By Boris Mellor
January 29 2006

Arsenal went into the match the underdogs – partly because of their away record, but also due to the fact that Wenger either could not call on, or did not want to call on 10 first team players. Not one pundit on Sky’s Sports News Panel backed Arsenal for a draw.

Everyone tipped Bolton, including Charlie Nicholas. They were right, but for vast patches of the game Arsenal were on top.

Arsenal fielded 7 players at the age of 22 and under, and quite a few of those were under 19.This wasn’t much of a game – the first half was particularly dull with both sides having just a few chances. Attempts to catch the Arsenal young back four out may have worked for first 15 minutes, but increasingly as Campbell marshalled them they became more confident. Campbell was key, but as Gilbert and Djourou became more effective the long-term future for Arsenal looked even brighter. Senderos did enough at left back to prevent the Bolton right flank becoming rampant.

In the second half Arsenal’s play began to improve throughout the team, Diaby began to show the promise that Wenger claims for him. He found the pace difficult at first but as the game progressed he showed his metal. Tough, not scared of putting his foot in, bringing high balls down, ploughing through a crowded defence, and attempting shots, one of which was heading for the target but was blocked by a Bolton defender.

Van Persie also began to threaten, and did brilliant work to tee himself up for a shot before missing the ball completely. Both Ljungberg and Hleb also created chances. Jaaskelainen made quite a few good saves, indeed Arsenal were now appearing to be the team most likely to score. However at the height of Arsenal’s pressure Kevin Davies fed the ball back to Gardner on the left and his low cross was met by an accurate header from Stelios at the far post that left Almunia with no chance.

This exposed the problem of man to man marking, Campbell and Senderos had their men marked – but no one was marking Stelios who got his second easy goal this season. All that good work and concentration was blown away with one simple error of defensive organising.

Of course the press will crow – one such stupid headline appearing on the Sky Sports Web page – "Bolton humiliate Arsenal". Then there own stats show Arsenal had more shots more corners, and more possession. Hardly a humiliation, considering they were favourites against a very young Arsenal team they just shaded it.

Even after the goal the Gunners kept attacking, and risked the score going to 2-0 which would have truly flattered the Trotters.

This was not a bad performance, one defensive error, brilliant goalkeeping by Jaaskelainen, and no rub of the green for any of our shots kept the result from being more representative of play. Of course the team with the most goals wins, but that doesn’t mean Arsenal played badly. The team showed spirit and determination, many young players showed real promise. It’s time to accentuate the positive.