Arsenal Through and Through

All over the country, people who know the game are raving about the quality of Arsenal’s performance against Bolton Wanderers in the F.A. Cup replay at the Reebok Stadium – a performance that was enhanced by the fact that on the day the home side played so well they could hardly have been expected to do any more. There were times, particularly in the first half, when you felt that the only way Bolton were going to get hold of the ball was to wait for Arsenal, or the referee, to give it to them, such was the pace, the accuracy and the inventiveness of the Gunners’ attacking play. And if only the finishing had matched the creativity, Arsenal would have comfortably hit double figures.

What is even more remarkable is that this result was achieved without calling upon the services of Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Eboue, Philippe Senderos, William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas, Thierry Henry, Robin Van Persie and Matthieu Flamini – a massive pool of talent which is not far short of a whole team. And on top of that, Arsene Wenger was able to take players of the quality of Rosicky and Hleb off and still win in extra time.

Curiously enough, it seems like only yesterday that Arsenal fans were obliged to listen to or read a whole lot of media hype about the overwhelming superiority of Chelsea’s squad.