his 99th and 100th goals after half-time for The Gunners as Wenger’s men recorded their second top flight win of the season at The Emirates.

Alex Song then curled home a superb third to add gloss to a victory that hoists the Londoners up to 12th in the table and puts Bolton bottom of the pack.

“It is a deserved win that is welcome for us because we cannot drop many more points,” said Wenger.

“I felt that in the first half we were a bit impatient sometimes, that we didn’t move the ball quickly enough, that our midfielders came a bit deep because we were man-marked. That exposed us a bit to counter-attacking and we had less support up front.

“In the second half, maybe because they were fatigued as well, our midfielders played higher up and we became straight away more dangerous. Bolton lost more balls and after that it was a question of when we would score the second goal. We had plenty of opportunities.”

Van Persie fired The Gunners into the lead immediately after the break when he took Aaron Ramsey’s pass in his stride and beat Jussi Jaaskelainen at the near-post with a clever finish.

Things soon got worse for the visitors when David Wheater was shown a straight red card for bringing down Theo Walcott as the Arsenal forward raced towards the Bolton goal after being slid through by Ramsey.

With Wenger’s men in the ascendency, Van Persie doubled the home side’s lead when he turned in Walcott’s low cross from the right 20 minutes from time.

And Song secured the victory in the 89th minute, curling sublime a right-footed shot into the top corner after Sagna’s cutback took a deflection off Ramsey.

An injury to Walcott late in the game put a dampener on proceedings for Arsenal, with Wenger confirming he will undergo a scan on his knee on Saturday night after he hobbled off just before the end.

Wenger said: “I don’t really know [what is wrong with Walcott]. I thought it was a classic hamstring but it is not. He felt a sharp pain in his knee and at the moment he is with the doctor.”

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Song, Arteta, Ramsey, Walcott, Gervinho, Van Persie.

Bolton Wanderers: Jaaskelainen, Wheater, Robinson, Knight, Steinsson, Eagles, Reo-Coker, Muamba, Pratley, Petrov, Ngog.