Review: Bolton 1 - Arsenal 3

We're Top of the Table! And what a great way to do it. When ultimate a-hole Kevin Davies scored in the 14th minute, it was a little worried sense of deja vu that came over me. But it wasn't too bad. It helped that Fat Sam's no longer in charge. Any concern, however, was erased at kick off. Our reaction was absolutely stunning. For some 15 minutes after the goal, the football that we played was out of this planet. Quite like nothing the EPL has seen this season. We hit the post twice, and opened up Bolton like they were a...a...erm...a really shit team. (For lack of analogy, I'm telling it as it is). Ade should've scored with his first chance, and Song too could have done better with his header.

Then, would you believe it. Who else, but Eboue who scores the equaliser. Yes, our Eboue. Who now has become the complete midfielder as Le Boss would describe it. haha. Great finish for someone scoring only his first league goal. Bendtner would score a minute or so later at the end of another great move, and it was expected that we would then slow down and take the foot off the pedal till half time.

After the break, Bolton came out, and we had to defend. But there was some maturity in the performance, and we always felt we could break at will. And so we did with goal machine Denilson popping up again to put it to bed late on. It was really quite like bliss.

To the player ratings:

Almunia 7.5 - Several excellent saves, always confident and kept us in the game with great saves at 2-1.

Sagna 7.5 - Excellent as always, and looked just as effective on the left as he always it is on the right.

Toure 7 - Nice, dependable performance again. But the dude had better score soon. Had a good effort today, but just missed. Hope all his recent misses don't put a dampener on his confidence in front of goal.

Gallas 7 - Like Toure, where necessary, looked generally comfortable. Nothing fancy, and a few good challenges here and there. Just what we need, I suppose.

Clichy 7 - Another good show, and we're just all glad his injury has turned out to be okay. Just "bruising" on his shin looks like. He's now got a week to get over it before Hull, so I'm not too concerned.

Eboue 7.5 - Would've given him slightly more, but he had too quiet a start in the second half. But his role in our come-back was incontrovertible. Added to his like little won penalty last weekend, his slightly off-side goal today should get him more confident going forward. Had another brilliant or two to add to his tally. Methinks if he keeps it up, he should score a small handful this season.

Fabregas 7 - Quiet, but still dependable performance by his standards. But I must say - we really should do better with the 17 (!!) corners we had during the game. Note to Le Boss: gotta work on the set-pieces. Bolton scored on one of their first corners, and Cesc should be whipping them in at greater speed and into more dangerous positions. We've got pretty decent people in the box with Toure, Gallas, Ade and Bendtner, so it was a pity we didn't make better use of the corners.

Song 7.5 - Beginning to like him quite a bit. His place in the new-look Cesc-Denilson-Song midfield looks like a brilliant brain-wave from Le Boss. Strong at the back of the two, but also decent going forward. Hit the post, and had a good shot in early in the second.

Denilson 8.5 – He's becoming this season's Flamini. Given the opportunity, he's shining more and more every game. Great assist for the second, and scored his second for the season with a cool finish. Got a good feeling about him.

Adebayor 8 - Would have given him more with his tireless assists and un-selfish play. Played in Denilson for the third and caused headaches all over the place. Should've scored his fourth of the season, but somehow hit the post.

Bendtner 8.5 - It's super encouraging when we can rest RVP and play Bendtner for a full 90 minutes. And what a show. Great ball for Eboue's goal, and finished off his first for the second a minute later. Many great touches, and he's a much stronger physical presence than RVP. Somehow, you get the feeling that's he's morely like to break someone than get crocked by the odd tackle. Which is reassuring, to say the least.

As for the subs, what can I say: our English duo of Ramsey and Walcott were super. Walcott's undoubtedly confident, and my money's on his first league goal next week.

Finally, best performance (9/10) of the weekend for us must go to the guys over at Anfield. Great performance there, to get a goalless draw against Stoke. Thanks dudes. So we're top of the table, and sets up this evening's Chelski - MU game perfectly. Any of the outcomes would suit us just fine. A draw, and we're still top. Chelski win would put MU in great position, and a Chelski loss is just the best feeling ever.

Nice weekend all round.