Cesc Fabregas on song as Arsenal overcome Bolton

Cesc Fabregas fired the Gunners to a 2-0 victory against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium in his first game back from injury. The talismanic Arsenal skipper, out for three weeks with a hamstring niggle, showed no ill-effects from his lay-off as he scored the first and helped create the second in a win that sees Arsenal maintain the pressure on Manchester United and leaders Chelsea, both of whom won convincingly over the weekend.

Arsenal are now unbeaten in their last eight Premier League matches while Bolton's problems continue with just one victory in their last 10 league outings. Nonetheless new boss Owen Coyle, in his first game in charge since replacing Gary Megson, can take encouragement from a second-half Bolton display that belied their 19th position.
 
With Emmanuel Eboue and Alexandre Song on duty in the African Cup of Nations, the return of Fabregas was a timely boost to Arsene Wenger – in his 767th game as Arsenal manager - as the Gunners sought to extend an unbeaten sequence stretching back to the 3-0 defeat by Chelsea at the end of November.

Bolton began brightly, roared on by a large crowd eager to express their support for Coyle, and Ivan Klasnic had the ball in the net after two minutes only to be ruled offside. The big Croatian forward had another good opportunity after 20 minutes but couldn't get enough purchase on his shot to beat Manuel Almunia in the Arsenal goal.
 
Kevin Davies and Tamir Cohen also had chances to put the Trotters ahead but neither could capitalise as Arsenal began to find their passing game.

As Fabregas started to exert his influence so it looked more likely that Bolton's record of conceding a goal in every league match this season would continue. The little Spaniard might have had a penalty on 24 minutes when Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen appeared to bring him down in the area, but referee Phil Dowd turned a blind eye. Four minutes later Fabregas wreaked his revenge after exchanging a sweet one-two with Eduardo. His low shot, drilled past Jaaskelainen's right hand, was his tenth league goal of the season.

Arsenal continued to dominate in the latter stages of the first half and young Craig Eastmond, on his first full Premier league start, came close to getting on the scoresheet when his crisp shot was well saved by Jaaskelainen. Fabregas had another penalty shout turned down in a frenetic few minutes before the break as Bolton came close to equalising through Klasnic.

The second half was dominated by Bolton but poor Matt Taylor had a game to forget as he squandered four chances. The clearest opportunity came on 60 minutes when he had only Almunia to beat from six yards but his shot landed somewhere between rows Y and Z. Ten minutes later Taylor sprung the Arsenal offside trap but shot way wide of the target.
 
Such profligacy was punished in the 79th  minute when Fabregas – who'd had a quiet second-half - burst into life, surging upfield before laying off a pass to Eduardo on the left of the Bolton box. His deft chip across the area was collected by substitute Fran Merida who side-footed past Jaaskelainen from eight yards for a 2-0 lead.

"That was a big win," said Wenger afterwards. "We got through a patch where they could have equalised and then got the second goal. We have matured, some players have much more personality on the pitch and that helps us get results."

Wenger singled out Fabregas for praise, describing his skipper as a player who "has an authority. He scored again and was very influential."

Fabregas himself was modest in his assessment of his comeback. "Maybe scoring more goals is just luck because when I was younger I had so many opportunities and they weren't going in," he said. "But this year they are and it's important that they keep coming. I have been training for a few years in front of goal and I feel stronger and that helps in the last yards."

The two sides meet again in the league on Wednesday – the original match was a victim of the recent heavy snow – and if Arsenal win as emphatically at home as they did away they'll draw level on points with Chelsea at the top of the table. ·