Arsenal vs Bolton – Preview

A must win game for arsenal to keep their title hopes alive. How many times have we heard this sentence in the past 3 to 4 weeks? Although we cannot stop dropping points, we are still in the title race with 5 games left. With only 1 win in the last 6 premier league matches, it’s looking highly impossible for us to win our next 5 games.

Sunday’s match against Bolton at the Reebok will be a tough game. Bolton after losing 5-0 in the Fa cup semi final will try to give their best in order to appease their fans.  On the other hand if any team in this world who owes its fans, it’s Arsenal FC.  We the fans have been left frustrated by the player’s performances in the last 2 months. The manner in which we have surrendered leads in recent matches is shambolic and unforgivable. The question is, will the players ever learn from those bad experiences? I hope they will but I doubt it very much.

Arsenal

Arsenal has a very impressive away record this season. We have lost only 2 games to united and Chelsea respectively. We are unbeaten in our last 16 matches; the last defeat was against United at old Trafford on the 13^th of December 2010. Since then we have won 8 matches and drew 8. In our last 6 matches, we won only one match and drew five. Out of a possible 18 points, we managed to grab only 8 points.

Our previous 5 Away games:

Tottenham 3 – 3 Arsenal

 Blackpool 1 – 3 Arsenal

West Brom  2 – 2 Arsenal

Newcastle  4 – 4 Arsenal

West ham    0  - 3 Arsenal

In our previous 5 away games, we won 2 games and drawn 3. We scored 15 goals and conceded 10. We have conceded too many goals for a championship winning team to be honest .Our defenders have to step up and we need a clean sheet very badly at the moment. Goals in away matches is not a problem for us, we have scored in almost all our away matches this season. Our main concern is the defence; we seem to concede goals for fun.

HEAD TO HEAD IN THE LAST 5 MATCHES VS BOLTON

Arsenal 4 – 1 Bolton
Arsenal 4 – 2 Bolton
Bolton 0 – 2 Arsenal
Arsenal 1 – 0 Bolton
Bolton 1 – 3 Arsenal

Arsenal has a very good record against Bolton in recent years. We have won the last 9 matches against Bolton. We are also 10 matches unbeaten against them. Our last defeat against Bolton came on the 25^th of November, 2006. We lost that match 3 – 1 , Nico Anelka netting a brace that day. Since Big Sam left Bolton, they struggled very badly against the Gunners.

Arsenal top 3 Scorers:

Robin Van persie   18 goals
Samir Nasri            15 goals
Theo Walcott          12 goals

Some Arsenal State: (If they Play):

Tomas Rosicky will make his 90^th appearance for Arsenal in the Premier league.

Walcott will make his 110^th Appearance for Arsenal in the premier league.

Walcott will also make his 170^th appearance for Arsenal in all competitions.

Cesc Fabregas is on 79 assist in the premier league.