Match Report – Match Highlights – Player Ratings – Post-Match Press Conference
Final Result: Arsenal 5-1 Bolton (Rice 16′, Nwaneri 37′, 49′, Sterling 64′, Havertz 77′ | Collins 53′)
Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Porter; Nichols, Kiwior, Calafiori (Kacurri 70′), Lewis-Skelly (Gabriel 62′); Rice (Havertz 62′), Jorginho, Nwaneri; Saka (Martinelli 70′), G. Jesus, Sterling (Kabia 81′)
In our preview of the Bolton game, we expected a lot of rotation, with only Riccardo Calafiori, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice retaining their place after the grueling encounter against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. There were also reports of David Raya nursing a niggle and with Tommy Setford injured and Neto Murara cup-tied, Mikel Arteta had to rely on a youngster, Jack Porter, to make his Arsenal debut.
First Half Analysis
Bolton actually drew first blood when Kyle Dempsey surged past the Arsenal defense and provided a cut back to Scott Arfield from the byline, but the Canadian blasted his shot over the bar. Arsenal responded to that early scare when Myles Lewis-Skelly picked Bukayo Saka with a pinpoint pass and Saka found Gabriel Jesus with a looped header. The Arsenal forward, that has not scored since Janaury 2024, chested the ball and volleyed goalwards, but Eoin Toal made a vital block.
Arsenal’s pressure finally paid off when Josh Nichols cross to the middle was not dealt with well by Arfield. Declan Rice picked up possession and rifled a shot to the bottom corner from 20 yards. Saka sent Jesus clear on goal and with only the goalie to beat, Jesus scoffed his shot wide. One might say that the presence of Ricardo Santos put the Arsenal striker off but it was a bad miss in my opinion.
Arsenal doubled their money when Raheem Sterling made a darting run on the left hand side and provided a cut back that crept into Ethan Nwaneri’s path. With Nwaneri and the Bolton defender going for the same ball, the Arsenal youngster was a tad quicker to poke his first Arsenal goal on his full debut. Rice, fresh from his early strike, had another chance to make it three, but his curling shot was parried by Luke Southwood.
Second Half Analysis
Arsenal picked up where they left off in the first half and made it three early in the second half when Rice anticipated a loose pass, which transitioned to Nwaneri. The youngster bore down on goal and side-footed a shot past Southwood. Arsenal found their grove and Saka made mince meat of a Bolton defender before blasting the ball into the side netting.
Bolton managed to claw one back when they hit Arsenal on the break. Lewis-Skelly played a wayward pass at the edge of the Bolton area and a breakaway saw John McAtee send Aaron Collins clean on goal. With Jorginho not having the legs to catch up with Collins, he shimmied past the goalkeeper and placed the ball to an unguarded net to give the away fans something to cheer about. Bolton almost made it two when Porter accidentally passed the ball straight to Collins but his shot was blazed over the bar.
Arsenal added some gloss to the score line when Saka worked well with Nichols and absolutely destroyed a Bolton defender before drilling a cross that was not handled well by Southwood, allowing Sterling to react really fast and prod the ball home for his first Arsenal goal. Sterling was instrumental in the last goal when he latched onto Jesus’ pass to blast a ball on Southwood, whose parried effort fell kindly to Kai Havertz’s path for a simple tap in.
There were chances to bed in new youngsters like Maldini Kacurri and Ismael Kabia for their Arsenal debut and it was a great night for everyone concerned.
Arteta’s Post-Match Reaction
Mikel Arteta was very proud of his players and waxed lyrical about Nwaneri,
“He’s improving daily. “They really respect him. You can tell he’s playing without pressure, with confidence, with a way of making decisions that tells you that the boy is ready at this level. Today he had a really strong performance and I’m happy to see that.
“A lot of positives to take from it, first of all the performance and then the way we scored the goals. We gave minutes, deserved minutes to a lot of first team players that needed them. As well we had obviously very important debuts as well that make us really proud.”
A great night at the office and all plans will be moving towards the Leicester City game this weekend.
