Two first half goals from Matthew Taylor should have seen Bolton on their way to gaining three points but they somehow managed to let the Londoners get right back into the game.

Visiting captain William Gallas pulled a goal back from close range shortly after an hour and from then on in things just went from bad to worse for Bolton, as a Robin Van Persie penalty and a last minute own goal by Jlloyd Samuel gave Arsenal the victory and widened the gap between the bottom three and the rest of the sides in danger of the drop.

Bolton's under pressure manager Gary Megson was without the injured duo Ricardo Gardner and Jussi Jaaskelainen, whilst skipper Kevin Nolan was serving the first of a two game ban.

Arsenal left their top goalscorer Emmanuel Adebayor on the bench as Arsene Wenger started with Niklas Bendtner and Van Persie in attack.

The game started off opposite to the frantic way in which it ended and the first piece of action saw Bolton's Danny Guthrie's cross come shot from the left sail right along the face of goal.

A minute later the Gunners went on the attack themselves when Bendtner came out on top in foot race with his marker Andy O'Brien.

Fortunately for the Wanderers their stand in keeper Ali Al-Habsi was quick off his goal line to foil the young forward with a brave save low down.

Despite the constant rainfall and heavy pitch the conditions seemed to suit the away side more as they where able to pass the ball around in their usual free flowing style.

A key pass from midfield by Aleksander Hleb in the 9th minute found Van Persie unmarked in the box and Al-Habsi again came to the Wanderers rescue with a good block.

Had the Dutchman found the back of the net it wouldn't have counted for much anyway as the linesman had already raised his flag for an offside in the build up.

Van Persie had another attempt on goal soonafter but his hopeful shot from distance did little to trouble Al-Habsi who watched the ball go wide.

Bolton forced themselves in front on fourteen minutes with a well worked move which saw Taylor net his first goal for the club since moving from Portsmouth.

Gretar Steinsson had played a nice one two down the right flank following a throw in and the Icelander proceeded in delivering a peach of a cross which the onrushing Taylor headed home much to the delight of the home support.

This goal seemed to change the Wanderers perception of the game as far as the opening half went and they looked to have much more confidence in themselves.

However, Arsenal stuck to their game plan and the powerful shooting of right back Kolo Toure nearly caught Bolton out on a couple of occasions.

On the half hour referee Chris Foy reduced Arsenal to ten men when midfielder Abou Diaby, who injured Ivan Campo in an FA Cup game two years ago, was dismissed for a hard challenge on Steinsson.

Bendtner summed up the Arsenal frustration when he went upfield with a quickfire shot at Al-Habsi but the Oman international once again showed good anticipation to make the save.

Bolton's day looked to be getting better two minutes before the break. The Arsenal defence had carelessly lost possession within their own half, El-Hadji Diouf fed the ball across the box to Taylor and his deflected shot sneaked past Manuel Almunia to double the Trotters lead.

The second half saw Bolton continue to apply the pressure and Taylor was unlucky not to take home the matchball when team mate Gary Cahill got in the way of his effort.

There had been a succession of corners from Wanderers in the early stages and it looked like the next goal would once again come the hosts way.

A double attacking substitution from Arsenal lifted the Gunners and on 63 minutes former Chelsea man Gallas pulled a goal back at the far post after Bolton skipper Ivan Campo had inadvertently flicked on a left wing corner into his path.

Four minutes later the comeback was complete for Arsene Wenger's side when Van Persie converted from the spot following Cahill's mistimed lunge on Hleb.

Arsenal upped the ante in the final twenty minutes and the promising signs which Bolton had showed from earlier in the game appeared to have disappeared.

Substitute Adebayor was getting in behind the Bolton defence and Arsenal looked much more of a threat with the Togo star leading their line.

To combat this Bolton brought on a couple of replacements themselves when Stelios Giannakopoulos and Nicky Hunt came on for Danny Guthrie and El-Hadji Diouf.

For makeshift right winger Hunt his afternoon was more or less over as soon as it had begun, with the ex-England U21 star being helped off the pitch just four minutes after his introduction with what appeared to be another shoulder problem.

The pace of England hopeful Theo Walcott down the right was causing Bolton problems and the youngster's mazy run into the penalty area nearly brought about a goal for Van Persie who missed the target with a first time shot on 80 minutes.

McCann and Campo fired in late hopeful shots from distance for Bolton and the misery was complete right at the death when Samuel was unfortunate to see Cesc Fabregas' deflected shot go in off his back.

A trip to Aston Villa next weekend now lies in wait for the Trotters but wins and useful points for teams around them today means the gap to avoid relegation has increased even further.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Ali Al-Habsi, Gretar Steinsson, Gary Cahill, Andy O'Brien, Jlloyd Samuel, Gavin McCann, Ivan Campo, Danny Guthrie (Nicky Hunt) (Grzegorz Rasiak), El-Hadji Diouf (Stelios Giannakopoulos), Kevin Davies, Matthew Taylor

SUBS NOT USED: Tamir Cohen, Ian Walker (GK)

ARSENAL: Manuel Almunia, Kolo Toure, William Gallas, Philippe Senderos (Theo Walcott), Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini, Aleksander Hleb, Abou Diaby, Nicklas Bendtner (Emmanuel Adebayor), Robin Van Persie (Justin Hoyte)

SUBS NOT USED: Emmanuel Eboue, Jens Lehmann (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

22,431

REFEREE:

Chris Foy

BOOKED:

Fabregas (Arsenal)

Davies (Bolton)

Toure (Arsenal)

Diouf (Bolton)

SENT OFF:

Diaby (Arsenal)

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