Well Arsenal have done it again and contributed to one of the best matches this season with their unique attacking style which at times tonight was simply a pleasure to watch.

And it was Freddie’s Forget Me Not on Valentine’s Day that proved the difference in a game that Arsenal really should have won before the first 90 minutes were up. 

But they put us supporters it yet again with two goals in extra time to put the tie beyond doubt.

It was a match where Arsenal pretty much dominated from start to finish and if it was not for some poor finishing then the game would have been over before extra time.

The first half was fantastic to watch as Denilson, Adebayor, Hleb, Rosicky et al played some of the best football I’ve seen this campaign. The passing and movement from the entire team was just brilliant and Arsenal created several chances to open the scoring.

And on 14 minutes Hleb waltz past 3 players on the right touchline and nutmegged a Bolton player to play in Denilson. Then the little Brazilian pulled off a trick of his own to feed the ball into Adebayor who gave the ball to Rosicky on the edge of the area. The Czech then tried to setup up Baptista for a shot but the ball deflected off Campo and Adebayor took full advantage as ran through and smashed a left foot shot past the keeper.

And from then on Arsenal were playing excellent football, but they couldn’t get that important second goal that would have killed the game.

In the second half, Gilberto smashed his penalty over the bar and later on Adebayor missed an open goal as his effort hit the post.

And after all the great play and chances we had Bolton won a corner in the 92nd minute and the melee in the box resulted in Meite equalising to send the game into extra time.

But Arsenal showed that grit and determination that has seen them comeback from setbacks before and the lads still played with the same adventure and freedom as the put even more pressure on the Bolton defence.

The decisive moment came on 109 minutes when Arsenal carved out another fantastic goal from virtually nothing. The fresh Aliadiere ran 50 yards taking on 5 players before playing a smart through ball into the path of the spriting Freddie who controlled the ball and hit the ball so early right into the bottom corner.

What a fantastic finish!

Freddie showed us all that even with all the kids in the squad we shouldn’t forget about him and that typical clinical Freddie finish couldn’t have come at a better time.

The match that had everything had even more to come as Anelka fouled Adebayor in the Bolton area to concede a penalty – only for Baptista to hit over the bar like Gilberto!

But the Brazilian made amends a few minutes later as he setup Ade for Arsenal’s third and to put Arsenal into the next round of the FA Cup against Blackburn on Saturday.

Player Ratings

Manuel Almunia: 7/10
Made some important punches from a flurry of Bolton set-pieces but should have dealt with the corner for the goal was it was placed right under the bar. But did well to save Gary Speed’s header in extra time when the game was 1-1.

Johan Djourou: 8/10
Played out of position at right-back but did well with diagonal long balls Bolton played out wide. Contributed to a good defensive performance by the back four.

Kolo Toure: 8/10
Showed the heart of a lion and played excellently yet again. Organised the defence really well and got his head to everything.

Gilberto Silva (c): 8/10
Showed good composure at the back and coped well with Bolton’s aerial barrage in the second half. Should have really done better with the penalty though and lucky not to score an own goal when his touch from a Bolton cross hit the post.

Gael Clichy: 9/10
Was brilliant on the left and gave Rosicky some excellent support with darting runs and great passes. Did well against Diouf and limited his impact on the game.

Alexander Hleb: 9/10
Although he only lasted 77 minutes before having to come off he provided a threat all night and kept the ball brilliantly as we know he can. Defended well and was always there to help out Djourou.

Abou Diaby: 9/10
Ran all day in midfield and had a fantastic game. Great when defending set-pieces and kept the ball moving in the middle of the park – along with Denilson made Nolan and Speed look invisible.

Denilson: 10/10
Man of the Match. For an 18 year old he was simple outstanding and I cannot remember him losing the ball once. Does all the simple things right and amazed me all night with his composure on the ball, excellent passing and dribbling skills. Cannot praise him highly enough!

Tomas Rosicky: 8/10
Was lively all night and linked up well with the front two. Came close with a couple of opportunities and showed intelligence by exposing the space in behind the Bolton defence.

Julio Baptista: 7/10
Always looked on the periphery and couldn’t settle into the pace of the game. Had numerous clear chances to find the Bolton net but just wasn’t his day.

Emmanuel Adebayor: 9/10
He did miss a sitter but scored twice and never stopped running. Without the influencial Thierry Henry he took control of the game and showed his class. Fantastic performance.

Substitutes

Freddie Ljungberg: 8/10
Replaced Hleb on 77 minutes. Took a good 10 minutes to get into the pace of the game which wasn’t suprising with his lengthy injury but took his goal superbly.

Jeremie Aliadiere: 9/10
Replaced Rosicky on 90 minutes. Only played in extra time but was highly influencial – especially with the tired legs out there. Ran at the Bolton players like they didn’t exist and eased the pressure on Arsenal with his runs. His waltzing run that beat 5 or 6 Bolton players setup the decisive 2nd goal to put Arsenal into the next round. Unlucky not to start and finally looks settled in an Arsenal squad.

30-Yard Screamers, Controversy – Just Another Day At The Office…

Apparently that’s the 12th time Arsenal have conceded the lead in a match and comeback to win – a fantastic show of character from this young team who never give up until the final whistle.

And with typical Emirates tradition Arsenal conceded the first goal and Wigan lead 1-0 going into the half time interval.

Wigan were well organised and played well as a unit, putting Arsenal in all kinds of bother throughout the game with swift counter attacks and the willingness to push men forward to support their attacks.

