Young Guns keep feet on the ground

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13 April 2012

Robin Van Persie says Arsenal learned a vital lesson as they stuck to their passing principles to pull off one of the comeback of the seasons and beat Bolton 3-2.

Trailing 2-0 with 28 minutes to go and down to 10-men after Abou Diaby's deserved red card for his challenge on Gretar Steinsson, anxious Arsenal initially tried to play their hosts at their own game by going route one.

Arsene Wenger - who had introduced Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott to use their pace and ability to stretch Bolton on the ground - furiously gesticulated on the touchline as first goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and then others launched the ball long in their desperation to pressurise opponents who had suddenly lost their nerve following Matt Taylor's double.

The Arsenal players took the message on board and went back to their passing game to claim a stunning victory which kept their title hopes alive and gave them the perfect boost ahead of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first-leg with Liverpool.

Van Persie, who equalised from the spot before a last-minute shot from Cesc Fabregas ricocheted Arsenal to victory, said: "The manager knows that passing is our game. And this is the way to play. If you play, with all due respect, Bolton's game, we are not going to win it.

"This is why The Boss wanted us to stick to the way we play. By passing the ball, sticking to what we are best at, we had the chance to save the match and to win it."

Victory at a ground where Arsenal have struggled badly in recent seasons ended a series of five Premier League games without a win - one of the worst during Wenger's 11-year reign at the club.

Their bad run started in the now infamous 2-2 draw at Birmingham, where Eduardo suffered his horrific leg break following the challenge by Martin Taylor.

The way Arsenal fought back on Saturday showed that they are now starting to move on from that controversy, although Eduardo is still very much in their thoughts.

The Croatia striker faces at least nine months out and Van Persie says their team-mate has now become the inspiration in their hunt for silverware.

The Dutchman, himself having undergone months of a painfully slow healing process to recover fitness after knee damage, said: "It is a difficult one because everyone feels really sorry for him. It is just such a sad thing. He is a fantastic guy and a fantastic player. Unfortunately, however, this is life. We have to get our stuff together and we have to win games.

"But I'm just thinking: win games for him. Win games for him, win the title for him."

Arsenal's comeback was sparked by a goal from William Gallas and their skipper believes that the result could be a pivotal moment in his side's season.

"People said that maybe we did not have the fight for this kind of situation but we showed we do," he said.

"Now we have Liverpool in the Champions League and in the Premier League and this result will help us.

"As far as the Premier League is concerned we are still in there and we still have to go to Old Trafford. Anything can happen."

Wenger was delighted by the resilience his team showed, particularly given their shattering loss at Chelsea last weekend.

"It was a mental test because it looked like everything was going against us," said Wenger. "It demanded a lot from us. They were not giving up. You have to go for it and we did it in a marvellous way. We wanted absolutely to win to stay in the race.

"This team is very mentally strong. We were hit hard by our defeat at Chelsea, that was hard to take.

"But we will fight until the last minute of this championship and the players will do it."

Young Guns keep feet on the ground

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