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Tillamawnin
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 Posted - Sep 22 2001 : 2:00:29 PM
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Arsenal and Bolton From SkySport.
Tilla
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Arsenal 1-1 Bolton
Jeffers 75 Ricketts 83
FA Barclaycard Premiership, Saturday KO 3.00pm
Stephen Turner reporting
Michael Ricketts stunned Arsenal, and kept Bolton at the top of the Premiership, by snatching an unlikely draw for the ten-man Trotters with an 83rd minute leveller at Highbury.
With 15 minutes remaining Francis Jeffers' first goal since his Everton switch seemed to have given the home side their reward for some patient football in the face of heroic Bolton defending.
But a misjudgement from Ukrainian Oleg Luzhny, deputising for Lauren at right-back, allowed Rod Wallace to accelerate into the Arsenal box, and fellow substitute Ricketts, accepting his centre with his back to goal, flicked the ball up before hooking a volley over David Seaman.
The result seemed impossible after half an hour, when Ricardo Gardner was sent off for the already pinned-back visitors for impeding Dennis Bergkamp's clear run on goal.
Bergkamp, slid through by Thierry Henry after a rare Bolton corner was cleared, appeared to have prodded the ball too close to Jussi Jaaskelainen, but stumbled under a clumsy challenge from the chasing Jamaican. Contact was minimal, but once the assistant referee had flagged for a free-kick, Clive Wilkes had no option but to show Gardner the red card.
Arsene Wenger's side, whose greatest attacking threat against the full complement of Trotters had come courtesy of the visitors' fragile-looking offside trap, were suddenly faced with a bank of eight men blocking the route to Jaaskelainen's goal. But to their credit, they avoided the temptation to fire hopeful long-range efforts, instead backing the subtle movement and passing of their fluid clutch of forwards.
Bolton's beleaguered back-line were reduced to hacking the ball into touch before half-time, and it seemed a matter of time until the floodgates reached bursting point.
Predictably, perhaps, clear-cut chances were at a premium before and after the break, although Sylvain Wiltord, the pick of the Arsenal attackers on the day, did rattle the woodwork with a header after latching on to Henry's flick.
Only after the introduction of Jeffers and Robert Pires, though, did Arsenal's dominance acquire a real sharpness, and both were prominent as the Gunners finally picked a precise path through Bolton's thronged rearguard.
Ashley Cole and Bergkamp combined, before a delightful Henry reverse ball released the scampering Pires, who unselfishly laid the ball across goal for Jeffers to tap perhaps the easiest goal he will ever score for his new club.
As the Gunners, with four strikers on the pitch, continued to press, it seemed irrelevant that Matthew Upson's bullet header was somehow cleared off his own line by Simon Charlton.
But Ricketts' suckerpunch punished Luzhny for allowing a hanging ball to bounce, and another bad error from the same player could have compounded Arsenal's woes had not the impressive debutant Jermaine Johnson chipped tamely wide of Seaman's goal.
Man of the Match: Gudni Bergsson (Bolton) - the Trotters skipper was the pick of a doggedly determined Bolton back-line, marshalling his fellow defenders expertly.
Arsenal: Seaman, Cole, Adams, Grimandi (Upson 31), Luzhny, Vieira, Parlour (Pires 72), van Bronckhorst (Jeffers 69), Bergkamp, Wiltord, Henry.
Subs Not Used: Ljungberg, Wright.
Booked: van Bronckhorst.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Whitlow, Bergsson, Warhurst (Diawara 79), Barness, Charlton, Gardner, Nolan, Johnson, Pedersen (Wallace 80), Holdsworth (Ricketts 61).
Subs Not Used: Banks, N'Gotty.
Sent Off: Gardner (30).
Booked: Johnson.
Att: 38,014
Ref: C Wilkes (Gloucester)
© 2001 BSkyB
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