In the first half Arsenal made several guilt edged chances, with Henry, Rosicky and Baptista having decent opportunities skewed wide.

But then on 35 minutes Arsenal hit the self-destruct button once again and went a goal down at home. A seemingly harmless long ball caught out Djourou who let Nigerian Aghahowa slide past him and turn to cross the ball. The young defender recovered well and blocked the cross, but it fell to Dutch International Denny Landzaat who controlled the ball with his first touch and hit a simply outstanding effort from 25 yards to give Wigan the lead which was probably just about deserved.

So yet again Arsenal had the arduous task of coming back from a goal that was against the run of play in terms of possession but was out of the top drawer.

Why does it happen to Arsenal?

Remember goals from Matt Taylor and Rafael van der Vaart? Teams seem to score the sensational to open the scoring at the Emirates!

As expected, Arsenal pressed and pressed in the second half but for large portions Wigan coped well and Arsenal just couldn’t get through.

And the frustration started to show.

Arsenal and Arsene in particular were not happy with the time-wasting antics of Wigan and Chris Kirland as we searched for an equaliser.

Then another controversial moment happened on 80 minutes when Emile Heskey was put through and substitute Mathieu Flamini looked like he pulled down the Wigan forward.

When the incident happened I thought the referee was going to give a penalty but luckily play was waved on, and in Arsenal’s next attack it was Flamini (who looked offside when played through by Rosicky) that setup the equaliser for Fitz Hall to turn into his own net.

And when the equaliser went in Henry goaded Kirland for his time-wasting and had to be dragged away by his team mates.

Now it was game on!

After the game Sky had a go at Henry for his reaction to the goal but in all honesty I couldn’t blame him. Arsenal were frustrated by a resiliant Wigan team and football would be a boring sport if players didn’t show their emotions.

Arsenal sensed a Wigan collapse and with only 5 minutes of normal time Adebayor played a smart through-ball into the path of Julio Baptista who did well to pick out Rosicky in the centre in a penalty area full of Wigan players.

The Czech emphatically headed the ball into the net for the winner and scored his first ever Premiership goal.

The last portion of the game was heated and Lehmann was booked for ‘time wasting’ as Chris Kirland did, although the Wigan keeper was unpunished.

A hell of an emotional rollercoaster – has any other Premiership team have had as many ups and downs as Arsenal?

Not sure to make of the game to be honest after that. While the display was below par and nowhere near the Arsenal of last month we did managed to nick a point with a sublime finish from Thierry Henry.

Are Arsenal a one month wonder?

January was fantastic with wins against Charlton Athletic, Liverpool (twice), Spurs, Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers.

But today Arsenal were disappointing, with Fabregas and Henry the main culprits.

And it was particularly disappointing because before the game Arsenal were 5 points behind Liverpool (who drew in the Merseyside Derby earlier in the day) with 2 games in hand. But Arsenal failed to capitalise on Liverpool dropping two points.

Too many Arsenal players were on the periphery of the match and a well-organised Middlesbrough side found it quite easy to cope with Arsenal’s attacks which lacked any killer instinct in the final third and with the final ball in particular.

It was disappointing to see Boro’s young second keeper Bradley Jones hardly have a save to make in the entire 90 minutes.

Arsenal badly missed Hleb and Arsene opted to play Flamini wide on the right when Aliadiere would have probably been a better offensive option. To many moves broke down and as hard as Flamini tried he’s just not able to play on the right side of midfield.

The only player that looked like making something happen was Tomas Rosicky, would tried to take control of the situation and made some decent passes and actually tried to shoot and test the keeper.

But far too many players had off days.

For me Arsenal’s best player was Gael Clichy and that tells you something about the overall team’s performance.

Fabregas was woeful, and looked second best to Boateng in midfield and therefore couldn’t impose himself on the game. Thierry Henry (the goal aside) was no better, trying fancy flicks and strolling around the pitch when the game needed an injection of urgency – it’s days like today Arsenal need to step up their play but it didn’t happen until Middlesbrough opened the scoring after 65 minutes!

For an hour Arsenal were predestrian and it was just like the game against Sheffield United. Arsenal seemingly turned up thinking that just being there would win them the match and I could see Boro scoring from a mile away.

With Arsenal strolling they got hit by the sucker punch on the break and conceded the opening goal (sound familiar?). Yakubu was played through and Senderos was judged to have pulled down the striker and Mike Riley awarded a penalty. Replays showed that Senderos had his arm on Yakubu but the Middlesbrough forward fell very easily. There was contact but you would have to say it was pretty minimal, and for some reason Senderos was sent off. I can guarantee that any other referee would have booked him, and I felt like Lehmann when Phil was sent off!

Anyway, Boro scored and finally Arsenal kicked into gear, spurred on by going a man and a goal down. Lehmann made a brilliant save from Mark Viduka and he was the man who started the Arsenal move for the equaliser. Lehmann threw the ball out and a long ball found Adebayor who headed the ball on to Henry, who controlled the ball brilliantly with his right foot and scored with his left in the bottom corner.

A great goal to level the scores!

It was a great response from conceding the first goal, but should we have even been in that situation in the first place? Anyway, after Henry’s goal the game petered out after that with both sides seemingly content with a point each.

After the game Henry and Viduka were laughing and smiling, swapping shirts and hugging. Am I the only one that was pissed off with that given that we only got a point from a game we could win if our performance was even half decent?

But maybe we’re a team that should be happy with a point?