The industrious midfielder struck six minutes from time with a diving header in what was otherwise a pretty low key spectacle at the Reebok Stadium which was beamed back in front of a live television audience.

Arsene Wenger's side held the ball well for the opening ten minutes or so but hosts Bolton defended well to ensure that no service was provided to the lone front man Robin Van Persie, who was in for the rested Thierry Henry.

Teenage midfielder Abou Diaby fired the first of three good Arsenal chances over the crossbar in the third minute when finding space after a dangerous corner from the right was not closed down quick enough by the Wanderers.

Ex-Real Madrid man Ivan Campo carried on where he left off in the Manchester City game last week as he put in another good performance at the heart of the Bolton midfield. In fact, it was the Spaniard's dangerous free kick from the right which caused all sorts of confusion between Gunners keeper Manuel Almunia and his inexperienced full back Kerrea Gilbert in what was the home sides first chance to assault their opponents goal.

Campo again provided an excellent delivery into the danger zone but experienced striker Jared Borgetti could not connect cleanly with a header at the far post to add to his fine run of scoring in Bolton colours recently.

On 19 minutes a fine move down the left hand side involving Ricardo Gardner and Hidetoshi Nakata was finished off poorly by the otherwise excellent Kevin Davies. Nakata pulled the ball back to just outside the area and the former Southampton man Davies screwed the ball well wide of Almunia's goal.

Gardner himself played well for Bolton and was unlucky not to break a three year goalscoring drought when his half volley flashed wide of the Arsenal goal just a few minutes before the interval. The visitors had looked for the handball in the build up to the shot but referee Mike Dean awarded the goal kick.

Gunners duo Diaby and Alexander Hleb combined on the stroke of half time to set up Jose Antonio Reyes in what was the best chance of the first period but the Spaniard balooned the ball high into the Family stand in the last piece of action for the opening 45 minutes.

The second half was a little bit better for both sides but it was clear to see that they suffered from being without key players with Bolton minus the likes of El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Gary Speed, Jay-Jay Okocha and Radhi Jaidi and absent for Arsenal was the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Lauren and Cesc Fabregas.

Ten mad minutes after the break saw a number of players cautioned or warned for their over adventurous tackling with Diaby and Campo clashing in a challenge which later resulted in the Bolton man leaving the play early.

Wanderers striker Davies and his marker Philippe Senderos where shown yellow in seperate incidents which threatened to turn the game nasty but fortunately referee Dean managed to take the sting out of the situation.

On the hour Bolton substitute Ricardo Vaz-Te was put en-route to goal following an excellent midfield pass into his path, the end product was slightly disappointing as the young starlet was caught in two minds whether to pass to team mate Borgetti or go for goal himself thus resulting in the chance going wide.

Van Persie came nearest to breaking the deadlock for Arsenal as he hit the top of Jussi Jaaskelainen's crossbar with a fine header following a free kick by Freddie Ljungberg who was playing in a much less attacking role than he was deployed in when the two sides met in the league.

The promising Dutch forward also hit the side netting as the Londoners looked to impose themselves on the game with a good period of pressure in the Bolton half but Sam Allardyce's team remained compact and kept any clear cut chances to a minimum.

Last season's matchwinner Ljungberg went close for Arsenal on 72 minutes with a fine strike which Jaaskelainen was able to tip over for a corner at the last minute. At this stage the tie looked ever likely to be heading for a replay as the seconds ticked away and both teams where working away in an attempt to break the deadlock to avoid a second cup meeting at Highbury next month.

The deadlock was finally broken six minutes before the end as Giannakopoulos shattered Arsenal hearts to continue his fine scoring record against the Gunners. Kevin Davies held the ball up well just outside the area before passing the ball out to Ricardo Gardner , his dangerous cross was headed home by the Greek flier who got in between the visiting defence and  stooped low to divert the ball past Almunia for the winner.

This result against cup experts Arsenal sends Bolton into the hat for the fifth round of the competition with their unbeaten record at the Reebok Stadium still firmly in tact. A trip to Portsmouth next up in the Premiership awaits the Trotters in just a few days from now.

Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Joey O'Brien, Tal Ben-Haim, Bruno N'Gotty, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Ivan Campo (Ricardo Vaz-Te), Hidetoshi Nakata, Stelios Giannakopoulos (Nicky Hunt), Jared Borgetti (Matt Jansen), Kevin Davies

Subs Not Used: Ian Walker, Jarostaw Fojut

Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Kerrea Gilbert, Johan Dourdou, Sol Campbell, Philippe Senderos, Alexander Hleb, Abou Diaby, Matheiu Flamini, Freddie Ljungberg, Robin Van Persie

Subs Not Used: Mart Poom, Sebastian Larsson, Niklas Bendtner, Arturo Lupoli, Fabrice Muamba

Referee:

Mike Dean

Attendance:

13,326

Booked:

Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal)

Abou Diaby (Arsenal)

Kevin Davies (Bolton)

Philippe Senderos (Arsenal)

Robin Van Persie (Arsenal)

Kerrea Gilbert (Arsenal)

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